Gender equality as a catalyst for achieving sustainable development

Women do beadwork at Kalama Community Wildlife Conservancy in Isiolo County on February 10, 2023. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI | NMG    

By PHYLIS WAKIAGA More by this Author

The World Bank estimates that women account for 50 percent of the world’s poor.

One way to reduce poverty and tackle Sustainable Development Goal 1 on No Poverty is to improve women’s access to resources, such as land and credit.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation report in 2020 if women were to have equal access to land for food production they could increase yields by up to 30 percent, which in turn helps to reduce poverty and hunger.

One in three women worldwide experiencing physical or sexual violence or gender-based violence is a major public health issue, according to Reports by UN Women.

To achieve good health and well-being for all under Goal 3, we must address women’s unique health challenges, such as maternal mortality and reproductive health issues.

Healthcare policies, programmes, and services need to consider their unique biological and social factors. These include providing gender-sensitive healthcare, maternal and reproductive healthcare, and health education with adequate funding in place to support the above.

Goal 4 focuses on quality education and in many countries, girls are less likely than boys to attend school and are more likely to drop out early.

Period poverty also contributes to this in sub-Saharan Africa, where one in 10 girls are estimated to miss school during their menstrual cycle, approximately 20 percent of a school year.

Education is therefore a key factor in reducing child marriage and promoting women’s empowerment according to a report by UNICEF published in 2020 on Ending Child Marriage.

Achieving gender equality in line with Goal 5 is not only a matter of human rights but also makes economic sense.

Women are more likely than men to work in informal, low-paying jobs with poor working conditions, according to an International Labour Organization (ILO) published in 2018 on Women and Men in the Informal Economy.

Increasing access to decent work and formal labour force participation by women, closing the gender pay gap and promoting women's leadership and political participation are some of the initiatives that can unlock the potential of half of the population to contribute to the economy and society, leading to increased productivity, economic growth and improved quality of life for all.