Why gender equality is key to sustainable development?
Twenty years ago, the adoption by 189 governments marked a turning point in the history of women’s rights. This progressive blueprint remains a powerful source of inspiration in the effort to realize equal opportunities for women and girls.
But whereas a lot of progress has been created in the intervening decades, much more remains to be done to confirm that women and kids are guaranteed healthy lives, education, and full social inclusion. In just 42 countries do women hold quite 30 minutes of seats within the national legislature, and girls still do not have equivalent educational opportunities as boys in geographical region, Oceania, and Western Asia.
Gender equality is not just the concern of half of the world’s population; it is a human right, a concern for us all, because no society can develop – economically, politically, or socially – when half of its population is marginalized. We must leave no one behind.
This is a year of worldwide action. Governments will adopt a new set of property Development Goals, work together to draft a meaningful climate agreement, and craft a framework to provide the financial resources required to deliver on a world sustainable development agenda. Those participating would be wise to remember that inclusive sustainable development are often realized only all human rights – as well as gender equality – are protected, respected, and fulfilled.
It is critical that we continue to engage men and boys actively in the fight against gender-based discrimination and violence. We have an opportunity to secure a better future and raise a new generation of girls and boys who respect one another and work together to protect the rights of all people.
The implications of not providing girls with equal voices, choices, and opportunities affect not just their lives, but the future of the planet. Efforts to promote inclusive sustainable development and fight climate change are inextricably linked. If we care about development, we must care about the consequences our greenhouse-gas emissions are having around the world. And if we do not take urgent action, we will irreparably damage the natural systems on which life depends.
This is not a threat that we are able to put aside until we've got eradicated poverty worldwide. Nor is it a haul that we can leave to future generations to address. Left unchecked, climate change – along with different unsustainable patterns of development – could wipe out the gains of recent decades. All countries – developed and developing – have a role to play in ensuring a stable world for our children.
Women are among those most vulnerable to the impacts of unsustainable practices and climate change, because they usually have no independent income or land rights. In many countries, women are responsible for the provision of water and food for their families. And when the usual sources of these resources are disrupted, women are forced to travel farther and spend a lot of time operating for fewer returns. Scarcity requires them to build tough choices like pulling children out of school or deciding which family member can afford to skip a meal.
In many homes around the world, women are at the heart of the household’s nexus of water, food, and energy – and thus usually know firsthand about the challenges and potential solutions in these areas. In our conversations with women around the world, we hear about their struggles, but also their ideas, many of which, if applied, could facilitate amendment. Women are the most convincing advocates for the solutions that they need, so they should be at the forefront of decision-making on sustainable development and climate-change mitigation.
Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls:
Empowering women and promoting gender equality is crucial to accelerating sustainable development. Ending all forms of discrimination against women and women isn't only a basic human right, but it additionally has a multiplier factor impact across all different development areas.
Since 2000, UNDP together with our UN partners and therefore the rest of the global community has made gender equality central to our work, and we have seen some remarkable successes. More women are now in school compared to fifteen years ago, and most regions have reached gender parity in primary education. Women now make up to forty one percent of paid employees outside of agriculture, compared to 35 percent in 1990.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to build on these achievements to make sure that there is an end to discrimination against girls and women everywhere. There are still gross inequalities in access to paid employment in some regions, and significant gaps between men and women in the labour market. Sexual violence and exploitation, the unequal division of unpaid care and domestic work, and discrimination in public higher cognitive process, all remain huge barriers.
Ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health, and affording women equal rights to economic resources such as land and property, are very important targets to realizing this goal. There are now a lot of women in public workplace than ever before, but encouraging more women leaders across all regions will facilitate strengthen policies and legislation for greater gender equality.
Gender equality is one of 17 global Goals that compose the 2030 Agenda for sustainable Development. An integrated approach is crucial for progress across the multiple goals.
GENDER EQUALITY IN PAKISTANI ORGANISATIONS:
Gender equality and women employment are ferociously contested issues, especially in countries like Pakistan which are characterized by patriarchal attitudes, weak policy implementation, and societal norms that weaken women’s positions in workplaces. Pakistan recently ranked second lowest on a list of 145 countries being evaluated for gender gap. Women from 48th of the inhabitants in Pakistan. A huge number inhabits in countryside areas, where essential facilities are lacking and women’s rights are mistreated. In those areas they are kept away from education, don’t have access to schools and colleges and usually became victims of honor killings, rape, early marriages and gender discrimination. In remote areas, women are treated as slaves and remains under their men only as a labor force. Usually their fate will be decided by their husbands, fathers and brothers, which are usually known as male dominating societies.
They do not have the correct to make a decision concerning important aspects of lives. For instance, marriage is also a form of business among rich and poor families; this tradition exists both in the villages and cities, which is extremely infringing on their rights to exist. In some of the areas the customary act of Swara is largely prevalent especially in Khyber Pakhtoon Khwa and Baluchistan ( provinces of Pakistan), by the virtue of which, instead of giving blood money as “badl-e-sulha”(retribute) an accused family gives their woman or girls in marriage to an aggrieved family as “compensation” to settle down the blood feud between them. In Pakistan there is triple legal system. Which consist of the general law (state law) of Pakistan, secondly the customary law and thirdly sharia law. In general law or in constitution the current status of sharia law is unclear. It provides for the existence of the triple legal system, acknowledges the existence of Sharia law in Pakistan and recognizes the associated court system, but the jurisdiction of Islamic law courts is set to matters of personal status and therefore does not extend to the criminal jurisdiction.
This is attributed to it by the penal codes that have been adopted at the amount of states. The Constitution does not explicitly state, however, that criminal matters are the exclusive jurisdiction of federal courts and it is therefore possible to address criminal matters in Islamic law courts.
USAID works with the Government of Pakistan and development partners in Improving Women’s Access to Economic Opportunities, Increasing Girls’ Access to Education, Supporting Maternal and Child Health, Combating Gender-based Violence, and Increasing Women’s Political and Civic Participation.
The empowerment of women and girls is important to assembling stable, democratic societies; safeguarding human rights; furthering international peace and security; growing vibrant market economies; addressing pressing health and education challenges; and making certain that development initiatives are effective. USAID is working to narrow the gaps between men and women to promote a more prosperous, stable, and inclusive society in Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
IMPROVING ACCESS TO ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES:
USAID is expanding the roles of women in agribusiness. The Agency is supporting women entrepreneurs in targeted product lines (mangoes, citrus, livestock, and high-value vegetables), providing grants directly to female agribusiness entrepreneurs, and incentivizing grantees to employ more female managers and employees. In the Satpara area, USAID is also serving to native women farmers prepare to engage in the slightest degree of the agri-business cycle (i.e. production, processing and marketing) through targeted trainings, grants, and equipment which permit them to produce high worth products that they can sell at high end markets. USAID is helping rural women earn additional income for their families by training them in livestock management, enabling them to provide extension services to fellow small dairy farmers.
USAID is improving women’s access to economic opportunities by increasing women’s access to technology, markets, and finance. The Agency is strengthening women’s chambers of commerce and business associations and helping to ensure policies--related to business registration and regulation, financing, and entrepreneurship--support businesswomen. USAID has also established a woman Leadership Development Program, which will ensure that women from across the general public and private sector participate in essential national trading policy discussions.
INCREASING GIRLS’ ACCESS TO EDUCATION:
To ensure additional women have the opportunity to pursue education, USAID is training female academics, which encourages families to send their women to school. Through the implementation of the United States Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls, USAID is working jointly with the government of Pakistan and other partners to help educate and empower more than 200,000 adolescent girls across Pakistan.
USAID is also supporting the restoration of educational facilities. USAID is rehabilitating girls’ schools in the Federally Administered tribal Areas (FATA) and KP that were damaged by conflict and natural disasters. USAID also funded the construction of a 384-bed women’s dormitory at Forman Christian College in Lahore so women from remote areas of the country can attend college.
To support higher education, USAID provides scholarships to deserving young Pakistani students (over five hundredth of whom are women), through the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program, to attend Pakistani institutions of higher education and to receive a higher education in the united states through the Fulbright Program.
SUPPORTING MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH:
USAID’s Maternal and Child Health program has been operating in Sindh since 2012 to increase the number of trained healthcare suppliers that can reach marginalized women and children can ensure equitable access to health services. USAID also created community-level forums to promote cohesion, understand grievances, and allow men and women to receive information regarding health and the way to access quality care. Safe spaces promoted open discussion around sensitive topics such as birth spacing, inter-spousal communication, the value of the girl child, and social customs like vanni (exchange bride) and forced marriages. They also provide a platform for ladies to gain greater control over their fertility.
Launched recently in KP, USAID’s new Integrated Health System Strengthening and Service Delivery Project, is designed to make sure that both men and women are included in the family planning process. The project will also modify women to utilize family planning methods in remote locations where traveling to distant clinics is challenging.
INCREASING WOMEN’S POLITICAL AND CIVIC PARTICIPATION:
USAID is working with UNDP and stakeholders such as the election commission of Pakistan (ECP), civil society organizations, and political parties to increase the inclusion of women in election processes. USAID supports the ECP’s newly established Gender and disability Electoral working group to guarantee that women are represented throughout the whole organization, including in leadership roles. Gender sensitive training is being provided to all employees, and data collected by the ECP are provides information on gender. USAID is also helping women to register to vote, conducting voter and civic education, and training aspiring women candidates.
