Women and Sustainable Development Goals

Dr. Prabuddh Kumar Mishra, Department of Geography, Shivaji College, University of Delhi,
Delhi. E mail- prab19@gmail.com Contact: 09711440385 (Corresponding Author)
Dr. Pratibha Tripathi, Department of Sanskrit, Rajdhani College, University of Delhi, Delhi.

Abstract

Women and girls make up more than half the world’s population and they are on the
frontlines, often more deeply impacted than men and boys by poverty, climate change, food
and nutrition insecurity, lack of healthcare system, and global economic and environmental
crises. Strengthening women’s participating in political sphere is also a critical step towards
empowerment of women. Women have a vital role in environment and development. Their
full participation is therefore is essential to achieve sustainable development goals. Their
contributions and leadership are central to finding a solution. With the new global 2030
roadmap and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) approved by UN Member States on
25 September 2015, we take a look at how women are affected by SDGs, as well as how
women and girls can and will be key to achieving these goals. Ending all forms of
discrimination against women and girls is not only a basic human right, but it also crucial to
accelerating sustainable development. It has been proven time and again, that empowering
women and girls has a multiplier effect, and helps drive up economic growth and
development across the board. This article delves into the role of women in achieving SDG
and how SDG is going to impact women will be discussed.
Key Words: SDGs, Women, Sustainability, Discrimination, Human Right.

Introduction
We live in a world described by significant complexities and contrasts. People living in the
rich countries of the world may not realize that but grinding poverty, poor living conditions
gender discrimination are major characteristics of the globe. A study undertaken by the
World Institute for Development Economics and Research (2006) showed that the one facet
of the world is characterized by rich, celebrity, fame and success but at the other extreme,
curse of poverty, unemployment, hunger, gender inequality and other alarming issues.
Drawing on grounded research from a range of contexts, we explore how people’s lives are
entwined with processes of development, culture and inequality from micro to macro levels.
Placing people’s everyday lives at the centre brings the question of poverty, inequality and
difference sharply into focus. Such an approach clearly reveals the multidimensional nature
of poverty and the way this is linked to axes of social differences and inequality, including
gender, age, disability, ill health, sexuality, race and ethnicity among other factors. The
concept of intersectionality, which emerged from feminist engagement with questions of
difference, is particularly useful in exploring the ways that a range of markers of social
differences intersect and interact throughout the life course (Hopkins, 2007).
Voices around the world are demanding leadership on poverty; gender inequality and climate
change and many other relevant issues like equity and human right. We need to look at the
various sectors of the economy and discuss how each sector can be made more
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environmentally and socially sound, thereby contributing to sustainable development. Since
gender inequality constitutes one of the history’s most persistent and widespread forms of
injustice, eliminating it will call for one of history’s biggest movements for change. Women
and girls continue to suffer discrimination and violence in every part of the world. Gaps in
gender equality exist in every sector. In South Asia, only 74 girls were enrolled in primary
school for every 100 boys in 1990. However, by 2012, the enrolment ratios were the same. In
155 countries, at least one law exists which impedes women’s economic opportunities.
Women in most countries on average earn only 60% to 75% of wages paid to men. Only
22.8% of all national parliamentarians are women. One in three women experience some
form of physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes (SDG-5).

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals form a cohesive and integrated package of global
aspirations the world commits to achieving by 2030 (Fig-1). Building on the
accomplishments of their predecessors the MDGs, the SDGs address the most pressing global
challenges of our time, calling upon collaborative partnerships across and between countries
to balance the three dimensions of sustainable development, economic growth, environmental
sustainability, and social inclusion (The United Nations, 2015).

Fig 1. Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere

Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable
agriculture
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning
opportunities for all
Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
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Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive
employment and decent work for all
Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and
foster innovation
Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries
Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable
development
Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably
manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt
biodiversity loss
Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide
access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for
sustainable development.

SDGs also known as the Global Goals are a universal call to action to end poverty and
gender discrimination, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and
prosperity in years to come. These 17 Goals build focuses on areas such as climate change,
gender inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption, peace and justice, among other
priorities. The goals are interconnected – often the key to success on one will involve
tackling issues more commonly associated with another. The SDGs work in the spirit of
partnership and pragmatism to make the right choices now to improve life, in a sustainable
way, for future generations. They provide clear guidelines and targets for all countries to
adopt in accordance with their own priorities and the environmental challenges of the world
at large. The SDGs are an inclusive agenda. They tackle the root causes of poverty and unite
us together to make a positive change for both people and planet (UNDP, 2016).
Women: The Challenges
Women support women’s organizations working to stop violence against women, increase
girls’ access to education, advance economic and political opportunity, and improve health.
More than a Billion Women (i.e., the majority of the world’s female population) live in
poor, rural areas. Most of them are illiterate, malnourished, exhausted, or even ill, and are
forced to work long hours for little reward. Gender-based violence against women - female
infanticide, sexual trafficking and exploitation, dowry killings and domestic violence -
causes more death and disability among women in the 15 to 44 age group than cancer,
malaria, traffic accidents and war combined (Center for Women Policy Studies, 2013).
Naturally, men share many of these hardships, but women still bear the greatest burden. In
nearly all “underdeveloped” countries, boys are favoured over girls from the moment of
birth, since parents consider sons as a guarantee for their economic security in old age. Girls,

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on the other hand, marry into some other family. Thus, even under conditions of abject
poverty, boys are better fed, clothed, and educated than girls. According to some official
data only 1% of the world's assets are in the name of women (Women’s Learning
Partnership, 2013), Over $7 trillion worth of women’s work goes unpaid (United Nations
Platform for Action, 2012) 2.1 billion women live on less than two dollars a day, and 330
million women live on less than a dollar a day (Center for Women Policy Studies, 2013) In
the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, only 40 women per 100 men are
economically active in the formal economy (US News Center, 2014). In emergencies and in
case of natural disasters, female needs also take second place. Furthermore, in many poor
countries women have few rights and are early given away in marriage with hardly a voice
in the matter. Backbreaking work and constant pregnancies then keep them weak and
dependent. Attempts by governments and international agencies to raise the general standard
of living in poor communities may well have the opposite effect on women by increasing
their workload. Under such depressing circumstances, “women’s liberation” has a special
meaning and, indeed, poses a challenge to the women’s movement in the rich and powerful
West.
Some of the poor countries have, in the meantime, made great strides toward economic
progress and, in some cases, such as in the People’s Republic of China, a considerable degree
of sexual equality has been achieved. It is also interesting to note that in recent times some
“developing” nations, such as India, Sri Lanka, and Israel have chosen women as heads of
state, an example that still waits to be emulated in other parts of the world. On the whole, one
might say that the emancipation of women is no longer a “Western” issue, and that its global
implications are increasingly being recognized.
Women and SDGs
It has been long and widely argued that women are the key to sustainable development: ‘the
achievement of sustainable development is inextricably bound up with the establishment of
women’s equality’ (WRI, 1994). Early research and development work had focused on
women’s role in the domestic sphere and on bringing women into development through
programmes addressing ‘women’s areas’. Further, the approach of eco-feminists suggests
that women have natural affinity with nature aligned to their child-bearing qualities that men
do not have. In this context, the SDGs seek to change the course of the 21st century,
addressing key challenges such as poverty, inequality, and violence against women and
girls. The SDGs aim to build on these achievements to ensure that there is an end to
discrimination against women and girls everywhere. There are still huge inequalities in the
labour market in some regions, with women systematically denied equal access to jobs.
Sexual violence and exploitation, the unequal division of unpaid care and domestic work,
and discrimination in public office, all remain huge barriers. Affording women equal rights
to economic resources such as land and property are vital targets to realizing this goal. So is
ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health. Today there are more women in
public office than ever before, but encouraging women leaders will help strengthen policies
and legislation for greater gender equality.
By investing in the empowerment of women, we not only make progress on Goal 5 of the
SDGs, we also make gains on the alleviation of poverty and fuel sustainable economic
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growth. The detailed list of targets stapled with goal 5 is as follows:
Targets
 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.

Goal 5 and India

With a view to empower women at micro level, in recent times, the 73 rd Amendment to the
Indian constitution has promoted women’s participation in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).
Although India has achieved gender parity at the primary education level and is on track to
achieve parity at all education levels, as of August 2015, the proportion of seats in Parliament
held by women had only reached 12% against the target of 50%. India is also confronting the
challenge of violence against women. As an example, a baseline study revealed that in New
Delhi, 92% of women had experienced some form of sexual violence in public spaces during
their lifetime. The Government of India has identified ending violence against women as a
key national priority, which resonates with the SDGs of the United Nations on gender
equality. The Prime minister’s Beti Bachao Beti Padhao initiative aims at equal opportunity
and education for girls in India. In addition, specific interventions on female employment,
programmes on the empowerment of adolescent girls, the Sukanya Sambridhi Yojna on girl
child prosperity and the Janani Suraksha Yojna for mothers advance India’s commitment to
gender equality, and the targets of Goal 5.

The Way Forward

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Achieving gender equality and sustainable development by 2030 will require stepping up
efforts at all fronts. As a significant step the 2030 Agenda acknowledges that equality must
be based on both opportunity and outcome. This is written out in target 10.3 of SDG 5:
“Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating
discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies
and action in this regard”. Not only the targets of SDG 5 but also many targets of other
SDGs are linked to women's empowerment: there are targets on gender dimensions of
poverty, health, education, employment and security, for example. In fact, gender equality
and the empowerment of women are essential across all SDGs and their targets. Therefore, it
is crucial to take a holistic view of gender equality throughout the entire framework. As a
result of a wide-ranging consultation process with the UN, Member States, civil society and
international organizations. UN Women also works to empower women and girls through all
of its programmes and advocacy and have put forward a position paper setting out
suggestions for global indicators to effectively monitor how the SDGs are being
implemented for women and girls. SDGs in their goals 5 are considering including
additional gender indicators as advocated by UN women for the relevant targets, as well as a
systematic disaggregation by sex of all relevant indicators across all SDGs and targets.

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