Sustainable Development Goals and Gender Equality

Jyoti Sidana

To build an egalitarian and gender discrimination-free society, it is necessary to change the prejudiced thinking towards women in the society. Underestimating the talents of women, treating them as non-economic units, accepting them only as bodies, the belief that they lack the ability to make decisions, are some of the aspects that prevent them from fearlessly establishing their identity. prevent from

Gender inequality exists in almost every society in the world. From ancient times to the present day, there is a long history of denying women decision making, acceptance of them as economic unit and denying them access to social resources. Gender equality means that both get equal opportunities and rights.

Both should have equal right to live life with dignity and should not be discriminated against on the basis of caste, religion, gender, language and colour. In general, being male or female in all societies does not just refer to their biological and physical characteristics, but men and women are expected to have different behaviours, habits and roles.

Relations between men and women, whether in the family, at the workplace or in the public sphere, have been determined by patriarchy. While the equality of men and women is clearly mentioned in the constitution and human rights declaration. Gender equality is the process of being fair to women and men. To ensure this, efforts have been going on for a long time at the local, national and global levels. Gender equality requires that women and men have equal access to social power, decision-making, opportunities, resources and rewards.

Virginia Woolf wrote in one of her articles that a woman should have her own room / space, where she should feel free enough to see herself in both imaginary and non-imaginary forms. Just as when writing fiction, we are free to write whatever comes to mind and give flight to our imagination, in the same way, in her personal space, a woman should have the freedom to fly on every level without any fear, so that His subtle and macro level of intelligence can be reflected.

It should be her choice as to who can be present in her personal space. Only then can he possibly have the capacity to express his views, his prejudices, his needs, his language, his symbols and even the question of his sexuality as freely as a man does in his writings. These private rooms give women the ability to think freely and without any hindrance.

Recently, the United Nations Development Program’s 2023 ‘Gender Social Norms Index’ was released, which assesses prejudices against women. The index depicts people’s attitudes towards women’s roles based on four key dimensions – political, educational, economic and physical integrity. The index reveals that almost 90 per cent of the world’s population harbors some sort of prejudice against women. For example, about half of the population thinks that men make better political leaders than women.

Women hold only 24 percent of parliamentary seats worldwide, and only ten of the 193 member states have a female head of government, despite equal voting rates between men and women. As per the data published in the report, 28 per cent people think that it is okay for a man to beat his wife.

However, the index and recent events suggest that this thinking is changing. Raquel Lagunas of the UNDP Gender Team says that worldwide women’s rights demonstrations and the ‘MeToo’ movement have signaled that new norms and alternatives are needed and people are actively campaigning for gender equality.

But it is also a fact that many practices and prejudices prevalent in our society create obstacles in the path of gender equality. For example, in many districts of Rajasthan, an evil practice called Atta-Sata is prevalent, in which a girl is exchanged for a girl. That is, the house from which the daughter is taken, the same house is given to her daughter. This happens especially in those homes, whose boys are not getting married for some reason or due to their age there is a hindrance in their marriage.

In such a situation, exchange is offered to the girls. It is argued that by doing this, the cost of many weddings is saved or many couples get married at low cost. But even in this practice most of the girls have to compromise with their likes and dislikes. Sometimes girls are exchanged at a young age. Many such incidents have come to the fore from time to time, in which women committed suicide due to this evil practice. Because if she broke her marriage, her brother’s house would also be ruined. Due to this fear, they are forced to choose the path of suicide.

Today, the major reason for the increase in the incidents of violence and crime against women in the society is to see them only as a body. He also has knowledge, economy, power, ideas and political understanding, which have always been neglected. There are countless such examples in the society, which prove that women have been active participants in all these fields.

And the society ignores her participation and contribution in all these processes by keeping her body at the center. It is not that there has not been any positive change in the status of women since ancient times, but it is also true that there has not been any special change in the mindset of the male society towards women.

That’s why sociologists suggest that women have to find themselves under aspects like autonomy, freedom, human rights to eliminate oppressive and non-oppressive power. Because it cannot be denied that the woman herself does not exist in the consciousness of women. She has been limiting her scope and thinking only to husband, children, kitchen, clothes and home. It is also true that the present society is witnessing vast changes in the role of working women.

Now women have become aware of their rights as well as their responsibilities. Gender equality has been placed at the fifth position in the list of Sustainable Development Goals, which are set to be achieved by 2030. But at the rate at which incidents of violence and abuse against women are increasing, achieving this target by 2030 does not seem easy.

To build an egalitarian and gender discrimination-free society, it is necessary to change the prejudiced thinking towards women in the society. Underestimating the talents of women, treating them as non-economic units, accepting them only as bodies, the belief that they lack the ability to make decisions, are some of the aspects that prevent them from fearlessly establishing their identity. prevent from Along with this, the state, administration and academic intellectuals will have to take strict steps in this direction, so that a safe society can be provided to women.