Accelerating progress on Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5): Achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls

Summary:

Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) – 'achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls' – is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations (UN) that is very likely to be missed by the target date of 2030. This undermines the rest of the goals. The inclusion in the SDGs of a standalone goal on gender equality was seen as a spur to mobilise action and resources to tackle persistent barriers to women and girls' full enjoyment of their rights, which also undermine sustainable development. The targets in SDG 5 specify actions or outcomes that countries should aim for. These are to remove discriminatory legislation and social norms, eliminate gender-based violence, ensure the bodily autonomy of women and girls, value their unpaid care work and close gender gaps in access to resources and decision-making. At the mid-point to 2030, no country or region in the world has achieved all these targets. Already slow, global progress has stalled, prompting evaluation of which policy measures have been effective, where gaps exist and how to catalyse further action. The European Union (EU) supported the inclusion of SDG 5 and has comprehensive policy frameworks in place to support non-EU countries to achieve the targets and to advance gender equality in the Union. In the EU itself, many of the targets are on track, but progress has been uneven, with significant disparities between Member States. The European Parliament has taken a strong stance on putting gender equality at the heart of sustainable development policy and has called for concrete steps to accelerate progress towards SDG 5.

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