A high-level panel on the role of gender equality and women's empowerment in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Asia and the Pacific has called for greater efforts by governments to prioritise women’s rights in the region.
“We must not be complacent about the 2030 deadline to realise gender equality and the SDGs.” said Shashad Akhtar, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary, ESCAP, in her opening remarks.
“We cannot afford to regress on the development gains made so far; we must continue to build momentum in successfully completing the task at hand,” she added..
“Let us not miss this window of opportunity to take bold and transformative steps in this collective journey – a journey to achieve equality between women and men, and a better future for all.”
Despite progress in gender equality and women’s empowerment made in Asia and the Pacific on several fronts, significant gaps still remain.
Women continue to be paid less and are more likely to find themselves in vulnerable employment with low wages, no formal contracts or labour rights and minimal social protection.
Gender pay gap
In 2015, the gender pay gap in the region as a whole reached an astounding 20 per cent.
The session was moderated by Sharman Stone, Australia's Ambassador for Women and Girls, and was held during the ongoing Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD 2017) here.
It identified key recommendations to support gender equality and women's empowerment in strengthening the implementation of the SDGs in the region.
The panel comprised high-level government representatives, gender experts from the academic community as well as civil society actors from across the region.
“We see the SDGs as an opportunity to strengthen partnerships between governments, civil society and commercial sector to support opportunities for women and girls,” said Stone.
Root causes
Maithree Wickramasinghe, founding Director of the Centre for Gender Studies at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, said that the ‘root causes’ of inequities faced by women and girls range from oppressive socio-cultural norms and practices, to legal and policy-based discrimination, to the burden of unpaid work responsibilities, to household power dynamics, to sexual and gender-based violence and so on.
“Without prioritising and addressing these ‘root causes’ that affect half the population in the region, it would not be possible to make a dent, let alone fulfill the SDGs,” she added.
The panel also highlighted that reducing gender gaps in health, education and labour markets have been shown to contribute to lower poverty, higher economic growth, greater productivity and more resilient communities.
Equally, failure to address gender inequality is likely to derail the achievement of the SDGs.
The conclusions and recommendations at the APFSD forum will inform discussions of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) at the global level, to be convened in New York in July 2017.