Sustainable Development Goal 5
Developing the introduction
Overall Aim of Sustainable Development Goal 5 – Gender Equality
As the UN explains: “Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. The official wording of SDG 5 is “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”. The targets and indicators for SDG 5 are extensive and provide equal opportunity for females. SDG 5 has nine targets and 14 indicators.
Target 5.1: End discrimination against women and girls
Target 5.2: End all violence against and exploitation of women and girls
Target 5.3: Eliminate forced marriages and genital mutilation
Target 5.4: Value unpaid care and promote shared domestic responsibilities
Target 5.5: Ensure full participation in leadership and decision-making
Target 5.6: Universal access to reproductive rights and health
Target 5.A: Equal rights to economic resources, property ownership and financial services
Target 5.B: Promote empowerment of women through technology
Target 5.C: Adopt and strengthen policies and enforceable legislation for gender equality
There has been progress over the last decades: More girls are going to school, fewer girls are forced into early marriage, more women are serving in parliament and positions of leadership, and laws are being reformed to advance gender equality.
Despite these gains, many challenges remain: discriminatory laws and social norms remain pervasive, women continue to be underrepresented at all levels of political leadership, and 1 in 5 women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49 report experiencing physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner within a 12-month period.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could reverse the limited progress that has been made on gender equality and women’s rights. The coronavirus outbreak exacerbates existing inequalities for women and girls across every sphere – from health and the economy to security and social protection. The pandemic has also led to a steep increase in violence against women and girls. With lockdown measures in place, many women are trapped at home with their abusers, struggling to access services that are suffering from cuts and restrictions. Emerging data shows that, since the outbreak of the pandemic, violence against women and girls – and particularly domestic violence – has intensified.
Why is it important for educational community?
The SDGs are an ideal filter through which to expand and enrich the lesson plans. Educators can boost classroom engagement by demonstrating the real-world impact of the subjects their students are learning. The SDGs are useful classroom resources that adds depth and context to lesson plans. They are closely aligned with today’s curriculum and broach a remarkable range of traditional academic subjects such as geography, biology, social sciences, politics, economics, and more.
Educators should see the SDGs as an opportunity to add extra depth to their lesson plans, rather than being something that requires work to link to the curriculum.
Just like many of the other Sustainable Development Goals, gender equality is interconnected with the other goals —everyone’s actions and support make the difference in achieving gender equality. Increased education on harmful practices, cultural norms and forms of marginalization will us to better understand the issues women and girls face, the rights they have and the responsibility of our government and institutions to protect them. Additionally, for society at large, learning how to dismantle sexist, violent and discriminatory language, attitudes and behaviours will contribute to changing our social and cultural understandings of discrimination and gender.
Key dimensions of Sustainable Development 5 Gender Equality
Since its creation 70 years ago, the UN has achieved important results in advancing gender equality, from the establishment of the Commission on the Status of Women – the main global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women – through the adoption of various landmark agreements such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Gender inequalities are still deep-rooted in every society. Women suffer from lack of access to decent work and face occupational segregation and gender wage gaps. In many situations, they are denied access to basic education and health care and are victims of violence and discrimination. They are under-represented in political and economic decision-making processes. With the aim of better addressing these challenges and to identify a single recognized driver to lead and coordinate UN activities on gender equality issues, UN Women was established in 2010.
UN Women works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls, empowerment of women, and achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. The main targets to achieve are to end all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere, eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation, eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate, ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences, undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws, enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women, adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.
The interplay between Sustainable Development Goal 5 Gender Equality and the acquisition of 21st century skills
Current and future citizens face new challenges, such as increasing complexity and uncertainty; growing individualization and social diversity; expanding economic and cultural uniformity; the degradation of the ecosystem services on which they depend and mounting vulnerability and exposure to natural and technological hazards. Addressing complex challenges and current and future uncertainty are at the heart of Agenda 2030 and are therefore the focus of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals originally conceived by the UN, with particular emphasis on SDG4: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”
SDGs address critical global challenges, and to overcome them, everyone (youth and adults, men and women, citizens and professionals in all fields) requires key competences that enable them to engage constructively and responsibly with today’s world and to actively participate in the necessary transformations. The aim is to promote comprehensive Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Education for Global Citizenship (EGC) programs through 21st century skills, focused on providing sustainability education for future generations of professionals. The creation of knowledge, as well as its acquisition, validation, and use, must be common to all people as part of a collective social endeavor.
