The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were created in 2015 after the United Nations General Assembly. The list is made up of a total of 17 global goals, with the gender equality SDG being number five. Its main mission is to achieve equal treatment and the empowerment of women, representing an essential element based on inclusive and sustainable development.

“Leaving no one behind” is the motto of the international community led by the UN; The fifth goal – SDG 5 gender equality – allows us to advance in this task and achieve a better and more sustainable future.

What is SDG 5: gender equality?

Gender equality refers to the equity of “rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women and men, girls and boys,” according to the official United Nations definition. Ending discrimination against half of the world's population and, consequently, half of its potential is what the fifth of the Sustainable Development Goals pursues.

Another of its goals is to provide women and girls with equality and equity in health care, in access to education, in opportunities to apply for decent jobs and in achieving positions of representation in economic, public and social life policy. This objective of the United Nations fulfills a very important mission, since gender equality is a fundamental right and with it it is possible to end the discrimination that prevents the development of a healthy and sustainable society.

The 2030 Agenda and gender equality

In 2000, the Millennium Declaration was signed, a manifesto by which the 189 countries within the United Nations committed to ending extreme poverty by 2015, giving rise to the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). . The continuation of this strategy is addressed under the name of Agenda 2030, an action plan to enforce the seventeen global goals, defined at the UN General Assembly in 2015, with which all types of global challenges are faced.

With respect to SDG 5, the 2030 Agenda seeks effective gender equality throughout the world by that year and to achieve this it is necessary to adopt urgent measures to root out discriminatory laws against women and girls.

However, according to the UN SDG 2023 report, the 2030 Agenda on gender equality still has difficulties in fulfilling its mission. For example, 15.4% of the indicators of goal five on gender equality are “on track” and a higher percentage (61.5%) are “moderately on track.” The UN alleges that this is because progress has been “too” slow.

The United Nations collects this data with the help of the Human Development Index, which includes, among other parameters, the gender development index, gender inequality index and other indicators that allow obtaining information about the situation and level of development of a country. specific country.

SDG 5: gender equality and goals

Gender equality as an SDG addresses a series of goals to end different forms of discrimination that restrict the rights of women and girls in the world.

The goals of SDG 5 are nine and are developed below:

• Eliminate all discrimination against women and girls everywhere.
• End violence in any of its forms against women and girls, both in the public and private spheres. Trafficking, sexual exploitation and other types of exploitation are included in this heading.
• End harmful practices against women and girls. For example: child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.
• Unpaid care and unpaid domestic work will be recognized and valued through the provision of public services, the provision of infrastructure and the formulation of social protection policies, as well as by promoting shared responsibility in the home and family, as appropriate in each country.
• Guarantee the full and effective participation of women and equal leadership opportunities at all decision-making levels in political, economic and public life.
• Ensure reproductive rights in accordance with the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of its review conferences. This SDG goal seeks gender equality by guaranteeing universal access to sexual and reproductive health.
• Promote changes and reforms that provide half of the world's population with the right to economic resources under equal conditions. Also included is access to ownership and control of land and other assets, financial services, inheritances and natural resources, as established by the laws of each country.
• Achieve and promote the empowerment of women and girls and their leadership by improving the use of enabling technology, specifically information and communications technology.
• Approve and strengthen policies and laws that promote gender equality and female empowerment at all levels.

These goals of SDG 5 serve as a guide for any international cooperation project that applies the gender perspective in the actions carried out in underdeveloped countries, thus achieving the advancement of these nations towards a more sustainable, equitable future with better quality of life.