The promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women is a cross cutting issue that affects each of the MDGs. Moreover, some women face multiple forms of discrimination. The Human Development Report 2003 on the MDGs highlights just how far minority women are from achieving the MDGs. When asking 'who is being left behind?' the Report noted that:

Income disparities appear to be increasing in several countries, indicating wider gaps between people…at the bottom (mostly rural, female-headed households of indigenous or ethnically marginal descent) (UNDP 2003, p. 47-49).

Eliminating gender disparity in access to education is more difficult for minority girls and women. This is because of the compound impact of discrimination based on gender and on ethnic, religious or linguistic identity. This phenomenon is known as 'intersectionality', whereby "multiple discriminations do not operate independently but intersect and reinforce each other with cumulative adverse consequences for the enjoyment of human rights" (Banda and Chinkin 2004, p. 11).

The challenge for those working to eliminate gender disparities is to ensure that other forms of discrimination do not become invisible in these policy prescriptions. Minority girls face particular barriers that others will not. For example, minority girls may find it more difficult to integrate into schools because of language barriers and may have less family support for their education because parents (especially mothers) may also lack the necessary language skills to assist their children. There may be particular cultural norms in relation to the role of women and girls in some minority communities that restrict their opportunities for education, such as early marriage. Opportunities for minority girls to access education are also closely linked to higher poverty rates of minorities, with minority girl children being more likely to remain at home to support the family's welfare. Therefore, familial opportunities to overcome poverty may be seen as integral to achieving gender equality in access to education for minorities.

	Minority groups are trying to address gender discrimination and MDGs 2 and 3 can complement these efforts. MRG's report on Gender, Minorities and Indigenous Peoples (2004) cites a programme among the Khomani of Northern Cape, which involves the collection of oral histories recounting stories of positive female role models who were successful hunter-gatherers in years past, to be used in educational material for San children (p. 22). Such efforts can be very effective in helping minority communities to do more to ensure girl children's access to education while at the same time improving the representation of minorities in national curricula.

It is notable that gender inequality could negatively affect minority men as well. Brazil's MDG progess report (2004) indicated that there were marginal inequalities in access to primary school by gender or race (3% difference by race) but that Afro-Brazilian males were least likely to access secondary and higher education. The report notes, "although women are present in higher education numbers regardless of race, among the black and mulatto population the ratio increases: it leaps to 125.9%, reaching 143.3% in higher education." The report attributed this to "the even more increased dropout of black and mulatto men to enter the labour market, and to the phenomenon of discrimination, which affects blacks and mulattos of both genders and ends up moving them away from school" (Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA) 2004, p. 35).