"The State of the World's Children 2007" examines the discrimination and disempowerment women face throughout their lives - and outlines what must be done to eliminate gender discrimination and to empower women and girls. It looks at the status of women today, discusses how gender equality will move all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) forward, and shows how investment in women's rights has the potential to produce a double dividend: advancing the rights of both women and children.

The report begins with a foreword by Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), and by Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Each chapter opens with a summary and is followed by information supported by statistical charts and examples of both customs and human rights infringements that appear across world cultures and over the lifetime of women, which represent discrimination that potentially impacts the lives of children, as well. Description of UNICEF projects addressing the needs of women and children are also included.

Chapters are entitled:

1. A call for equality;
2. Equality in the household;
3. Equality in employment;
4. Equality in politics and government; and
5. Reaping the double dividend of gender equality.

Some examples of the statistical support provided by the document include:

• Secondary education comparison of boys and girls;
• Percentage of births to adolescent mothers in developing countries compared to developed countries;
• Percentage of women by country who say their husbands alone make the decisions about their wives' health;
• Ranked list of countries by what percentage of women make up their parliament, including evidence of the effectiveness of quota systems; and
• Nominal wages for women compared to those for men.

Additional statistical data is organised in appendices by country. The resource is also available in customised form online in HTML format, as downloadable individual charts and graphs in PDF format, and as statistical tables in either Microsoft Excel format or PDF format. Click here to access statistical information in these formats.

The entire document is available in PDF format (click here), or is accessible in PDF format by chapters, by regional summary, or as statistical tables through an online entry point (click here), and for purchase in paper copy format. Click here to access the UN Publications website to purchase a paper copy of this document.

The pocket-sized executive summary of this document provides an overview of the report, and includes summary indicators that provide economic and social data on all of the world's regions. It contains the same chapter information in a condensed form, and some statistical support information (though less extensive). Statistical appendices are not organised by country, but, instead, use regional and world comparisons of topical indicators like low birth weight in infants, child marriage, and risk of maternal death. The executive summary is available in PDF format (click here) or in a free paper copy format by contacting either pubdoc@unicef.org or the mailing address in the contact section, below.

A multimedia website dedicated to this publication provides resources such as profiles of various women, statistics, a database, a photo essay, video, and a youth centre.