TELEVISION PRESENTATION

Agenda 2030

Gender equality

start

Section

What is Agenda 2030?

Quote

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a global framework adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, aimed at addressing the world’s most pressing challenges. It consists of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) designed to eradicate poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all by the year 2030. These goals are interconnected and focus on a broad range of issues, from climate action and clean energy to gender equality, quality education, and economic growth. The Agenda emphasizes inclusivity, with a strong commitment to “leaving no one behind,” ensuring that progress is made for all people, everywhere, regardless of their circumstances. Through collaborative efforts, the 2030 Agenda seeks to create a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world for present and future generations.

Section

Let's talk about gender equality!

Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. There has been progress over the last decades, but the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030. Women and girls represent half of the world’s population and therefore also half of its potential. But gender inequality persists everywhere and stagnates social progress. On average, women in the labor market still earn 23 percent less than men globally and women spend about three times as many hours in unpaid domestic and care work as men. Sexual violence and exploitation, the unequal division of unpaid care and domestic work, and discrimination in public office, all remain huge barriers. All these areas of inequality have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic: there has been a surge in reports of sexual violence, women have taken on more care work due to school closures, and 70% of health and social workers globally are women.

At the current rate, it will take an estimated 300 years to end child marriage, 286 years to close gaps in legal protection and remove discriminatory laws, 140 years for women to be represented equally in positions of power and leadership in the workplace, and 47 years to achieve equal representation in national parliaments. Political leadership, investments and comprehensive policy reforms are needed to dismantle systemic barriers to achieving Goal 5 Gender equality is a cross-cutting objective and must be a key focus of national policies, budgets and institutions.

Video

Section

The situation in Afghanistan

Quote

Women and children in Afghanistan make up the majority of the population, making them more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. In addition, following the arrival of the Taliban in Kabul, women are forced to have no freedom and to cover their faces completely when they are in public. They are also forced to drop out of education after the age of 12 and are not allowed to travel freely or work. This is one of the most serious situations, but in reality gender equality is not 100% present worldwide. In fact, one of the greatest social disparities is present within parliament, as there are very few women in parliament (25% less than the rest of the parlamentarians)

Section

How much progress have we made?

International commitments to advance gender equality have brought about improvements in some areas: child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) have declined in recent years, and women’s representation in the political arena is higher than ever before. But the promise of a world in which every woman and girl enjoys full gender equality, and where all legal, social and economic barriers to their empowerment have been removed, remains unfulfilled. In fact, that goal is probably even more distant than before, since women and girls are being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Section

Are they any other gender-related challenges?

Yes. Worldwide, nearly half of married women lack decision-making power over their sexual and reproductive health and rights. 35 per cent of women between 15-49 years of age have experienced physical and/ or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence.

1 in 3 girls aged 15-19 have experienced some form of female genital mutilation/cutting in the 30 countries in Africa and the Middle East, where the harmful practice is most common with a high risk of prolonged bleeding, infection (including HIV), childbirth complications, infertility and death.

Section

What can we do?

Quote

If you are a girl, you can stay in school, help empower your female classmates to do the same and fight for your right to access sexual and reproductive health services. If you are a woman, you can address unconscious biases and implicit associations that form an unintended and often an invisible barrier to equal opportunity.

If you are a man or a boy, you can work alongside women and girls to achieve gender equality and embrace healthy, respectful relationships. You can fund education campaigns to curb cultural practices like female genital mutilation and change harmful laws that limit the rights of women and girls and prevent them from achieving their full potential.

THANKS!

Aurora Mazzone, Margherita Lattarulo, Melissa Delcore, Giada Labbrino