Achieve Gender Equality and Empower All Women and Girls
Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, it is one of the essential foundations for building a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. Women are an essential part of our culture, but they face challenges in obtaining their privileges and equality treatment. Women's rights to education, health, welfare, employment, expertise, decision-making authority, a decent quality of life, and fairness should be strengthened.
WHY IS GENDER EQUALITY SO IMPORTANT?
According to UN figures, women and girls represent half of the world's population, which means that they account for half of the world's human potential. If we were to achieve a better quality of life, real gender equality, we would obtain a series of benefits that would have a global impact on society.
Decent work, basic rights, and a set of wage-based regulations would lead to improvements in education and health, something that would ultimately reflect positively on girls and those who depend on them. Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls is therefore SDG 5 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, adopted in September 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda.
TARGETS
Globally, as a society we have made some progress on gender equality since the turn of the century, but there is still a long way to go. Therefore, the targets for 2030 are:
Eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, such as trafficking, sexual exploitation, child marriage and female genital mutilation.
Recognize and value unpaid domestic work through public services, infrastructure and social protection policies.
Ensure women's full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all decision-making levels in political, economic and public life.
Adopt and strengthen policies and laws to promote gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.
Current status:
Violence against women and girls during the COVID-19 has been intensified. The financial dependency, limited formal and social support, and fear of stigma force women to stay in abusive relationships or families. During the pandemic more women than men lost their jobs, more women are working under unpaid domestic works, and more women left their jobs to provide childcare. And it makes them even more vulnerable. Women are mostly the caregiver in their families during the crisis. The frontline healthcare workforce consists of more women but they cannot participate equally in healthcare decision-making and management. And the discriminatory laws are even standing in front of their empowerment.
SDG-4 (Quality Education), SDG-5 (Gender Equality) and SDG-10 (Reduce Inequality):
Education elevates people’s knowledge, skills, and abilities, makes them better employees, creates more aware customers, and makes companies’ market segments more uniform, which consequently, saves them a lot of marketing and production diversity costs. Differences such as race, gender, and education do not make individuals different or restrict their human rights. Equal opportunities provide people with better chances of improvement. The equitable expansion of society and development of the potential of all people is to the benefit of corporations, since these people are their potential customers and employees.