Carrying the torch for women’s equality

With the Global Call to Action Campaign on Millenium Development Goal 3 –MDG3, Denmark has taken on a special obligation to achieve the 2015 United Nations Millennium Development Goals, an initiative which has strong support from a number of the world’s most prominent leaders

By Anna Mogensen

A Nobel Prize winner from Bangladesh, the UN Secretary-General, the US Secretary of State and the President of Liberia.

These are just some of the more than 130 prominent individuals who have received a special MDG3 Torch. It symbolises their commitment to making an extra effort for women in developing countries in the Global Call to Action on MDG3 – Denmark's global campaign which aims to ensure that international society accelerates its work to achieve the third of the 2015 UN Millennium Development Goals: to promote gender equality and empower women.

The MDG3 Campaign was launched in Copenhagen in 2007. Progress towards the MDG3 objective of ensuring education and equal access to land and property for women in developing countries had been slow, so the Danish government initiated the campaign as a pressing “Global Call to Action.”

Together with Norway and Sweden, Denmark has a long tradition for providing assistance in areas that can strengthen women's rights and equality in developing countries. The Nordic countries jointly provide a third of the total budget for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The traditional Danish support, and a minister for development cooperation who is deeply engaged in women's rights, makes it natural for Denmark to commit itself to taking a leading position in the worldwide campaign. So says Professor Thomas Tufte of Roskilde University in Denmark, who has been working on awareness campaigns in developing countries for several years.

“It sends a valuable signal that it is a minister, who herself is a leader and a woman, who heads the campaign. It is fitting to focus on equality for women since it is an area where Denmark has a certain capacity advancement,” says Professor Thomas Tufte.

Change through women
One of the most prominent people adding visibility to the campaign is Muhammed Yunus from Bangladesh, a professor of economics and founder of the microcredit company Grameen Bank. In 2006 he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his long-term efforts to provide microloans to the poor women of Bangladesh and create development from the bottom up. Muhammed Yunus was the first of the many prominent personalities to receive the special MDG3 Torch from the Danish government as a symbol of his commitment and desire to do something extra.

“I appreciate the initiative and congratulate the Danish government for having chosen to promote MDG3 abroad,” says Muhammed Yunus to Focus Denmark.

A large number of studies have shown that it is very worthwhile to support women in developing countries, since they are better than men at investing and managing the money they get. In Bangladesh, women traditionally do not have access to bank loans. Muhammed Yunus has since the 1970s been a strong ambassador for promoting the returns that will come from focusing on women's equality and rights.

“Denmark's MDG3 initiative supports our focus on women. It is with purpose that we want to strengthen their independence by providing them with the opportunity for an autonomous income, and today Bangladesh is a completely different society than it was just five years ago, because women have more empowerment and authority,” says Muhammed Yunus.

High-profile torch ambassadors
The impressive list of individuals who are representatives for making an extra effort for women's equality has ensured that the campaign has started well and has authority and weight by virtue of visibility, commitment and sustainability, thinks Professor Thomas Tufte.

“The high-profile individuals taking part provide one of the most important elements for a campaign to get off to a good start, namely visibility. The next element is commitment, and that is one of the key features of the campaign – to get involved and make a special effort,” he says.

“The third element that I think is worth emphasising is sustainability. To achieve long-term sustainability, these commitments must typically be embedded in organisations which can take them further. And since many of the individuals who have received the torch are government ministers and leaders of large organisations, solid embeddedness and long-term sustainability are likely to be achieved,” opines Thomas Tufte.

Civilian commitment ensure success
The campaign's more than 130 prominent individuals acting as representatives and VIP torch ambassadors have created a global wave of commitment.

But the visibility of the political elite is not enough, says Thomas Tufte. Ordinary people must also be involved in the campaign, so that they also can make an extra effort.

“The campaign seems to progress the furthest by virtue of those organisations and institutions that the highly reputed leaders represent. But it can be difficult to see how the ordinary citizen has a chance to be involved,” he says.

An ideal awareness campaign which manages to embrace all the world's leaders and the women in the villages, must first and foremost be based on citizen participation, Thomas Tufte asserts.

His view aligns with Muhammed Yunus’ perception that civil society is generally strong, and that citizens themselves know best how innovation and good ideas are linked to specific action and social responsibility.

“The foundation for our idea concerning microcredit is based on community dialogue. Legislation and institutional frameworks are naturally important, but without a movement from beneath you can't get anywhere in achieving equality and improving conditions for women. The institutional framework defines a statement and an initiative, but if people do not have the chance to act, it is of no use,” says the Nobel Prize winner to Focus Denmark.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark continuously follows up on the MDG3 Campaign's effect on investments in women's rights and equality and the generated effect on all eight 2015 UN Millennium Development Goals.