Gender equality and women's empowerment

Gender equality and women's empowerment play a vital role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined by the United Nations. Acknowledging the significance of SDG 5, which explicitly targets gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, it's worth noting that these elements are fundamentally tied to all 17 goals. Each goal, whether it pertains to poverty eradication, quality education, or climate action, is directly or indirectly affected by gender dynamics. Gender inequality inhibits economic growth (SDG 8) by depriving economies of the full potential of half its population, thereby exacerbating poverty (SDG 1) and hunger (SDG 2). Additionally, gender-based discrimination can limit access to quality education (SDG 4) and decent work (SDG 8) for women and girls, further perpetuating inequality. In health matters, gender roles and stereotypes often result in disparities in healthcare access and outcomes (SDG 3). With respect to environmental sustainability (SDGs 13, 14, and 15), women, particularly those in rural areas, bear the brunt of climate change impacts, but they also hold unique knowledge and skills crucial for mitigation and adaptation strategies. Likewise, women's underrepresentation in decision-making roles limits their influence on peace and justice (SDG 16) and partnerships for goals (SDG 17). Thus, achieving gender equality isn't only about justice for women and girls, but also about progress on every SDG. Women's empowerment creates a multiplier effect that boosts economic growth and promotes sustainable development, thereby setting a direct path towards achieving the SDGs. Encouragingly, concerted efforts worldwide are recognizing and amplifying women's roles in society, placing gender equality and women's empowerment at the heart of the SDGs. Such advancements signify a positive stride towards a balanced and equitable world.

Elsevier,

Teenagers, Sexual Health Information and the Digital Age, 2020, Pages 5-23

The term, sexual health, is frequently used in the applied context of sexual education and health promotion; according to the current working definition from the World Health Organization, sexual health is …a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation sexuality; it is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity. Sexual health requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence. For sexual health to be attained and maintained, the sexual rights of all persons must be respected, protected and fulfilled.
This chapter advances goals 2, 3 and 5 by examining indigenous traditional food-growing techniques and their role in sustainable farming. It advocates for more study and support for these techniques and innovations which are mostly driven by local women.
This chapter advances goals 5 and 11 by examining sustainable traditional ceramic-making techniques used in construction and for other household uses. There is a focus on the importance of women potters' role in the preparation of the naturally-derived materials.
Employees
State and local laws are expanding existing discrimination and harassment protections in order to encourage and promote diversity. This article explores some notable new laws based on emerging trends in diversity and inclusion. It supports SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).
It is a well-documented phenomenon that a group's gender composition can impact group performance. Understanding why and how this phenomenon happens is a prominent puzzle in the literature. To shed light on this puzzle, we propose and experimentally test one novel theory: through the salience of gender stereotype, a group's gender composition affects a person's willingness to lead a group, thereby impacting the group's overall performance.
Many factors have been proposed as potential causes for the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions. The present research leverages computational modeling and simulation to examine the impacts of external hiring and developmental opportunities, which may have consequences at different junctures in women's leadership labyrinth. Two agent-based simulations examined 1) the emergence of gender stratification in gender-balanced organizations and 2) the impact of reducing bias in external hiring and developmental opportunities in gender-stratified organizations.
This chapter advances SDGs 3, 5 and 16 by offering a call to action to everybody to understand domestic abuse, impacts and factors involved, and psychological needs.
Background: Women across the world are mistreated during childbirth. We aimed to develop and implement evidence-informed, validated tools to measure mistreatment during childbirth, and report results from a cross-sectional study in four low-income and middle-income countries. Methods: We prospectively recruited women aged at least 15 years in twelve health facilities (three per country) in Ghana, Guinea, Myanmar, and Nigeria between Sept 19, 2016, and Jan 18, 2018. Continuous observations of labour and childbirth were done from admission up to 2 h post partum.
Background: Globally, about 30% of women have experienced physical or sexual violence, or both, from an intimate partner during their lifetime. Associations between poverty and women's increased risk of intimate partner violence have been observed. We therefore aimed to assess the effect of a violence prevention intervention delivered to women participating in a group-based microfinance scheme in Tanzania. Methods: We did a cluster randomised controlled trial among women taking part in a microfinance loan scheme in Mwanza city, Tanzania.

Norway was the first of ten countries to legislate gender quotas for boards of publicly traded firms. There is considerable debate and mixed evidence concerning the implications of female board representation. In this paper, we explain the main sources of biases in the existing literature on the effects of women directors on firm performance and review methods to account for these biases.

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