The Importance Of Achieveing Gender Equality And Empower All Women And Girls Of The Sustainable Development Goals
Society has the tendency to think that turning into a man or a woman is a straightforward process of biological development. Society is organized around the ideas that woman and men have different bodies, capabilities, needs and desires. The paper will examine the importance of gender equality.
What is gender? Gender is defined as the socially produced differences between being feminine and masculine (Holmes; 2007a) and Risman (2004) goes on to view gender as a social structure, which is embedded in the individual, interactional and institutional dimensions of society.
According to sociological theories, gender is a social construct rather than a biological given (Bussey and Bandura; 1999). This suggests that society must view gender as a social institution, as gender is constantly being created and recreated among society through our everyday interaction. (Gender becomes socialized through a wide variety of social structures that include the type of parenting, family structure, religious practices, media even in the curriculum of education). Since gender is concluded as a human product, its depends on everyone constantly doing it, as West and Zimmerman (1991) noted that gender is not something we born with, and not something we have but something we do or perform. Gender refers to the social attributes and opportunities associated with being male and female and the relationships among and between women, men, girls and boys. These attributes, opportunities and relationships are socially constructed and are learned through socialization processes. They are context- and time-specific and changeable. Gender determines what is expected, allowed and valued in a woman or a man in a given context.
In most, societies there are differences and inequalities between women and men in responsibilities assigned, activities undertaken, access to and control over resources, as well as decision-making opportunities. Gender is part of the broader socio-cultural context. (UNDP,2008). The questions that arises are, what is gender equality?, why is gender equality essential?, where do these inequality stem from? And how can gender equality be achieved?. Gender inequality is one of the biggest obstacles to sustainable development, economic growth and poverty reduction.
However, thanks to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) on gender equality and women’s empowerment, progress in enrolling girls into school and integrating women into job market has been considerable. The MDG gave the issue of gender parity a lot of visibility, but its narrow focus meant that it failed to address important issues such as violence against women, economic disparities and the low participation of women in political decision-making. Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing different behaviours, aspirations and needs equally, regardless of gender. Gender equality refers to the equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women, men, girls and boys. Equality does not mean that women and men will become the same but that women’s and men’s rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female.
Gender equality implies that the interests, needs and priorities of both women and men are taken into consideration – recognizing the diversity of different groups of women and men. Gender equality is not a “women’s issue” but should concern and fully engage men as well as women. Equality between women and men are seen both as a human rights issue and as a precondition for, and indicator of, sustainable people-centered development (UNDP, 2008). Gender equality explores the concept of women’s empowerment and highlights ways in which the indicators associated with this Goal; on education, employment and political participation can contribute to it. Gender equality in the access to education In Kenya, it was found that women with at least four years of schooling were able to correctly understand instructions for administering oral rehydration salts; but only those with at least secondary education were able to explain the environmental causes of diarrhoea. In Nigeria, less educated women were as likely as educated ones to have their children immunised; educated women were more likely than uneducated ones to know about family planning; but only secondary schooled women revealed an in-depth understanding about disease and prevention. Education increases the likelihood that women will look after their own well-being along with that of their family. A study in rural Zimbabwe found that among the factors that increased the likelihood of women accessing contraception and antenatal care – both of which improve maternal survival and well-being – were education and paid work (Becker).
In rural Nigeria, 96 per cent of women with secondary and higher education, 53 per cent of those with primary education, and 47 per cent of those with little or no education had sought post-natal care. Research has shown that better-educated women scored higher than less educated women on a composite index measuring their access to, and control over, resources, as well as their role in economic decision-making. Educated women also appear less likely to suffer from domestic violence. Gender equality leads to domestic violenceDomestic violence is the most common form of GBV among partners. It often involves physical violence or threats of violence. This kind of violence may also involve sexual assault, battery, coercion and sexual harassment (Sigsworth 2009; Tshwaranang Legal Centre 2012). Studies have found that imbalances of power in gender inequality and discriminatory patriarchal practices against women to be root causes of GBV. These patriarchal attitudes often favour men over women. In addition, there is an acknowledgment in the literature that GBV is caused by an interplay of individual, community, economic, cultural and religious factors interacting at different levels of society (Krug et al. 2015). Culturally, males are often placed in a powerful position in relation to women due to practices such as lobola, ukuthwala and Sharia law where women inherently hold a subordinate position to men (Althaus 1997; Ansell 2001; Moosa 1996). This often becomes normalised, with both males and females being socialised into conforming to these cultural and religious practices. Unfortunately, some of these practices implicitly or explicitly condone and tolerate GBV.
Challenges of gender equality
Every child deserves to reach her or his full potential, but gender inequalities in their lives and in the lives of those who care for them hinder this reality. Girls and boys see gender inequality in their homes and communities everyday – in textbooks, in the media and among the men and women who provide their care and support. Unequal responsibility for work in the home socializes children into thinking that these duties are women’s only roles, thereby curtailing generational change and narrowing girls’ ambitions. Boys and girls who witness gender-based violence in their home are more likely to replicate violent relationships as adults, either as perpetrator or victim. Outside the home, community health workers – predominantly women – are often low-skilled and voluntary or underpaid, with limited opportunity for professional growth to care for the vulnerable children and families they serve. Yet, in the early childhood gender disparities between girls and boys often start out relatively small. Girls have higher survival rates at birth, are more likely to be developmentally on track, and just as likely to participate in preschool. But, as girls and boys age, gender barriers expand. Chores, caring for siblings, and safety issues keep girls out of school, while expectations of earning money force boys to dropout. By the time children reach age 10, boys’ worlds often expand while girls’ worlds contract, resulting in negative consequences that can last a lifetime. Menstruation remains taboo, and without information, facilities and products to manage it, the health, welfare and educational prospects for millions of adolescent girls around the world are hindered. Adolescent girls also have an increased risk of gender-based violence – including sexual harassment – in times of both peace and conflict.
