Gender equality and women's empowerment are at the heart of the MDGs. They are requirements to overcome poverty, hunger and disease. In terms of gender equality, India has made great strides based on these guidelines and, for some, national-level programs. One of the biggest challenges India faces is bringing positive and sustained change across all its sub-regions. Some of India's poorest and most populous states struggle to ameliorate challenges and achieve the goals set by the MDGs, as does the rest of the country. To achieve MDG 3 at national and state levels the following recommendations can be applied. 5.5.1 Policy recommendations 5.5.1.1 Education The formal school system needs to be made more gender sensitive, which will involve applicable curricula, infrastructure and informed teachers. To empower women, education must offer a pathway to employability through skills and livelihood education. Links would be likely through both microcredit schemes and NREGS. Both could be combined with public education. School...