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.

Background Although abortion is legal in Thailand for a number of indications, women from Burma residing in Thailand are rarely able to access safe services. We evaluated the outcomes of a community-based distribution program that provides migrant, refugee, and cross-border women from Burma with evidence-based information about and access to misoprostol for early pregnancy termination.

Ruth Machuma Ndunde with her cow
Nearly 30 years on from its launch by a group of UK West Country dairy farmers, the charity Send a Cow is making a big difference to people’s lives in seven countries in Africa. With its new campaign under way, Farmers Weekly finds out what the charity hopes to achieve and how farmers abroad are benefiting with the help of their UK counterparts. Endeavours such as this support SDG 1 No Poverty, and SDG 2 Zero Hunger and are a great example of SDG 17 Partnerships for the goals in action.
Elsevier,

Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 116, 1 October 2017, Pages 372-378.

This article develops a theoretical framework to develop current understandings of evolutionary origins of same-sex attraction within women. This research may therefore help drive forward SDG 10 (reduced inequalities).
Background The Sustainable Development Goals strongly focus on equity. Goal 5 explicitly aims to empower all women and girls, reinforcing the need to have a reliable indicator to track progress. Our objective was to develop a novel women's empowerment indicator from widely available data sources, broadening opportunities for monitoring and research on women's empowerment. Methods We used Demographic and Health Survey data from 34 African countries, targeting currently partnered women.
Elsevier, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 72, 1 September 2017
Working mothers often find themselves in a difficult situation when trying to balance work and family responsibilities and to manage expectations about their work and parental effectiveness. Family-friendly policies such as maternity leave have been introduced to address this issue. But how are women who then make the decision to go or not go on maternity leave evaluated?
This paper extends the debate about redressing persistent gender inequality in Australia by examining the relationship between labour productivity and the wage gap in all states and territories (1986–2013). It is a critical case study as Australia's widening gender wage gap is contrary to other developed nations. Using four different estimation methods, we find that reducing the gap by 10% can boost per capita output up to 3%. To check the robustness of our findings, we also control for the effects of both physical and human capital.
Given the increased vulnerability to, and rise in reports of, sexual violence in post-disaster situations this article seeks to explore the role of self-defense programmes as a response to addressing violence against women and girls. It draws on the authors’ experience of post-earthquake Nepal in 2015. We argue that self-defense training can play a crucial role in challenging normative gender roles, raising confidence and self-esteem in girls and women during and post disaster, and call for further research to take place at the local level to explore this important issue further.
Elsevier,

Journeys of Embodiment at the Intersection of Body and Culture, The Developmental Theory of Embodiment, 2017, Pages 201-256

This chapter advances goals 3 and 5 by examining how the adult women can recapture physical and mental freedom, empowering relationships and membership in equitable communities.
Elsevier,

Journeys of Embodiment at the Intersection of Body and Culture, The Developmental Theory of Embodiment, 2017, Pages 1-42

This chapter advances goals 3 and 5 by examining the description of the Developmental Theory of Embodiment, including two personal examples.
Strategic human resource management theory suggests that diversity and equality management (DEM) systems provide a firm with a competitive advantage, leading to superior performance. This study proposes and tests a moderated mediation model focusing on antecedents (i.e. top management team gender diversity) and consequences (i.e. performance) of DEM systems in the context of lower through middle management (LTMM) gender diversity. The model was tested in 248 medium-to large-sized organizations using time-lagged survey and archival data.

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