As countries strive to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), new reports by UNICEF and the World Bank should draw renewed attention to MDG 3: to promote gender equality and empower women.UNICEF's report, detailed in a Comment in today's Lancet, shows that gender disparities in developing countries are less evident in childhood but begin to widen during adolescence. For boys and girls younger than 5 years, indicators such as breastfeeding rates are similar, and gender gaps in primary education are closing. However, adolescent girls are less likely to be in secondary education than are boys, and are more likely to marry before age 18 years and have sex at a young age. Meanwhile, the World Bank's report highlights the worst disparity rate between men and women: mortality. Globally, 3-9 million women are missing each year in developing countries because of excess female mortality at (through sex-selective abortion) and after birth.
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