Why has gender equality been one of the main topics of the Sustainable Development Goals, which the United Nations is working to achieve by 2030? How does equality between men and women add value and strengthen the concept of sustainability, which is essential for all of us today?
On the one hand, the world is battling conflicts and climate change that have forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes and forced them to migrate to other countries. On the other, it is battling issues with a distribution made worse by the global economic downturn and resource scarcity that keeps people in constant fear and anxiety. Why did the United Nations embrace gender equality even more in this case, far from ignoring it, by giving it a wide range of Development Goals? Why are there such severe concerns that, if not addressed right away, might do unanticipated harm to the people of the globe? The answer to these questions is obvious. The United Nations knows women's practical and equal presence in society is indispensable for a sustainable world.
Gender equality is ignored and undervalued in the context of sustainability. However, sustainability is "the concept of doing business, which starts from the energy sector and spreads to other business lines, where the use of resources is maintained by reproducing the resource rationally and efficiently, thus increasing the social and economic welfare of the society." Gender equality was identified as a critical heading. It was considered to have a multiplier effect in accomplishing other goals in the Development Goals specified by the United Nations under 17 main titles.
So, how will women's practical and equal presence have a multiplier effect?
Fifty-four million women withdrew from the labor market in 2020. Only one in four seats in parliament is occupied by a woman. In regions where conflicts occur, the female representation rate is much worse. With COVID-19, women's invisible domestic labor has increased considerably. Women with children had to allocate 31 hours a week to childcare during the pandemic. Again, half of the refugee girls enrolled in secondary school before the pandemic could not return to their schools. In 2020, women's access to safe food was 10 percent less than men's. In addition, half of the women with a newborn do not receive any maternity benefits. Let's imagine a world where all these restrictive, negative, and exclusionary scenarios are reversed. Equality between men and women is ensured; women can access safe food as much as men, benefit from education and welfare as much as men, be represented as men in world parliaments, share invisible domestic labor equally with men, participate in the labor market in line with their skills and efforts and contribute as much as men, and a world where they can realize themselves and their full potential. In a just world where women participate effectively and equally, enrich and contribute with their efforts and talents, are part of responsible production and consumption, and can freely make their own decisions, poverty, famine, and hunger, environment and nature destruction will decrease, quality education, clean water and hygiene, health and welfare, dignified work and economic growth, peace, justice, strong institutions, sustainable cities and societies, clean energy, industry, innovation, and infrastructure respect for nature and the environment will increase and spread.
With each passing day, the awareness that gender equality is one of the cornerstones of a sustainable world and thus, the increase in efforts to ensure gender equality, which is one of the main topics of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, will have a multiplier effect on the other main topics mentioned above, it will make them accessible and more manageable. Considering all, it has understood that sustainability lies at the heart of a world where women can freely realize their potential and take responsibility for their actions.
Author:
Furkan Ünal
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