The United Nations is working on achieving sustainable development by 2030. There are 17 extremely important goals, but one that really stood out to me was to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
As a woman who lives in America, I know that there is still some inequality. However, I did not realize the severity of inequality in other countries. There is still massive amounts of women underrepresentation in all forms of government, domestic violence/ sexual assault is still very prevalent all over the world, and there are still so many young girls who are at risk for marriage.
Targets and Indicators
There are nine goals in ensuring gender equality by 2030.
- “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”
- “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 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”
Progress
While it may feel like there has been a substantial amount of progress made, unfortunately, there has not. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have went backwards in achieving equality. For example, violence has increased, child marriage has increased, and women are still underrepresented in government (even though they have played a crucial role in this pandemic). Women are still suffering with pay inequality all over the world.
What can you do?
I encourage everyone to look over all of the sustainable development goals, and see what you can do for your community. As for gender equality, inform others on what is going on around the world, send emails, call local government offices, attend events that are listed on the website. There are so many things you can do to make an impact on the world!
Thank you for reading!
Jillian DeMore
@DeMoreJillian
Jillian, I really enjoyed the layout of your post! I found the video on the 5th sustainable development goal that you included really helpful in explaining and understanding the goal. I also found the fact that you had sections with bolded headings was really clear and organized.