SDG 5: Gender Equality
Achieving gender equality is crucial to realizing many of the SDGs - after all you cannot expect to achieve any global goal if half the world’s population is not fully empowered.
SDG 5 looks at all dimensions of gender equality and empowering all women and girls.
This particular goal has 9 targets and 14 indicators that look at all dimensions of gender equality including economic, political and societal inclusion and participation; eliminating violence and harmful practices against women; and ensuring sexual and reproductive health.
Target 5.1
End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.
What it means
Discrimination is defined as the unjust or prejudicial treatment of a certain category of people. This target looks at whether or not legal frameworks are in place to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex. Specifically, it looks at legal frameworks that address four major dimensions (UN Stats):
Public life, such as the ability to vote, hold public office, and hold equal rights as a citizen
Violence against women, which looks at if there are laws that punish violent acts against women
Employment and economic benefit, such as the ability to be hired, receive equal pay, and parental leave
Marriage and family such as a minimum age for marriage and that generally women have the same rights as men in a relationship
Where we are currently
According to the most recent SDG report done by UN Statistics, “discriminatory laws and legal gaps continue to prevent women from enjoying their full human rights, based on data collected in 95 countries across these four areas of law in 2020. In the area of overarching legal frameworks and public life, more than half of the countries with data lacked quotas for women in national parliaments, and close to one fifth maintained discriminatory nationality laws. In the area of violence against women, 83 per cent of countries included budgetary commitments to implement legislation addressing violence against women, but 63 per cent lacked rape laws based on the principle of consent. In the area of employment and economic benefits, over 90 per cent of countries mandated non-discrimination on the basis of gender in employment, but almost half of them continued to restrict women from working in certain jobs or industries. In the area of marriage and family, almost a quarter of countries failed to grant women equal rights with men to enter into marriage and initiate divorce, and three quarters of countries did not stipulate 18 years as the minimum age of marriage for women and men, with no exceptions.”
Target 5.2
Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.
What it means
This target focuses on eliminating physical, sexual or psychological violence against women both within their intimate partner relationships and by people other than their intimate partners. Physical violence consists of acts aimed at physically hurting a victim. Sexual violence is defined as any sort of harmful or unwanted sexual behaviour that is imposed on someone, whether it be by use of physical force, or intimidation, or coercion. And psychological violence consists of any act that induces fear or emotional distress. It includes a range of behaviours that encompass acts of emotional abuse such as being frequently humiliated in public or intimidated, as well as controlling behaviours (UN Stats).
It is measured with two indicators, the proportion of women and girls aged 15 or older subjected to violence in the last twelve months - one specifically looking at their partners the other looking at any other aggressor.
Where we are currently
Nearly one in three women or 736 million women have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence at least once since the age of 15 - the majority of which is perpetrated by current or former intimate partners. In fact, more than 640 million women have been subjected to intimate partner violence which is about 26 per cent of women aged 15 and older. If we look at violence by other aggressors, evidence has shown that globally, an estimated 7% of women have been sexually assaulted by someone other than a partner at some point in their lives. However, the true prevalence of non-partner sexual violence is likely to be much higher, considering the particular stigma related to reporting this form of violence. (UN Women)
We do see differences depending on region. There are consistently higher rates of violence in low- and lower-middle-income regions compared with high-income regions. These variations are likely due to the challenges that women often face in leaving abusive relationships, such as insufficient economic resources, limited availability and access to formal support services, weak social support networks, and fear of repercussions associated with social stigma.
One hundred thirty-seven women are killed by someone close to them every single day. It is estimated that of the 87,000 women were intentionally killed in 2017 and more than one third or 30,000 of these women were killed by their current or former intimate partner. (UN Women)
Women and girls also account for 72 per cent of trafficking victims. (UN Women)
Unfortunately, the pandemic has only exacerbated these issues so these statistics are actually getting worse unlike many of the other SDGs where we see consistent improvement. I won’t get into all of the details in this video because I have one that explains these dynamics in detail that I will link above.
Target 5.3
Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.
What it means
Child marriage refers to any formal marriage or informal union between a child under the age of 18 and an adult or another child. Girls who marry before 18 are more likely to experience domestic violence and less likely to remain in school. Female genital mutilation (FGM) refers to “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.” This target aims to completely end and eliminate both of these practices.
Where we are currently
Over the last ten years, the rates of child marriage has decreased from one in four girls 10 years ago to approximately one in five today. Before the pandemic, more than 100 million girls were expected to enter into child marriage over the next decade but estimates now expect up to 10 million more girls to be added to that number. (UNICEF)
More than 200 million girls and women alive today have been cut in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where FGM is concentrated. Overall, the practice of FGM has been declining steadily over the last three decades with around 1 in 3 girls aged 15 to 19 today having undergone the practice versus 1 in 2 in the late-1980s. (WHO)
Target 5.4
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.
What it means
Unpaid care work refers to work that contributes to meeting the basic physical and emotional needs of individuals, families and communities. It includes caring for children, elderly people and people who have fallen ill, as well as housework, preparing and cooking food, collecting firewood, fuel and water. Unpaid care work makes it nearly impossible for women to fully realize economic opportunities this is why the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection are so crucial. These include things like affordable child care, strong healthcare systems, social safety nets, etc. According to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation unpaid work can be addressed on a Triple R framework - recognition, making it visible, reduction of tasks overall, and redistribution so that men share in more of the household duties. (SDC)
Where we are currently
Worldwide, about 75% of the world’s unpaid care work is carried out by women, and women spend about 2.5 times as many hours on unpaid care work as men. (UN Stats) Having said that, things are trending in the right direction and men are doing more unpaid work every year. It is also worth noting that both and women have taken on more household work due to the pandemic, especially when it comes to child education.
Target 5.5
Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.
What it means
This target looks at the proposition of women in leadership positions both in government and in the workforce with a goal of them having equal opportunity and being equally represented. Having women at the table is crucial to making inclusive, fair and balanced policy and decisions.
Where we are currently
The global average of women in national parliaments is on an upward trend but still was only 25.6%, and 36.3% in local governments. At the current rate, it would take no fewer than 40 years to achieve gender parity in national government. Only 23 countries have at least 40% female representation in their parliament. Though women accounted for nearly 39 per cent of the global labour force in 2019, they occupied only 28.2 per cent of managerial positions. (UN Stats)
Target 5.6
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.
What it means
The sexual and reproductive health and rights agreed in the two documents referenced in this targeted are multifaceted and includes many dimensions including: making reproductive health services accessible including family-planning; education and services for prenatal care, safe delivery and post-natal care; prevention and appropriate treatment of infertility; abortion, including prevention of abortion and the management of the consequences of abortion; treatment of reproductive tract infections, sexually transmitted diseases and other reproductive health conditions; information and counselling on human sexuality, reproductive health and responsible parenthood; and active discouragement of harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation. (UNFPA)
It is measured by the proportion of women aged 15–49 years who make their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care and the number of countries with laws and regulations that guarantee full and equal access to women and men aged 15 years and older to sexual and reproductive health care, information and education.
Where we are currently
According to the United Nations Population Fund, only 55% of married or in-union women aged 15 to 49 make their own decisions regarding sexual and reproductive health and rights, based on data from 57 countries. This varies greatly by region with less than 40% feeling empowered in Middle Africa and Western Africa versus nearly 80% in some countries in Europe, South-eastern Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. (UNFPA)
For the second measurement, there is less data available but in a study of 75 countries they had, on average, 73% of the laws and regulations needed to guarantee full and equal access to sexual and reproductive health rights. However, policies related to sexual and reproductive education were severely lacking with countries having on average 57% of enabling laws, regulations or national policies that make sexuality education a mandatory component of the national school curriculum. (UNFPA)
Means of Implementation
5A 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.
5B Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women.
5C 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
Keep Learning
Here are a few great resources for further reading and learning:
Goal 5 Overview (2021, United Nations)
The Impact of COVID 19 on Women (2020, United Nations)
SDG Tracker (2021, Our World in Data)
Visualizing Sex as a Spectrum (2017, Scientific American)
UN Stats SDG 5 (2021, United Nations)
Women continue to carry the load when it comes to unpaid care work (2021, The Guardian)
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