In the remaining 1,000 days to the 2015 deadline of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), women and girls still face a host of problems. Pervasive violence against females continues despite one of the targets to promote gender equality — recent reports include the rape and murder of a number of females in Jakarta and other cities. John Hendra, the UN women’s deputy executive director and co-chair of the UN MDG Task Force, talked to The Jakarta Post’s Desy Nurhayati and Rita A. Widiadana on the sidelines of the UN High Level Panel of Eminent Persons meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Wednesday. The following are excerpts of the interview.

Question: How do you see the global situation on women before the MDGs were launched in 2000, and after the 2015 deadline?

Answer: There has been crucial progress, but there are still some disparities between urban and rural areas. People are curious about what the post-2015 development framework will be like. But now we need to focus on the next two and a half years to achieve the goals in 2015.