MDGs in a global world: Gender equity and empowerment in service provision for migrant women in Barcelona

In this article we reflect upon the relationship between the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) formulated by the United Nations (2000) and the migration phenomena that is characteristic of the present globalised society. First, we argue that the Millennium Goals have not sufficiently considered migration processes as a structural phenomenon. Development goals must take in account this emergent phenomenon in post-industrial societies in order to achieve human rights and social equity and to promote the well-being of all people in their origin and host societies. Second, by interpreting the results of an ethnographic study carried out in social services aimed at migrant women in the city of Barcelona, while focusing on the 3rd Millennium Goal: gender equity and the empowerment of women, we reflect on the limits and possibilities of these intervention practices in advancing towards the goal in host societies. We conclude that changes in public policy and social services are necessary in order to advance towards the achievement of the gender equity goal and empowerment of women, a transformation that aims at the achievement of citizenship for all people in this global society.