Women in power are the key to sustainable development (GS Paper 2, Social Justice)
Context:
- Women play a crucial role in ensuring the effectiveness and efficiency of sustainable development efforts. Their full and equal participation in decision-making and policy development is essential to create and maintain this pathway.
- Mainstreaming women’s greater participation in these roles is also crucial in ensuring the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Challenges:
- The restricted opportunities for women to access education, employment, leisure, and political participation reinforce gender-based social and economic inequalities.
- According to UNESCO, approximately 132 million girls do not attend school worldwide. Moreover, gender stereotypes and biases in educational materials and teaching practices remain pervasive, often discouraging girls from pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) studies.
- This disparity further translates into women’s low representation in critical sectors such as healthcare technology, environmental fields, and top executives in private companies.
Economic gender gap:
- According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), women’s labour force participation rate stood at 47 percent in 2022, compared to 72 percent for men. Even when women do work, they often earn less than men.
- The World Bank data indicates that in 2020, women earned, on average, 77 cents for every dollar that men earned for doing the same work.
- According to the UN Women, women perform three times as much unpaid care and domestic work as men. This imbalance, as of January 2023, women made up only 25.5 percent of national parliamentarians globally, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). At this rate, it will take another 50 years to reach gender parity in politics.
Protection of rights:
- The World Bank also reported that in 2021, women had only three-quarters of the legal rights afforded to men on average.
- Furthermore, women continue to experience higher rates of violence.
- A UN Women report claimed that 1 in 3 women globally had experienced either physical or sexual violence at least once in their lives.
Women in Decision making roles:
- Research compiled by the Frank Recruitment Group in 2022 found that 87 percent of the top 500 companies led by a female reported profits above the average. In contrast, only 78 percent of companies without a female CEO achieved the same level of success.
- Their presence in decision-making roles can also inspire future generations of women leaders, thereby furthering the cause of gender equality.
- Moreover, women leaders often prioritise social issues, including education, health, and social justice, contributing to a more equitable and sustainable society.
- Not only should women’s capabilities be enhanced and their rights protected, but they should also be provided with equal opportunities to engage in decision-making and policy development processes.
Roadmap:
Women’s equal representation:
- Propelling women to leadership roles is a multi-faceted task requiring changes on the part of multiple stakeholders. The journey, begins with women’s equal representation.
- To begin with, policy interventions by governments can help to achieve this. For instance, Norway has successfully implemented a 40-percent participation for women on corporate boards and has recently proposed expanding it to cover unlisted countries as well.
- Governments must further enact and enforce laws promoting women’s equal participation in all areas of public and private life. These laws should also prohibit discrimination based on gender and sanction appropriate measures for violations.
- Corporations should be incentivised to include women in leadership roles. Conscious enablement of talented women managers to be retained and rise in corporate structures is necessary.
Skills and knowledge:
- As mere representation in political and corporate governance is not enough, women should be provided with the necessary skills and knowledge to participate effectively in decision-making processes.
- This can be achieved through capacity-building programs, training, mentorship initiatives, and enabling women to network better for growth.
Education:
- Education systems should encourage girls to be active participants, leaders, and decision-makers. Introducing and reinforcing gender equality concepts from an early age can help create a society that values and promotes women’s participation in decision-making roles.
- In higher education, barriers to women’s participation in STEM fields and their subsequent employment in related fields must be identified and eliminated.
Way Forward:
- The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure peace and prosperity for all. The gender equality is not just a standalone goal but a crucial facilitator in achieving all our sustainable development objectives.
- Thus, our success in sustainable development hinges heavily on our ability to foster gender equality, dismantle patriarchal norms, and amplify the voices and capabilities of women worldwide.
