gender equality and sustainable development essay

Why gender equality is key to sustainable development

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Twenty years ago, the adoption by 189 governments of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action marked a turning point in the history of women’s rights. This progressive blueprint remains a powerful source of inspiration in the effort to realize equal opportunities for women and girls.

But while much progress has been made in the intervening decades, much more remains to be done to ensure that women and children are guaranteed healthy lives, education, and full social inclusion. In just 42 countries do women hold more than 30% of seats in the national legislature , and girls still do not have the same educational opportunities as boys in Sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania, and western Asia.

Gender equality is not just the concern of half of the world’s population; it is a human right, a concern for us all, because no society can develop – economically, politically, or socially – when half of its population is marginalized. We must leave no one behind.

This is a year of global action. Governments will adopt a new set of Sustainable Development Goals, work together to draft a meaningful climate agreement, and craft a framework to provide the financial resources needed to deliver on a global sustainable development agenda. Those participating would be wise to remember that inclusive sustainable development can be realized only when all human rights – including gender equality – are protected, respected, and fulfilled.

The three of us – each from different continents – support these international processes. We share a common motivation for our work: protecting our planet for our children and grandchildren, and ensuring the development of a world where all people – regardless of their gender, race, religion, age, disability, or sexual orientation – have an equal opportunity to achieve their aspirations.

It is critical that we continue to engage men and boys actively in the fight against gender-based discrimination and violence. We have an opportunity to secure a better future and raise a new generation of girls and boys who respect one another and work together to protect the rights of all people.

The implications of not providing girls with equal voices, choices, and opportunities affect not just their lives, but the future of the planet. Efforts to promote inclusive sustainable development and fight climate change are inextricably linked. If we care about development, we must care about the consequences our greenhouse-gas emissions are having around the world. And if we do not take urgent action, we will irreparably damage the natural systems on which life depends.

This is not a threat that we can set aside until we have eradicated poverty worldwide. Nor is it a problem that we can leave to future generations to address. Left unchecked, climate change – along with other unsustainable patterns of development – could wipe out the gains of recent decades. All countries – developed and developing – have a role to play in ensuring a stable world for our children.

Women are among those most vulnerable to the impacts of unsustainable practices and climate change, because they often have no independent income or land rights. In many countries, women are responsible for the provision of water and food for their families. And when the usual sources of these resources are disrupted, women are forced to travel farther and spend more time working for less return. Scarcity requires them to make difficult choices like pulling children out of school or deciding which family member can afford to skip a meal.

In many homes around the world, women are at the heart of the household’s nexus of water, food, and energy – and thus often know firsthand about the challenges and potential solutions in these areas. In our conversations with women around the world, we hear about their struggles, but also their ideas, many of which, if applied, could facilitate change. Women are the most convincing advocates for the solutions that they need, so they should be at the forefront of decision-making on sustainable development and climate-change mitigation.

Over the coming weeks, during the 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York, the international community will take stock of the progress that has been made toward achieving what was pledged 20 years ago in Beijing and assess where more efforts are needed.

This year will be crucial. With the Financing for Development conference in July, the Special Summit on Sustainable Development Goals in September, and the UN Climate Change Conference in December, we have the opportunity to integrate gender equality and women’s empowerment fully into the effort to promote sustainable development and fight climate change.

The three of us wake up every morning thinking about how to make this happen. Everyone should. We call on all women and men to join us in making their voices heard loudly and in seizing this opportunity for a just and equitable future for all.

This article is published in collaboration with Project Syndicate . Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: Mary Robinson, a former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is President of the Mary Robinson Foundation and the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Change. Christiana Figueres is Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Amina J. Mohammed is the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser and the Assistant-Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning since 2012.

Image: A girl selling apples by the roadside waits for customers just outside the Angolan city of Lubango. REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly

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Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

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.

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.

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.

This type of violence doesn’t just harm individual women and girls; it also undermines their overall quality of life and hinders their active involvement in society.

Why should gender equality matter to me?

Regardless of where you live in, gender equality is a fundamental human right. Advancing gender equality is critical to all areas of a healthy society, from reducing poverty to promoting the health, education, protection and the well-being of girls and boys.

What can we do?

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.

The Spotlight Initiative is an EU/UN partnership, and a global, multi-year initiative focused on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls – the world’s largest targeted effort to end all forms of violence against women and girls.

Facts and figures

Goal 5 targets.

With only seven years remaining, a mere 15.4 per cent of Goal 5 indicators with data are “on track”, 61.5 per cent are at a moderate distance and 23.1 per cent are far or very far off track from 2030 targets.
In many areas, progress has been too slow. 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.
Around 2.4 billion women of working age are not afforded equal economic opportunity. Nearly 2.4 Billion Women Globally Don’t Have Same Economic Rights as Men
178 countries maintain legal barriers that prevent women’s full economic participation. Nearly 2.4 Billion Women Globally Don’t Have Same Economic Rights as Men
In 2019, one in five women, aged 20-24 years, were married before the age of 18. Girls | UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children

Source: The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023

5.1 End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere

5.2 Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation

5.3 Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation

5.4 Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate

5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decisionmaking in political, economic and public life

5.6 Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences

5.A Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws

5.B Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women

5.C Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels

He for She campaign

United Secretary-General Campaign UNiTE to End Violence Against Women

Every Woman Every Child Initiative

Spotlight Initiative

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

UN Population Fund: Gender equality

UN Population Fund: Female genital mutilation

UN Population Fund: Child marriage

UN Population Fund: Engaging men & boys

UN Population Fund: Gender-based violence

World Health Organization (WHO)

UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)

UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Gender Statistics

Fast Facts: Gender Equality

Infographic: Gender Equality

The Initiative is so named as it brings focused attention to this issue, moving it into the spotlight and placing it at the centre of efforts to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

An initial investment in the order of EUR 500 million will be made, with the EU as the main contributor. Other donors and partners will be invited to join the Initiative to broaden its reach and scope. The modality for the delivery will be a UN multi- stakeholder trust fund, administered by the Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office, with the support of core agencies UNDP, UNFPA and UN Women, and overseen by the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General.

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Open access
Published: 15 December 2020

Overcoming gender inequality for climate resilient development

Marina Andrijevic ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0199-1988 1 , 2 ,
Jesus Crespo Cuaresma 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ,
Tabea Lissner 2 ,
Adelle Thomas ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0407-2891 1 , 7 &
Carl-Friedrich Schleussner ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8471-848X 1 , 2

Nature Communications volume 11 , Article number: 6261 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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Climate-change adaptation
Socioeconomic scenarios

Gender inequalities are reflected in differential vulnerability, and exposure to the hazards posed by climate change and addressing them is key to increase the adaptive capacities of societies. We provide trajectories of the Gender Inequality Index (GII) alongside the Shared-Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), a scenario framework widely used in climate science. Here we find that rapid improvements in gender inequality are possible under a sustainable development scenario already in the near-term. The share of girls growing up in countries with the highest gender inequality could be reduced to about 24% in 2030 compared to about 70% today. Largely overcoming gender inequality as assessed in the GII would be within reach by mid-century. Under less optimistic scenarios, gender inequality may persist throughout the 21st century. Our results highlight the importance of incorporating gender in scenarios assessing future climate impacts and underscore the relevance of addressing gender inequalities in policies aiming to foster climate resilient development.

The economic commitment of climate change

The carbon dioxide removal gap

Frequent disturbances enhanced the resilience of past human populations

Introduction.

Differential risks to climate change impacts are shaped by variations in vulnerability and exposure within and across societies. Together with their biophysical determinants, vulnerability, and exposure are products of unevenly distributed socioeconomic development and multidimensional inequality 1 . Inequalities are reflected in income and wealth, which remain central subjects of socioeconomic research, but also in gender, education, racial, and ethnic profiles 2 . Socially marginalized groups are often affected by the interplay of these different dimensions and are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

A growing body of literature points at the facets of differential vulnerability and exposure to the impacts of climate change across genders, stressing that women are not inherently more at risk, but that intersections between gender, power dynamics, socio-economic structures, and societal expectations result in climate impacts being experienced very differently by women 3 . Research has also highlighted missed opportunities for action when women’s agency in policy and decision making is not fully seized 4 . In our contribution, we focus on the role of gender inequality, which despite its prominence as a cross-cutting theme in the sustainable development discourse, lacks concrete operationalizations in the analysis of future impacts of climate change and the extent to which these can still be avoided 5 .

Current and future damages of climate change are tied to the ability with which affected regions and populations adapt to changing conditions. In the risk framework of the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), vulnerability to climate change impacts is inextricably linked to adaptive capacity, which is defined as “the ability of systems, institutions, humans, and other organisms to adjust to potential damage, to take advantage of opportunities, or to respond to consequences” 6 . Adaptive capacity, in turn, hinges on a range of socioeconomic factors, gender inequality playing one of the central roles, particularly in areas most vulnerable to climate change. The linkages between gender inequality and adaptive capacity range from uneven access to resources, to cultural norms and entrenched social structures 7 , 8 .

Accounting for gender inequality and its possible future trajectories in the assessment of the pathways of adaptive capacity adds another layer to the identification of societal climate impact hotspots—areas where expected biophysical impacts intersect with socioeconomic vulnerability 9 , 10 . In this paper, we present an extension of the set of socioeconomic scenarios—the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) 11 —with an indicator of gender inequality, the Gender Inequality Index (GII) 12 of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The SSPs are a widely used toolkit in climate change research and provide a basis for the operationalization of indicators of gender inequality in integrated assessments.

The GII used here to reflect gender inequality consists of three dimensions: health (maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rates), educational and political empowerment (male to female ratio in parliamentary seats and secondary education) and participation in the labor market (male to female ratio in labor force participation rates, see the “Methods” section for additional details on the indicator) 12 . We collected the individual components from their respective original sources and reconstructed the index following the approach laid out in the Technical Notes of the Human Development Report 12 . This reconstruction produced more complete time series than those available hitherto (see Supplementary Fig. 1 ). The index ranges from 0 to 1, with higher values reflecting higher levels of inequality between men and women.

The multi-faceted nature of gender inequality at all levels of socio-economic development makes aggregation into indicator a complex exercise. Unsurprisingly, most indicators (including the GII), face justified criticism 13 , 14 (see the “Methods” section for an extended discussion). We consider the dimensions covered in the GII to describe necessary conditions of gender inequality, while acknowledging that they are not sufficient to characterize gender inequality across all the dimensions that contribute to it. In the light of these caveats, overcoming the inequality dimensions covered in the GII does not automatically mean that universal gender equality is achieved, and we do not assert that any country in the world can claim to have achieved full gender equality to date or in the near future. It is important to keep these limitations in mind when interpreting the results.

The ramifications of gender inequality for addressing climate change can be regarded through two lenses: women’s differential vulnerability and adaptive capacity; and the role of women in mitigation and adaptation actions. To illustrate the importance of accounting for gender inequality in both adaptation and mitigation of climate change, we correlate the GII with an adaptation-relevant and a mitigation-relevant metrics (compare Fig. 1 ).

a GII vs. vulnerability component of the ND-GAIN index (country-level estimates for 2017). b GII (country-level average 2005–2010) vs. CLIMI (countries’ communications of climate policies between 2005 and 2010).

Previous research shows that the gender-differentiated vulnerability to climate change is most pronounced in agriculture 15 , 16 and water 17 , 18 sectors, natural disasters 19 , reproductive health 20 , mental health, and well-being 21 . We use a broad measure of climate change vulnerability of the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index (ND-GAIN) 22 , a widely used summary measure of a country’s vulnerability to climate change and its readiness to improve resilience (for more applications, see refs. 23 , 24 , 25 ). Figure 1a depicts the correlation between the GII and the ND-GAIN vulnerability indicator (consisting of six life-supporting sectors: food, water, health, ecosystem services, human habitat, and infrastructure), and depicts a strong positive relationship between the two variables.

At the same time, a strand of research suggests that women’s representation in politics leads to more stringent climate action 26 , 27 , thus making a case for consideration of mainstreaming gender equality in mitigation. More broadly, female participation in decision-making is closely linked to various facets of socioeconomic progress: from higher spending on health and education to better quality of institutions, democracy and higher economic growth 26 , 28 , 29 , 30 . Following a recent approach 26 , in Fig. 1b we correlate the GII with the Climate Laws, Institutions and Measures Index (CLIMI) 31 , a measure of climate change mitigation policies set by countries (for more applications, see refs. 32 , 33 ). The correlation of the two indices suggests that low levels of gender inequality tend to occur in parallel to high levels of climate action, which corroborates previous research 26 .

Results and discussion

While the importance of rapid and stringent mitigation cannot be overemphasized, and recent research insights provide indications that gender equality facilitates climate action, here we focus on the importance of gender equality for adaptive capacity and vulnerability to climate change. To this end, we expand the scenario space of the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), with the intention of improving the understanding of adaptation challenges under different socio-economic conditions. The SSPs are scenarios that explore a range of possible futures that illustrate how socio-economic conditions might change over the next century and what implications these conditions may have for climate change adaptation and mitigation. SSPs quantify five different narratives of socio-economic futures to operationalize them for climate change research 11 —they are a widely used tool in climate research community, indispensable for integrated assessments of the dynamics between socioeconomic and climate change variables, and are also the scenario framework used in the Sixth Assessment report of the IPCC.

SSP1, the ‘sustainability’ scenario, is characterized by low challenges to mitigation and adaptation, a result of increased investments in education, health, renewable energy sources and declining inequalities between and within countries, thus limiting impacts and increasing adaptive capacity. SSP2, the ‘middle of the road’ scenario, maintains premediated challenges to adaptation and mitigation, and is a pathway of uneven and slower socioeconomic progress, compatible with the continuation of historical trends. SSP3 is characterized by high challenges to both mitigation and adaptation, which are a product of a growing divergence between economies, weak international cooperation and increase in internal and international conflicts. SSP4, the scenario of ‘inequality’, leads to low challenges for mitigation, due to technological advancements in high income countries, but high challenges for adaptation, because of an unequal distribution of advancements and resources across countries. Finally, SSP5 is similar to SSP1 in the fast socioeconomic progress on all fronts, but with the major difference of the progress being powered by fossil fuels, which produces substantially higher emissions and resulting climate impacts.

So far, the SSPs storylines have been quantified in future trajectories of income 34 , 35 , population 36 , education 36 , urbanization 37 , the Human Development Index 38 , inequality 39 , and governance 40 . Gender inequality is qualitatively featured in the scenarios’ storylines focusing on the demographic and human development elements (see Table 1 ), and is to a certain extent reflected in the measures of discrepancies in educational attainment between men and women in the population projections by age and sex 36 . Our contribution provides projections of gender inequality, as quantified by the GII, which are compatible with the SSP scenarios described above and thus provide a new dimension to the assessment of potential future climate change adaptation pathways.

To achieve an internally consistent extension of the SSPs, we use the existing indicators under the SSP framework to analyze past trends and project future dynamics of gender equality. Our results indicate that past trends in the GII can be robustly explained by the dynamics of GDP per capita, population with post-secondary education and the gender gap in mean years of schooling after controlling for country-specific equilibria and global trends (see “Methods” for regression results and Supplementary Material for a sensitivity analysis). As is the case within the methodological framework of the SSPs, the projections of the GII are not to be interpreted as predictions, but as quantifications of narrative-driven scenarios.

Our projection exercise shows that major improvements in terms of overcoming gender inequality are achieved worldwide by mid-century under the SSP 1 scenario (Fig. 2c ). Significant improvements happen following the SSP2 (Fig. 2d ) pathway, though with notable exceptions in the most vulnerable parts of the world. In the SSP3 world (Fig. 2e ), however, only marginal progress is made in parts of Latin America, while in Sub Saharan Africa gender inequality is projected to deteriorate (compare Fig. 2e ).

a Components of the GII. b Values of the GII in 2017. c – e Projections of the GII for the year 2050, for c , SSP1 (‘sustainability’), d SSP2 (‘middle of the road’) and ( e ) SSP3 (‘a rocky road’).

Given the central role that gender equality has for adaptive capacity, the future outlook concerning how well a country or a region can cope with the impacts of climate change can be very different depending on the scenario of socio-economic development. Across all world regions, improvements in gender equality in inclusive high-development pathways (SSP1, 5) are most pronounced in the near-term until mid-century. Note that the trajectories for SSPs 1 and 5 largely overlap due to similar levels of the underlying dimensions that gender inequality is a function of (education, GDP and gender gap in mean years of schooling). The summary of regional levels of gender inequality in Fig. 3 reflects the severity of the difference in levels of the GII, and the importance of near-term improvements for less well-off regions. As it is the case for other indicators of socio-economic development 38 , 40 , the rates of improvement in the GII towards gender equality are highest up to 2050 in these scenarios. Less optimistic development pathways show a linear continuation of current trends or even a slow-down. Note that, by design, the SSPs do not allow for a systematic long-run deterioration of socio-economic indicators.

Historical values of the GII index and projections over five SSP scenarios, averaged by world region.

In the wider context of sustainable development—still inextricably linked to the climate change problem—the gender dimension is a crucial policy component, including as a stand-alone item under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations’ 2030 agenda. SDG 5 strives to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” 41 , and the progress towards the multiple goals under SDG 5 is tracked with a set of individual indicators. The Gender Inequality Index presented here is a more holistic measure than the specific indicators used in monitoring SDG 5. With its dimensions related to reproductive health and decision-making, as well as political and employment participation, it relates to underlying structural issues determining gender inequality 42 . As such, the GII and its projections can be a useful tool to assess how the very basic conditions for making progress on SDG 5 vary in different socioeconomic futures.

Many of the countries experiencing high levels of gender inequality are in the mid-stages of the demographic transition 43 , implying that their populations are expected to substantially grow in the next decades. Such a demographic development exposes young women to slow improvements in health, as well as to unequal opportunities in education and employment. Given the relatively high life expectancy of women born today, the level of gender inequality they are exposed to in the next decade will affect a cohort who will shape most of the 21st century. Figure 4 illustrates the opportunities for near-term improvements of gender inequality: already in 2030, the fraction of young girls growing up in environments of lower gender inequality (the present-day range of the GII in OECD countries) can be more than 2.5 larger in a pathway such as SSP1, where rates of population growth slow down and socioeconomic progress speeds up. On the other hand, scenario SSP3 virtually retains the present global distribution of our gender inequality indicator, due to faster population growth and slower and uneven socioeconomic development up to 2030. This underscores how rapid improvements towards achieving gender equality in the near-term would be possible, in line with the goals of the SDG 5. Note that for reasons of brevity we here show only scenarios 1–3, which encompass the full range of the five scenarios, and exhibit large differences between each other.

GII values for 2017 and projections for 2030 are divided in two groups. The division is based is based on the present-day range of GII in the OECD countries (0.001–0.312), which splits the countries in GII ≤ 0.3 and GII > 0.3. The GII estimates are coupled with population projections disaggregated by female population projections for two broad age groups: ( a ), 0–14 years and ( b ), older than 15.

Our analysis outlines potential future gender inequality pathways under different scenarios of socio-economic development outlined in the SSPs. Our projections show that SSP1 results in major improvements in gender equality on a global scale while SSP2 shows some significant improvements but with notable exceptions in the most vulnerable regions, including Africa. In contrast, in the SSP3 world, gender inequality at the global level is either only marginally reduced or, in some cases, intensified. We show how such pathways may achieve concrete near-term improvements in the gender inequality environment for girls in the coming decade or may contribute to maintaining the status quo. The environments of gender inequality have significant implications for the growing global population, whose actions affect achievement of the SDGs. As a crucial component of adaptive capacity, gender inequality also plays a decisive role in allowing populations to adapt to increasing climate impacts. Overcoming gender inequality is a cornerstone of climate resilient development—and improvements may have far-reaching benefits for adaptation and mitigation alike. Achieving climate resilience has to be designed in a way that not only prevents further erosion of gender equality, but actively works towards it, thereby reducing vulnerability and providing an empowering environment for strengthening women’s agency.

Gender Inequality Index (GII) : the analysis in this paper is based on the GII 12 , produced by the United Nations Development Programme. It integrates measures of reproductive health (maternal mortality ratio, adolescent birth rate), empowerment (secondary education, parliamentary seats), and labor market outputs (labor force participation rate).

The GII has been criticized on several grounds 13 , 44 , with key issues relating to its functional form (which is asserted to be unnecessarily complex and difficult to interpret); the health dimension of the index variables not having a male equivalent (unlike the dimensions of economic, political and labor market metrics); and the potential penalization of poor countries owing to the possibility that poor reproductive health is a result of general poverty rather than gender inequality. Attempts have been made to simplify the index and make its interpretation more intuitive, though no clear consensus on how exactly the adapted indicator should look like has been reached, and to our best knowledge, the UNDP has not made any amends to the index so far.

The criticism about the penalization of less developed countries is concerned with the indicator’s health dimensions (i.e., maternal mortality and adolescent birth rates), which could be caused by poverty rather than gender inequality, thereby obscuring the implications of this dimension. The very rationale behind accounting for maternal mortality and adolescent birth rate as a dimension of gendered health inequality stems from the fact that poor maternal health sets women back uniquely, irrespective of the reason and without an equivalent risk for men, and as such arguably contributes to gender inequality. Reducing maternal mortality and adolescent pregnancy are also among the targets of the Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality 41 . In addition, recent applications found that the GII explains variance in child malnutrition and mortality in low and middle-income countries with similar income levels 45 , implying that there the index does provide information on the variation of gender inequality across countries beyond that contained in GDP per capita differences. Finally, the fact that reproductive health is strongly affected by climate change impacts such as extreme heat is particularly relevant for the projection exercise presented here, and as such merits consideration as an own standing dimension of climate adaptation 46 .

Further support for the GII’s reflection of a broader understanding of gender inequality can be found in studies where it is found to correlate with other manifestations of gender inequality that go beyond what is included in the calculation of the index, such as the suicide gender ratio 47 , adolescent dating violence 48 , and intimate partner violence 49 .

Alternative indicators of gender equality

Alternative indicators available in the literature incorporate different aspects of gender inequality. In the following, three other indicators will be introduced and examined in relation to the GII.

Gender Development Index (GDI) : The GDI 12 is designed within the Human Development Reports provided by the United Nations Development Programme. Similarly to the Gender Inequality Index, it accounts for metrics of health, education and economic empowerment. The economic component of the index is difficult to reconstruct due to the scarcity of data on the wage gap between women and men, which is necessary for the calculation of the overall index. In addition, variation between countries is not as large as in the GII index, and the GDI does not capture basic metrics such as maternal and adolescent health, which are relevant for climate change vulnerability. The correlation of the GDI with the GII is depicted in Fig. 5a .

Correlation coefficient ( R ) and the statistical significance (p) are provided for the relationship between GII and ( a ) Gender Development Index, b Women, Peace, and Security Index, and ( c ) Gender Gap index.

Women, Peace and Security Index (WPS) : The WPS 50 is provided by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security and index captures three dimensions: inclusion (economic, social, political), justice (formal laws and informal discrimination) and security (violence, safety). Even though this index incorporates dimensions of high relevance for climate change-related vulnerability (particularly violence), it is only available at two points in time and is therefore suboptimal for the estimation of the historical response function that underpins our analysis. However, it is highly correlated to the GII used in this paper (see Fig. 5b ).

Global Gender Gap Index (GGI) : produced by the World Economic Forum, the GGI 51 incorporates four dimensions: economic participation, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment. The dimensions are represented by 14 different indicators. Compared to the GII used in this analysis, the GGI contains similar dimensions and there are overlaps among the underlying indicators to the GII used in this analysis, while the major difference is in the health component, where the GII considers maternal mortality and adolescent pregnancy, while the GGG takes into account life expectancy. Similarly to other indices, the time series of GGI is shorter than that of the GII. The GGI has the lowest (albeit statistically significant) correlation coefficient with the GII (Fig. 5c ).

Gender equality indicators and climate adaptation

Compared to other commonly used indicators including the Gender Development Index 12 , the Gender Empowerment Measure 51 , and the Women, Peace and Security Index 50 , we find that the GII is particularly indicative of hindered adaptive capacity in many climate-vulnerable countries, since its dimensions (such as maternal health, participation in economic and political life) point at the very basic disempowerment of women that directly reduces their capacity to adapt to climate change. The GII is also more holistic in its economic dimension, by considering education and labor force participation rather than income, since the data on gender gap in earned income tends to be problematic 52 . In addition, the construction of the GII precludes the different dimensions of the indicator from compensating for each other (i.e., poor performance in one dimension cannot be compensated for with higher performance in another dimension in GII). While this is beyond the scope of this paper, application of our analytical framework to different indicators of gender inequality and analyzing the effect of the choice of the indicator on projections could be a fruitful research avenue.

Following the approach laid out in the Technical Notes of the Human Development Report (2018), we reconstructed the GII with the same underlying indicators, with the aim of obtaining more complete time series than those available hitherto. The data are available for majority of countries and can be reconstructed back to 1995 (see Supplementary Fig. 1 ). To capitalize on data availability and completeness, we use the same source indicators except for the education component, which we source from the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital 36 for better consistency with the projections that follow in the second stage of the analysis. The calculation of inequality uses an association-sensitive method, with geometric means of the three dimensions calculated for each gender separately, and then aggregated across genders using a harmonic mean. For comparison of the reconstructed GII and the data provided through the UNDP website, see Supplementary Fig. 1 . Data analysis and projections were done using R software version 1.3.1073.

To analyze the relationship between gender inequality and other socio-economic dimensions, we use a simple econometric model that expresses the GII as a function of GDP per capita, the share of population with higher education and the difference in mean years of schooling between men and women, and accounts for country-specific time-invariant characteristics using fixed effects. The model is aimed at replicating long-run dynamics in GII, with the theoretical underpinning that trends in socioeconomic variables correlate with the changes observed in gender inequality over long periods of time. From an econometric point of view, it can be considered a cointegration relationship posing common trends in gender inequality, income and human capital indicators around a country-specific equilibrium.

Prior to the analysis, the GII is transformed to account for the bounded nature of the index, which is defined between 0 and 1. The variable used in the panel regression models is given by ${\mathrm{GII}}^ \ast = {\mathrm{log}}\left( {\frac{{{\mathrm{GII}}_{{\mathrm{i}},{\mathrm{t}}}}}{{1 - {\mathrm{GII}}_{{\mathrm{i}},{\mathrm{t}}}}}} \right)$ , where ${\mathrm{GII}}_{{\mathrm{i,t}}}$ is the original Gender Inequality Index for country i in period t. Our basic specification is given by:

where $\alpha _i$ captures country fixed effects and $\varepsilon _{i,t}$ is the error term, assumed to be stationary. Several robustness checks carried out by changing the specification can be found in Supplementary Table 1 .

Projections for the 21st century are carried out by combining the parameter estimates from the specification given by Eq. ( 1 ) with the existing projections of GDP 34 , population by age, sex and education 36 and gender gap in education 36 thereby remaining internally consistent with the SSP scenario framework and providing direct comparability with the rest of the socioeconomic projections existing. The SSP population projections 36 were employed to derive the proportion of women experiencing different levels of gender inequality in the future at the global level. We split the population of women into two age groups: 0–14 and 15+. The thresholds for dividing the distribution of GII are based on the levels of gender inequality currently in the OECD countries (0.002–0.315).

Reporting summary

Further information on research design is available in the Nature Research Reporting Summary linked to this article.

Data availability

Original GII data is available through the UNDP website ( http://hdr.undp.org/en/data ). Data on maternal mortality ratio is available from UNICEF ( https://data.unicef.org/topic/maternal-health/maternal-mortality/ ), and adolescent birth rates from WHO ( https://www.who.int/gho/maternal_health/reproductive_health/adolescent_fertility/en/ ). Historical GDP was obtained from the Penn World Tables 7.0 ( https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/productivity/pwt/pwt-releases/pwt-7.0 ) and projected values through the IIASA SSP database ( https://tntcat.iiasa.ac.at/SspDb/ ). Data on educational attainment and gender gap in mean years of schooling is accessible through the Data Explorer of the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital ( http://dataexplorer.wittgensteincentre.org/wcde-v2/ ).

Code availability

Code underlying the results is available at https://github.com/marina-andrijevic/gender_equality2020 .

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to the scientific community for developing the SSP scenarios and to the International Institute for Advanced System Analysis (IIASA) for hosting the SSP database. M.A. and C.F.S. acknowledge support by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (01LN1711A).

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The research was designed by M.A. and C.F.S. M.A. and J.C.C. performed the analysis and M.A. created the display items. M.A., J.C.C., T.L., A.T., and C.F.S. contributed to the writing of the manuscript.

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Andrijevic, M., Crespo Cuaresma, J., Lissner, T. et al. Overcoming gender inequality for climate resilient development. Nat Commun 11 , 6261 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19856-w

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Research Article

Twenty years of gender equality research: A scoping review based on a new semantic indicator

Contributed equally to this work with: Paola Belingheri, Filippo Chiarello, Andrea Fronzetti Colladon, Paola Rovelli

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Energia, dei Sistemi, del Territorio e delle Costruzioni, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Largo L. Lazzarino, Pisa, Italy

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Software, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliations Department of Engineering, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy, Department of Management, Kozminski University, Warsaw, Poland

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Faculty of Economics and Management, Centre for Family Business Management, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bozen-Bolzano, Italy

Paola Belingheri,
Filippo Chiarello,
Andrea Fronzetti Colladon,
Paola Rovelli

Published: September 21, 2021
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474
Reader Comments

9 Nov 2021: The PLOS ONE Staff (2021) Correction: Twenty years of gender equality research: A scoping review based on a new semantic indicator. PLOS ONE 16(11): e0259930. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259930 View correction

Gender equality is a major problem that places women at a disadvantage thereby stymieing economic growth and societal advancement. In the last two decades, extensive research has been conducted on gender related issues, studying both their antecedents and consequences. However, existing literature reviews fail to provide a comprehensive and clear picture of what has been studied so far, which could guide scholars in their future research. Our paper offers a scoping review of a large portion of the research that has been published over the last 22 years, on gender equality and related issues, with a specific focus on business and economics studies. Combining innovative methods drawn from both network analysis and text mining, we provide a synthesis of 15,465 scientific articles. We identify 27 main research topics, we measure their relevance from a semantic point of view and the relationships among them, highlighting the importance of each topic in the overall gender discourse. We find that prominent research topics mostly relate to women in the workforce–e.g., concerning compensation, role, education, decision-making and career progression. However, some of them are losing momentum, and some other research trends–for example related to female entrepreneurship, leadership and participation in the board of directors–are on the rise. Besides introducing a novel methodology to review broad literature streams, our paper offers a map of the main gender-research trends and presents the most popular and the emerging themes, as well as their intersections, outlining important avenues for future research.

Citation: Belingheri P, Chiarello F, Fronzetti Colladon A, Rovelli P (2021) Twenty years of gender equality research: A scoping review based on a new semantic indicator. PLoS ONE 16(9): e0256474. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474

Editor: Elisa Ughetto, Politecnico di Torino, ITALY

Received: June 25, 2021; Accepted: August 6, 2021; Published: September 21, 2021

Copyright: © 2021 Belingheri et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its supporting information files. The only exception is the text of the abstracts (over 15,000) that we have downloaded from Scopus. These abstracts can be retrieved from Scopus, but we do not have permission to redistribute them.

Funding: P.B and F.C.: Grant of the Department of Energy, Systems, Territory and Construction of the University of Pisa (DESTEC) for the project “Measuring Gender Bias with Semantic Analysis: The Development of an Assessment Tool and its Application in the European Space Industry. P.B., F.C., A.F.C., P.R.: Grant of the Italian Association of Management Engineering (AiIG), “Misure di sostegno ai soci giovani AiIG” 2020, for the project “Gender Equality Through Data Intelligence (GEDI)”. F.C.: EU project ASSETs+ Project (Alliance for Strategic Skills addressing Emerging Technologies in Defence) EAC/A03/2018 - Erasmus+ programme, Sector Skills Alliances, Lot 3: Sector Skills Alliance for implementing a new strategic approach (Blueprint) to sectoral cooperation on skills G.A. NUMBER: 612678-EPP-1-2019-1-IT-EPPKA2-SSA-B.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

The persistent gender inequalities that currently exist across the developed and developing world are receiving increasing attention from economists, policymakers, and the general public [e.g., 1 – 3 ]. Economic studies have indicated that women’s education and entry into the workforce contributes to social and economic well-being [e.g., 4 , 5 ], while their exclusion from the labor market and from managerial positions has an impact on overall labor productivity and income per capita [ 6 , 7 ]. The United Nations selected gender equality, with an emphasis on female education, as part of the Millennium Development Goals [ 8 ], and gender equality at-large as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030 [ 9 ]. These latter objectives involve not only developing nations, but rather all countries, to achieve economic, social and environmental well-being.

As is the case with many SDGs, gender equality is still far from being achieved and persists across education, access to opportunities, or presence in decision-making positions [ 7 , 10 , 11 ]. As we enter the last decade for the SDGs’ implementation, and while we are battling a global health pandemic, effective and efficient action becomes paramount to reach this ambitious goal.

Scholars have dedicated a massive effort towards understanding gender equality, its determinants, its consequences for women and society, and the appropriate actions and policies to advance women’s equality. Many topics have been covered, ranging from women’s education and human capital [ 12 , 13 ] and their role in society [e.g., 14 , 15 ], to their appointment in firms’ top ranked positions [e.g., 16 , 17 ] and performance implications [e.g., 18 , 19 ]. Despite some attempts, extant literature reviews provide a narrow view on these issues, restricted to specific topics–e.g., female students’ presence in STEM fields [ 20 ], educational gender inequality [ 5 ], the gender pay gap [ 21 ], the glass ceiling effect [ 22 ], leadership [ 23 ], entrepreneurship [ 24 ], women’s presence on the board of directors [ 25 , 26 ], diversity management [ 27 ], gender stereotypes in advertisement [ 28 ], or specific professions [ 29 ]. A comprehensive view on gender-related research, taking stock of key findings and under-studied topics is thus lacking.

Extant literature has also highlighted that gender issues, and their economic and social ramifications, are complex topics that involve a large number of possible antecedents and outcomes [ 7 ]. Indeed, gender equality actions are most effective when implemented in unison with other SDGs (e.g., with SDG 8, see [ 30 ]) in a synergetic perspective [ 10 ]. Many bodies of literature (e.g., business, economics, development studies, sociology and psychology) approach the problem of achieving gender equality from different perspectives–often addressing specific and narrow aspects. This sometimes leads to a lack of clarity about how different issues, circumstances, and solutions may be related in precipitating or mitigating gender inequality or its effects. As the number of papers grows at an increasing pace, this issue is exacerbated and there is a need to step back and survey the body of gender equality literature as a whole. There is also a need to examine synergies between different topics and approaches, as well as gaps in our understanding of how different problems and solutions work together. Considering the important topic of women’s economic and social empowerment, this paper aims to fill this gap by answering the following research question: what are the most relevant findings in the literature on gender equality and how do they relate to each other ?

To do so, we conduct a scoping review [ 31 ], providing a synthesis of 15,465 articles dealing with gender equity related issues published in the last twenty-two years, covering both the periods of the MDGs and the SDGs (i.e., 2000 to mid 2021) in all the journals indexed in the Academic Journal Guide’s 2018 ranking of business and economics journals. Given the huge amount of research conducted on the topic, we adopt an innovative methodology, which relies on social network analysis and text mining. These techniques are increasingly adopted when surveying large bodies of text. Recently, they were applied to perform analysis of online gender communication differences [ 32 ] and gender behaviors in online technology communities [ 33 ], to identify and classify sexual harassment instances in academia [ 34 ], and to evaluate the gender inclusivity of disaster management policies [ 35 ].

Applied to the title, abstracts and keywords of the articles in our sample, this methodology allows us to identify a set of 27 recurrent topics within which we automatically classify the papers. Introducing additional novelty, by means of the Semantic Brand Score (SBS) indicator [ 36 ] and the SBS BI app [ 37 ], we assess the importance of each topic in the overall gender equality discourse and its relationships with the other topics, as well as trends over time, with a more accurate description than that offered by traditional literature reviews relying solely on the number of papers presented in each topic.

This methodology, applied to gender equality research spanning the past twenty-two years, enables two key contributions. First, we extract the main message that each document is conveying and how this is connected to other themes in literature, providing a rich picture of the topics that are at the center of the discourse, as well as of the emerging topics. Second, by examining the semantic relationship between topics and how tightly their discourses are linked, we can identify the key relationships and connections between different topics. This semi-automatic methodology is also highly reproducible with minimum effort.

This literature review is organized as follows. In the next section, we present how we selected relevant papers and how we analyzed them through text mining and social network analysis. We then illustrate the importance of 27 selected research topics, measured by means of the SBS indicator. In the results section, we present an overview of the literature based on the SBS results–followed by an in-depth narrative analysis of the top 10 topics (i.e., those with the highest SBS) and their connections. Subsequently, we highlight a series of under-studied connections between the topics where there is potential for future research. Through this analysis, we build a map of the main gender-research trends in the last twenty-two years–presenting the most popular themes. We conclude by highlighting key areas on which research should focused in the future.

Our aim is to map a broad topic, gender equality research, that has been approached through a host of different angles and through different disciplines. Scoping reviews are the most appropriate as they provide the freedom to map different themes and identify literature gaps, thereby guiding the recommendation of new research agendas [ 38 ].

Several practical approaches have been proposed to identify and assess the underlying topics of a specific field using big data [ 39 – 41 ], but many of them fail without proper paper retrieval and text preprocessing. This is specifically true for a research field such as the gender-related one, which comprises the work of scholars from different backgrounds. In this section, we illustrate a novel approach for the analysis of scientific (gender-related) papers that relies on methods and tools of social network analysis and text mining. Our procedure has four main steps: (1) data collection, (2) text preprocessing, (3) keywords extraction and classification, and (4) evaluation of semantic importance and image.

Data collection

In this study, we analyze 22 years of literature on gender-related research. Following established practice for scoping reviews [ 42 ], our data collection consisted of two main steps, which we summarize here below.

Firstly, we retrieved from the Scopus database all the articles written in English that contained the term “gender” in their title, abstract or keywords and were published in a journal listed in the Academic Journal Guide 2018 ranking of the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS) ( https://charteredabs.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/AJG2018-Methodology.pdf ), considering the time period from Jan 2000 to May 2021. We used this information considering that abstracts, titles and keywords represent the most informative part of a paper, while using the full-text would increase the signal-to-noise ratio for information extraction. Indeed, these textual elements already demonstrated to be reliable sources of information for the task of domain lexicon extraction [ 43 , 44 ]. We chose Scopus as source of literature because of its popularity, its update rate, and because it offers an API to ease the querying process. Indeed, while it does not allow to retrieve the full text of scientific articles, the Scopus API offers access to titles, abstracts, citation information and metadata for all its indexed scholarly journals. Moreover, we decided to focus on the journals listed in the AJG 2018 ranking because we were interested in reviewing business and economics related gender studies only. The AJG is indeed widely used by universities and business schools as a reference point for journal and research rigor and quality. This first step, executed in June 2021, returned more than 55,000 papers.

In the second step–because a look at the papers showed very sparse results, many of which were not in line with the topic of this literature review (e.g., papers dealing with health care or medical issues, where the word gender indicates the gender of the patients)–we applied further inclusion criteria to make the sample more focused on the topic of this literature review (i.e., women’s gender equality issues). Specifically, we only retained those papers mentioning, in their title and/or abstract, both gender-related keywords (e.g., daughter, female, mother) and keywords referring to bias and equality issues (e.g., equality, bias, diversity, inclusion). After text pre-processing (see next section), keywords were first identified from a frequency-weighted list of words found in the titles, abstracts and keywords in the initial list of papers, extracted through text mining (following the same approach as [ 43 ]). They were selected by two of the co-authors independently, following respectively a bottom up and a top-down approach. The bottom-up approach consisted of examining the words found in the frequency-weighted list and classifying those related to gender and equality. The top-down approach consisted in searching in the word list for notable gender and equality-related words. Table 1 reports the sets of keywords we considered, together with some examples of words that were used to search for their presence in the dataset (a full list is provided in the S1 Text ). At end of this second step, we obtained a final sample of 15,465 relevant papers.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.t001

Text processing and keyword extraction

Text preprocessing aims at structuring text into a form that can be analyzed by statistical models. In the present section, we describe the preprocessing steps we applied to paper titles and abstracts, which, as explained below, partially follow a standard text preprocessing pipeline [ 45 ]. These activities have been performed using the R package udpipe [ 46 ].

The first step is n-gram extraction (i.e., a sequence of words from a given text sample) to identify which n-grams are important in the analysis, since domain-specific lexicons are often composed by bi-grams and tri-grams [ 47 ]. Multi-word extraction is usually implemented with statistics and linguistic rules, thus using the statistical properties of n-grams or machine learning approaches [ 48 ]. However, for the present paper, we used Scopus metadata in order to have a more effective and efficient n-grams collection approach [ 49 ]. We used the keywords of each paper in order to tag n-grams with their associated keywords automatically. Using this greedy approach, it was possible to collect all the keywords listed by the authors of the papers. From this list, we extracted only keywords composed by two, three and four words, we removed all the acronyms and rare keywords (i.e., appearing in less than 1% of papers), and we clustered keywords showing a high orthographic similarity–measured using a Levenshtein distance [ 50 ] lower than 2, considering these groups of keywords as representing same concepts, but expressed with different spelling. After tagging the n-grams in the abstracts, we followed a common data preparation pipeline that consists of the following steps: (i) tokenization, that splits the text into tokens (i.e., single words and previously tagged multi-words); (ii) removal of stop-words (i.e. those words that add little meaning to the text, usually being very common and short functional words–such as “and”, “or”, or “of”); (iii) parts-of-speech tagging, that is providing information concerning the morphological role of a word and its morphosyntactic context (e.g., if the token is a determiner, the next token is a noun or an adjective with very high confidence, [ 51 ]); and (iv) lemmatization, which consists in substituting each word with its dictionary form (or lemma). The output of the latter step allows grouping together the inflected forms of a word. For example, the verbs “am”, “are”, and “is” have the shared lemma “be”, or the nouns “cat” and “cats” both share the lemma “cat”. We preferred lemmatization over stemming [ 52 ] in order to obtain more interpretable results.

In addition, we identified a further set of keywords (with respect to those listed in the “keywords” field) by applying a series of automatic words unification and removal steps, as suggested in past research [ 53 , 54 ]. We removed: sparse terms (i.e., occurring in less than 0.1% of all documents), common terms (i.e., occurring in more than 10% of all documents) and retained only nouns and adjectives. It is relevant to notice that no document was lost due to these steps. We then used the TF-IDF function [ 55 ] to produce a new list of keywords. We additionally tested other approaches for the identification and clustering of keywords–such as TextRank [ 56 ] or Latent Dirichlet Allocation [ 57 ]–without obtaining more informative results.

Classification of research topics

To guide the literature analysis, two experts met regularly to examine the sample of collected papers and to identify the main topics and trends in gender research. Initially, they conducted brainstorming sessions on the topics they expected to find, due to their knowledge of the literature. This led to an initial list of topics. Subsequently, the experts worked independently, also supported by the keywords in paper titles and abstracts extracted with the procedure described above.

Considering all this information, each expert identified and clustered relevant keywords into topics. At the end of the process, the two assignments were compared and exhibited a 92% agreement. Another meeting was held to discuss discordant cases and reach a consensus. This resulted in a list of 27 topics, briefly introduced in Table 2 and subsequently detailed in the following sections.

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Evaluation of semantic importance

Working on the lemmatized corpus of the 15,465 papers included in our sample, we proceeded with the evaluation of semantic importance trends for each topic and with the analysis of their connections and prevalent textual associations. To this aim, we used the Semantic Brand Score indicator [ 36 ], calculated through the SBS BI webapp [ 37 ] that also produced a brand image report for each topic. For this study we relied on the computing resources of the ENEA/CRESCO infrastructure [ 58 ].

The Semantic Brand Score (SBS) is a measure of semantic importance that combines methods of social network analysis and text mining. It is usually applied for the analysis of (big) textual data to evaluate the importance of one or more brands, names, words, or sets of keywords [ 36 ]. Indeed, the concept of “brand” is intended in a flexible way and goes beyond products or commercial brands. In this study, we evaluate the SBS time-trends of the keywords defining the research topics discussed in the previous section. Semantic importance comprises the three dimensions of topic prevalence, diversity and connectivity. Prevalence measures how frequently a research topic is used in the discourse. The more a topic is mentioned by scientific articles, the more the research community will be aware of it, with possible increase of future studies; this construct is partly related to that of brand awareness [ 59 ]. This effect is even stronger, considering that we are analyzing the title, abstract and keywords of the papers, i.e. the parts that have the highest visibility. A very important characteristic of the SBS is that it considers the relationships among words in a text. Topic importance is not just a matter of how frequently a topic is mentioned, but also of the associations a topic has in the text. Specifically, texts are transformed into networks of co-occurring words, and relationships are studied through social network analysis [ 60 ]. This step is necessary to calculate the other two dimensions of our semantic importance indicator. Accordingly, a social network of words is generated for each time period considered in the analysis–i.e., a graph made of n nodes (words) and E edges weighted by co-occurrence frequency, with W being the set of edge weights. The keywords representing each topic were clustered into single nodes.

The construct of diversity relates to that of brand image [ 59 ], in the sense that it considers the richness and distinctiveness of textual (topic) associations. Considering the above-mentioned networks, we calculated diversity using the distinctiveness centrality metric–as in the formula presented by Fronzetti Colladon and Naldi [ 61 ].

Lastly, connectivity was measured as the weighted betweenness centrality [ 62 , 63 ] of each research topic node. We used the formula presented by Wasserman and Faust [ 60 ]. The dimension of connectivity represents the “brokerage power” of each research topic–i.e., how much it can serve as a bridge to connect other terms (and ultimately topics) in the discourse [ 36 ].

The SBS is the final composite indicator obtained by summing the standardized scores of prevalence, diversity and connectivity. Standardization was carried out considering all the words in the corpus, for each specific timeframe.

This methodology, applied to a large and heterogeneous body of text, enables to automatically identify two important sets of information that add value to the literature review. Firstly, the relevance of each topic in literature is measured through a composite indicator of semantic importance, rather than simply looking at word frequencies. This provides a much richer picture of the topics that are at the center of the discourse, as well as of the topics that are emerging in the literature. Secondly, it enables to examine the extent of the semantic relationship between topics, looking at how tightly their discourses are linked. In a field such as gender equality, where many topics are closely linked to each other and present overlaps in issues and solutions, this methodology offers a novel perspective with respect to traditional literature reviews. In addition, it ensures reproducibility over time and the possibility to semi-automatically update the analysis, as new papers become available.

Overview of main topics

In terms of descriptive textual statistics, our corpus is made of 15,465 text documents, consisting of a total of 2,685,893 lemmatized tokens (words) and 32,279 types. As a result, the type-token ratio is 1.2%. The number of hapaxes is 12,141, with a hapax-token ratio of 37.61%.

Fig 1 shows the list of 27 topics by decreasing SBS. The most researched topic is compensation , exceeding all others in prevalence, diversity, and connectivity. This means it is not only mentioned more often than other topics, but it is also connected to a greater number of other topics and is central to the discourse on gender equality. The next four topics are, in order of SBS, role , education , decision-making , and career progression . These topics, except for education , all concern women in the workforce. Between these first five topics and the following ones there is a clear drop in SBS scores. In particular, the topics that follow have a lower connectivity than the first five. They are hiring , performance , behavior , organization , and human capital . Again, except for behavior and human capital , the other three topics are purely related to women in the workforce. After another drop-off, the following topics deal prevalently with women in society. This trend highlights that research on gender in business journals has so far mainly paid attention to the conditions that women experience in business contexts, while also devoting some attention to women in society.

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Fig 2 shows the SBS time series of the top 10 topics. While there has been a general increase in the number of Scopus-indexed publications in the last decade, we notice that some SBS trends remain steady, or even decrease. In particular, we observe that the main topic of the last twenty-two years, compensation , is losing momentum. Since 2016, it has been surpassed by decision-making , education and role , which may indicate that literature is increasingly attempting to identify root causes of compensation inequalities. Moreover, in the last two years, the topics of hiring , performance , and organization are experiencing the largest importance increase.

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Fig 3 shows the SBS time trends of the remaining 17 topics (i.e., those not in the top 10). As we can see from the graph, there are some that maintain a steady trend–such as reputation , management , networks and governance , which also seem to have little importance. More relevant topics with average stationary trends (except for the last two years) are culture , family , and parenting . The feminine topic is among the most important here, and one of those that exhibit the larger variations over time (similarly to leadership ). On the other hand, the are some topics that, even if not among the most important, show increasing SBS trends; therefore, they could be considered as emerging topics and could become popular in the near future. These are entrepreneurship , leadership , board of directors , and sustainability . These emerging topics are also interesting to anticipate future trends in gender equality research that are conducive to overall equality in society.

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In addition to the SBS score of the different topics, the network of terms they are associated to enables to gauge the extent to which their images (textual associations) overlap or differ ( Fig 4 ).

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There is a central cluster of topics with high similarity, which are all connected with women in the workforce. The cluster includes topics such as organization , decision-making , performance , hiring , human capital , education and compensation . In addition, the topic of well-being is found within this cluster, suggesting that women’s equality in the workforce is associated to well-being considerations. The emerging topics of entrepreneurship and leadership are also closely connected with each other, possibly implying that leadership is a much-researched quality in female entrepreneurship. Topics that are relatively more distant include personality , politics , feminine , empowerment , management , board of directors , reputation , governance , parenting , masculine and network .

The following sections describe the top 10 topics and their main associations in literature (see Table 3 ), while providing a brief overview of the emerging topics.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.t003

Compensation.

The topic of compensation is related to the topics of role , hiring , education and career progression , however, also sees a very high association with the words gap and inequality . Indeed, a well-known debate in degrowth economics centers around whether and how to adequately compensate women for their childbearing, childrearing, caregiver and household work [e.g., 30 ].

Even in paid work, women continue being offered lower compensations than their male counterparts who have the same job or cover the same role [ 64 – 67 ]. This severe inequality has been widely studied by scholars over the last twenty-two years. Dealing with this topic, some specific roles have been addressed. Specifically, research highlighted differences in compensation between female and male CEOs [e.g., 68 ], top executives [e.g., 69 ], and boards’ directors [e.g., 70 ]. Scholars investigated the determinants of these gaps, such as the gender composition of the board [e.g., 71 – 73 ] or women’s individual characteristics [e.g., 71 , 74 ].

Among these individual characteristics, education plays a relevant role [ 75 ]. Education is indeed presented as the solution for women, not only to achieve top executive roles, but also to reduce wage inequality [e.g., 76 , 77 ]. Past research has highlighted education influences on gender wage gaps, specifically referring to gender differences in skills [e.g., 78 ], college majors [e.g., 79 ], and college selectivity [e.g., 80 ].

Finally, the wage gap issue is strictly interrelated with hiring –e.g., looking at whether being a mother affects hiring and compensation [e.g., 65 , 81 ] or relating compensation to unemployment [e.g., 82 ]–and career progression –for instance looking at meritocracy [ 83 , 84 ] or the characteristics of the boss for whom women work [e.g., 85 ].

The roles covered by women have been deeply investigated. Scholars have focused on the role of women in their families and the society as a whole [e.g., 14 , 15 ], and, more widely, in business contexts [e.g., 18 , 81 ]. Indeed, despite still lagging behind their male counterparts [e.g., 86 , 87 ], in the last decade there has been an increase in top ranked positions achieved by women [e.g., 88 , 89 ]. Following this phenomenon, scholars have posed greater attention towards the presence of women in the board of directors [e.g., 16 , 18 , 90 , 91 ], given the increasing pressure to appoint female directors that firms, especially listed ones, have experienced. Other scholars have focused on the presence of women covering the role of CEO [e.g., 17 , 92 ] or being part of the top management team [e.g., 93 ]. Irrespectively of the level of analysis, all these studies tried to uncover the antecedents of women’s presence among top managers [e.g., 92 , 94 ] and the consequences of having a them involved in the firm’s decision-making –e.g., on performance [e.g., 19 , 95 , 96 ], risk [e.g., 97 , 98 ], and corporate social responsibility [e.g., 99 , 100 ].

Besides studying the difficulties and discriminations faced by women in getting a job [ 81 , 101 ], and, more specifically in the hiring , appointment, or career progression to these apical roles [e.g., 70 , 83 ], the majority of research of women’s roles dealt with compensation issues. Specifically, scholars highlight the pay-gap that still exists between women and men, both in general [e.g., 64 , 65 ], as well as referring to boards’ directors [e.g., 70 , 102 ], CEOs and executives [e.g., 69 , 103 , 104 ].

Finally, other scholars focused on the behavior of women when dealing with business. In this sense, particular attention has been paid to leadership and entrepreneurial behaviors. The former quite overlaps with dealing with the roles mentioned above, but also includes aspects such as leaders being stereotyped as masculine [e.g., 105 ], the need for greater exposure to female leaders to reduce biases [e.g., 106 ], or female leaders acting as queen bees [e.g., 107 ]. Regarding entrepreneurship , scholars mainly investigated women’s entrepreneurial entry [e.g., 108 , 109 ], differences between female and male entrepreneurs in the evaluations and funding received from investors [e.g., 110 , 111 ], and their performance gap [e.g., 112 , 113 ].

Education has long been recognized as key to social advancement and economic stability [ 114 ], for job progression and also a barrier to gender equality, especially in STEM-related fields. Research on education and gender equality is mostly linked with the topics of compensation , human capital , career progression , hiring , parenting and decision-making .

Education contributes to a higher human capital [ 115 ] and constitutes an investment on the part of women towards their future. In this context, literature points to the gender gap in educational attainment, and the consequences for women from a social, economic, personal and professional standpoint. Women are found to have less access to formal education and information, especially in emerging countries, which in turn may cause them to lose social and economic opportunities [e.g., 12 , 116 – 119 ]. Education in local and rural communities is also paramount to communicate the benefits of female empowerment , contributing to overall societal well-being [e.g., 120 ].

Once women access education, the image they have of the world and their place in society (i.e., habitus) affects their education performance [ 13 ] and is passed on to their children. These situations reinforce gender stereotypes, which become self-fulfilling prophecies that may negatively affect female students’ performance by lowering their confidence and heightening their anxiety [ 121 , 122 ]. Besides formal education, also the information that women are exposed to on a daily basis contributes to their human capital . Digital inequalities, for instance, stems from men spending more time online and acquiring higher digital skills than women [ 123 ].

Education is also a factor that should boost employability of candidates and thus hiring , career progression and compensation , however the relationship between these factors is not straightforward [ 115 ]. First, educational choices ( decision-making ) are influenced by variables such as self-efficacy and the presence of barriers, irrespectively of the career opportunities they offer, especially in STEM [ 124 ]. This brings additional difficulties to women’s enrollment and persistence in scientific and technical fields of study due to stereotypes and biases [ 125 , 126 ]. Moreover, access to education does not automatically translate into job opportunities for women and minority groups [ 127 , 128 ] or into female access to managerial positions [ 129 ].

Finally, parenting is reported as an antecedent of education [e.g., 130 ], with much of the literature focusing on the role of parents’ education on the opportunities afforded to children to enroll in education [ 131 – 134 ] and the role of parenting in their offspring’s perception of study fields and attitudes towards learning [ 135 – 138 ]. Parental education is also a predictor of the other related topics, namely human capital and compensation [ 139 ].

Decision-making.

This literature mainly points to the fact that women are thought to make decisions differently than men. Women have indeed different priorities, such as they care more about people’s well-being, working with people or helping others, rather than maximizing their personal (or their firm’s) gain [ 140 ]. In other words, women typically present more communal than agentic behaviors, which are instead more frequent among men [ 141 ]. These different attitude, behavior and preferences in turn affect the decisions they make [e.g., 142 ] and the decision-making of the firm in which they work [e.g., 143 ].

At the individual level, gender affects, for instance, career aspirations [e.g., 144 ] and choices [e.g., 142 , 145 ], or the decision of creating a venture [e.g., 108 , 109 , 146 ]. Moreover, in everyday life, women and men make different decisions regarding partners [e.g., 147 ], childcare [e.g., 148 ], education [e.g., 149 ], attention to the environment [e.g., 150 ] and politics [e.g., 151 ].

At the firm level, scholars highlighted, for example, how the presence of women in the board affects corporate decisions [e.g., 152 , 153 ], that female CEOs are more conservative in accounting decisions [e.g., 154 ], or that female CFOs tend to make more conservative decisions regarding the firm’s financial reporting [e.g., 155 ]. Nevertheless, firm level research also investigated decisions that, influenced by gender bias, affect women, such as those pertaining hiring [e.g., 156 , 157 ], compensation [e.g., 73 , 158 ], or the empowerment of women once appointed [ 159 ].

Career progression.

Once women have entered the workforce, the key aspect to achieve gender equality becomes career progression , including efforts toward overcoming the glass ceiling. Indeed, according to the SBS analysis, career progression is highly related to words such as work, social issues and equality. The topic with which it has the highest semantic overlap is role , followed by decision-making , hiring , education , compensation , leadership , human capital , and family .

Career progression implies an advancement in the hierarchical ladder of the firm, assigning managerial roles to women. Coherently, much of the literature has focused on identifying rationales for a greater female participation in the top management team and board of directors [e.g., 95 ] as well as the best criteria to ensure that the decision-makers promote the most valuable employees irrespectively of their individual characteristics, such as gender [e.g., 84 ]. The link between career progression , role and compensation is often provided in practice by performance appraisal exercises, frequently rooted in a culture of meritocracy that guides bonuses, salary increases and promotions. However, performance appraisals can actually mask gender-biased decisions where women are held to higher standards than their male colleagues [e.g., 83 , 84 , 95 , 160 , 161 ]. Women often have less opportunities to gain leadership experience and are less visible than their male colleagues, which constitute barriers to career advancement [e.g., 162 ]. Therefore, transparency and accountability, together with procedures that discourage discretionary choices, are paramount to achieve a fair career progression [e.g., 84 ], together with the relaxation of strict job boundaries in favor of cross-functional and self-directed tasks [e.g., 163 ].

In addition, a series of stereotypes about the type of leadership characteristics that are required for top management positions, which fit better with typical male and agentic attributes, are another key barrier to career advancement for women [e.g., 92 , 160 ].

Hiring is the entrance gateway for women into the workforce. Therefore, it is related to other workforce topics such as compensation , role , career progression , decision-making , human capital , performance , organization and education .

A first stream of literature focuses on the process leading up to candidates’ job applications, demonstrating that bias exists before positions are even opened, and it is perpetuated both by men and women through networking and gatekeeping practices [e.g., 164 , 165 ].

The hiring process itself is also subject to biases [ 166 ], for example gender-congruity bias that leads to men being preferred candidates in male-dominated sectors [e.g., 167 ], women being hired in positions with higher risk of failure [e.g., 168 ] and limited transparency and accountability afforded by written processes and procedures [e.g., 164 ] that all contribute to ascriptive inequality. In addition, providing incentives for evaluators to hire women may actually work to this end; however, this is not the case when supporting female candidates endangers higher-ranking male ones [ 169 ].

Another interesting perspective, instead, looks at top management teams’ composition and the effects on hiring practices, indicating that firms with more women in top management are less likely to lay off staff [e.g., 152 ].

Performance.

Several scholars posed their attention towards women’s performance, its consequences [e.g., 170 , 171 ] and the implications of having women in decision-making positions [e.g., 18 , 19 ].

At the individual level, research focused on differences in educational and academic performance between women and men, especially referring to the gender gap in STEM fields [e.g., 171 ]. The presence of stereotype threats–that is the expectation that the members of a social group (e.g., women) “must deal with the possibility of being judged or treated stereotypically, or of doing something that would confirm the stereotype” [ 172 ]–affects women’s interested in STEM [e.g., 173 ], as well as their cognitive ability tests, penalizing them [e.g., 174 ]. A stronger gender identification enhances this gap [e.g., 175 ], whereas mentoring and role models can be used as solutions to this problem [e.g., 121 ]. Despite the negative effect of stereotype threats on girls’ performance [ 176 ], female and male students perform equally in mathematics and related subjects [e.g., 177 ]. Moreover, while individuals’ performance at school and university generally affects their achievements and the field in which they end up working, evidence reveals that performance in math or other scientific subjects does not explain why fewer women enter STEM working fields; rather this gap depends on other aspects, such as culture, past working experiences, or self-efficacy [e.g., 170 ]. Finally, scholars have highlighted the penalization that women face for their positive performance, for instance when they succeed in traditionally male areas [e.g., 178 ]. This penalization is explained by the violation of gender-stereotypic prescriptions [e.g., 179 , 180 ], that is having women well performing in agentic areas, which are typical associated to men. Performance penalization can thus be overcome by clearly conveying communal characteristics and behaviors [ 178 ].

Evidence has been provided on how the involvement of women in boards of directors and decision-making positions affects firms’ performance. Nevertheless, results are mixed, with some studies showing positive effects on financial [ 19 , 181 , 182 ] and corporate social performance [ 99 , 182 , 183 ]. Other studies maintain a negative association [e.g., 18 ], and other again mixed [e.g., 184 ] or non-significant association [e.g., 185 ]. Also with respect to the presence of a female CEO, mixed results emerged so far, with some researches demonstrating a positive effect on firm’s performance [e.g., 96 , 186 ], while other obtaining only a limited evidence of this relationship [e.g., 103 ] or a negative one [e.g., 187 ].

Finally, some studies have investigated whether and how women’s performance affects their hiring [e.g., 101 ] and career progression [e.g., 83 , 160 ]. For instance, academic performance leads to different returns in hiring for women and men. Specifically, high-achieving men are called back significantly more often than high-achieving women, which are penalized when they have a major in mathematics; this result depends on employers’ gendered standards for applicants [e.g., 101 ]. Once appointed, performance ratings are more strongly related to promotions for women than men, and promoted women typically show higher past performance ratings than those of promoted men. This suggesting that women are subject to stricter standards for promotion [e.g., 160 ].

Behavioral aspects related to gender follow two main streams of literature. The first examines female personality and behavior in the workplace, and their alignment with cultural expectations or stereotypes [e.g., 188 ] as well as their impacts on equality. There is a common bias that depicts women as less agentic than males. Certain characteristics, such as those more congruent with male behaviors–e.g., self-promotion [e.g., 189 ], negotiation skills [e.g., 190 ] and general agentic behavior [e.g., 191 ]–, are less accepted in women. However, characteristics such as individualism in women have been found to promote greater gender equality in society [ 192 ]. In addition, behaviors such as display of emotions [e.g., 193 ], which are stereotypically female, work against women’s acceptance in the workplace, requiring women to carefully moderate their behavior to avoid exclusion. A counter-intuitive result is that women and minorities, which are more marginalized in the workplace, tend to be better problem-solvers in innovation competitions due to their different knowledge bases [ 194 ].

The other side of the coin is examined in a parallel literature stream on behavior towards women in the workplace. As a result of biases, prejudices and stereotypes, women may experience adverse behavior from their colleagues, such as incivility and harassment, which undermine their well-being [e.g., 195 , 196 ]. Biases that go beyond gender, such as for overweight people, are also more strongly applied to women [ 197 ].

Organization.

The role of women and gender bias in organizations has been studied from different perspectives, which mirror those presented in detail in the following sections. Specifically, most research highlighted the stereotypical view of leaders [e.g., 105 ] and the roles played by women within firms, for instance referring to presence in the board of directors [e.g., 18 , 90 , 91 ], appointment as CEOs [e.g., 16 ], or top executives [e.g., 93 ].

Scholars have investigated antecedents and consequences of the presence of women in these apical roles. On the one side they looked at hiring and career progression [e.g., 83 , 92 , 160 , 168 , 198 ], finding women typically disadvantaged with respect to their male counterparts. On the other side, they studied women’s leadership styles and influence on the firm’s decision-making [e.g., 152 , 154 , 155 , 199 ], with implications for performance [e.g., 18 , 19 , 96 ].

Human capital.

Human capital is a transverse topic that touches upon many different aspects of female gender equality. As such, it has the most associations with other topics, starting with education as mentioned above, with career-related topics such as role , decision-making , hiring , career progression , performance , compensation , leadership and organization . Another topic with which there is a close connection is behavior . In general, human capital is approached both from the education standpoint but also from the perspective of social capital.

The behavioral aspect in human capital comprises research related to gender differences for example in cultural and religious beliefs that influence women’s attitudes and perceptions towards STEM subjects [ 142 , 200 – 202 ], towards employment [ 203 ] or towards environmental issues [ 150 , 204 ]. These cultural differences also emerge in the context of globalization which may accelerate gender equality in the workforce [ 205 , 206 ]. Gender differences also appear in behaviors such as motivation [ 207 ], and in negotiation [ 190 ], and have repercussions on women’s decision-making related to their careers. The so-called gender equality paradox sees women in countries with lower gender equality more likely to pursue studies and careers in STEM fields, whereas the gap in STEM enrollment widens as countries achieve greater equality in society [ 171 ].

Career progression is modeled by literature as a choice-process where personal preferences, culture and decision-making affect the chosen path and the outcomes. Some literature highlights how women tend to self-select into different professions than men, often due to stereotypes rather than actual ability to perform in these professions [ 142 , 144 ]. These stereotypes also affect the perceptions of female performance or the amount of human capital required to equal male performance [ 110 , 193 , 208 ], particularly for mothers [ 81 ]. It is therefore often assumed that women are better suited to less visible and less leadership -oriented roles [ 209 ]. Women also express differing preferences towards work-family balance, which affect whether and how they pursue human capital gains [ 210 ], and ultimately their career progression and salary .

On the other hand, men are often unaware of gendered processes and behaviors that they carry forward in their interactions and decision-making [ 211 , 212 ]. Therefore, initiatives aimed at increasing managers’ human capital –by raising awareness of gender disparities in their organizations and engaging them in diversity promotion–are essential steps to counter gender bias and segregation [ 213 ].

Emerging topics: Leadership and entrepreneurship

Among the emerging topics, the most pervasive one is women reaching leadership positions in the workforce and in society. This is still a rare occurrence for two main types of factors, on the one hand, bias and discrimination make it harder for women to access leadership positions [e.g., 214 – 216 ], on the other hand, the competitive nature and high pressure associated with leadership positions, coupled with the lack of women currently represented, reduce women’s desire to achieve them [e.g., 209 , 217 ]. Women are more effective leaders when they have access to education, resources and a diverse environment with representation [e.g., 218 , 219 ].

One sector where there is potential for women to carve out a leadership role is entrepreneurship . Although at the start of the millennium the discourse on entrepreneurship was found to be “discriminatory, gender-biased, ethnocentrically determined and ideologically controlled” [ 220 ], an increasing body of literature is studying how to stimulate female entrepreneurship as an alternative pathway to wealth, leadership and empowerment [e.g., 221 ]. Many barriers exist for women to access entrepreneurship, including the institutional and legal environment, social and cultural factors, access to knowledge and resources, and individual behavior [e.g., 222 , 223 ]. Education has been found to raise women’s entrepreneurial intentions [e.g., 224 ], although this effect is smaller than for men [e.g., 109 ]. In addition, increasing self-efficacy and risk-taking behavior constitute important success factors [e.g., 225 ].

Finally, the topic of sustainability is worth mentioning, as it is the primary objective of the SDGs and is closely associated with societal well-being. As society grapples with the effects of climate change and increasing depletion of natural resources, a narrative has emerged on women and their greater link to the environment [ 226 ]. Studies in developed countries have found some support for women leaders’ attention to sustainability issues in firms [e.g., 227 – 229 ], and smaller resource consumption by women [ 230 ]. At the same time, women will likely be more affected by the consequences of climate change [e.g., 230 ] but often lack the decision-making power to influence local decision-making on resource management and environmental policies [e.g., 231 ].

Research gaps and conclusions

Research on gender equality has advanced rapidly in the past decades, with a steady increase in publications, both in mainstream topics related to women in education and the workforce, and in emerging topics. Through a novel approach combining methods of text mining and social network analysis, we examined a comprehensive body of literature comprising 15,465 papers published between 2000 and mid 2021 on topics related to gender equality. We identified a set of 27 topics addressed by the literature and examined their connections.

At the highest level of abstraction, it is worth noting that papers abound on the identification of issues related to gender inequalities and imbalances in the workforce and in society. Literature has thoroughly examined the (unconscious) biases, barriers, stereotypes, and discriminatory behaviors that women are facing as a result of their gender. Instead, there are much fewer papers that discuss or demonstrate effective solutions to overcome gender bias [e.g., 121 , 143 , 145 , 163 , 194 , 213 , 232 ]. This is partly due to the relative ease in studying the status quo, as opposed to studying changes in the status quo. However, we observed a shift in the more recent years towards solution seeking in this domain, which we strongly encourage future researchers to focus on. In the future, we may focus on collecting and mapping pro-active contributions to gender studies, using additional Natural Language Processing techniques, able to measure the sentiment of scientific papers [ 43 ].

All of the mainstream topics identified in our literature review are closely related, and there is a wealth of insights looking at the intersection between issues such as education and career progression or human capital and role . However, emerging topics are worthy of being furtherly explored. It would be interesting to see more work on the topic of female entrepreneurship , exploring aspects such as education , personality , governance , management and leadership . For instance, how can education support female entrepreneurship? How can self-efficacy and risk-taking behaviors be taught or enhanced? What are the differences in managerial and governance styles of female entrepreneurs? Which personality traits are associated with successful entrepreneurs? Which traits are preferred by venture capitalists and funding bodies?

The emerging topic of sustainability also deserves further attention, as our society struggles with climate change and its consequences. It would be interesting to see more research on the intersection between sustainability and entrepreneurship , looking at how female entrepreneurs are tackling sustainability issues, examining both their business models and their company governance . In addition, scholars are suggested to dig deeper into the relationship between family values and behaviors.

Moreover, it would be relevant to understand how women’s networks (social capital), or the composition and structure of social networks involving both women and men, enable them to increase their remuneration and reach top corporate positions, participate in key decision-making bodies, and have a voice in communities. Furthermore, the achievement of gender equality might significantly change firm networks and ecosystems, with important implications for their performance and survival.

Similarly, research at the nexus of (corporate) governance , career progression , compensation and female empowerment could yield useful insights–for example discussing how enterprises, institutions and countries are managed and the impact for women and other minorities. Are there specific governance structures that favor diversity and inclusion?

Lastly, we foresee an emerging stream of research pertaining how the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged women, especially in the workforce, by making gender biases more evident.

For our analysis, we considered a set of 15,465 articles downloaded from the Scopus database (which is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature). As we were interested in reviewing business and economics related gender studies, we only considered those papers published in journals listed in the Academic Journal Guide (AJG) 2018 ranking of the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS). All the journals listed in this ranking are also indexed by Scopus. Therefore, looking at a single database (i.e., Scopus) should not be considered a limitation of our study. However, future research could consider different databases and inclusion criteria.

With our literature review, we offer researchers a comprehensive map of major gender-related research trends over the past twenty-two years. This can serve as a lens to look to the future, contributing to the achievement of SDG5. Researchers may use our study as a starting point to identify key themes addressed in the literature. In addition, our methodological approach–based on the use of the Semantic Brand Score and its webapp–could support scholars interested in reviewing other areas of research.

Supporting information

S1 text. keywords used for paper selection..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.s001

Acknowledgments

The computing resources and the related technical support used for this work have been provided by CRESCO/ENEAGRID High Performance Computing infrastructure and its staff. CRESCO/ENEAGRID High Performance Computing infrastructure is funded by ENEA, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development and by Italian and European research programmes (see http://www.cresco.enea.it/english for information).

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Gender equality

Gender equality and sustainable development.

Gender equality is intrinsically linked to sustainable development: women represent half the world’s population, yet face systemic deprivations relative to men in all societies.

In Europe and Central Asia, inequalities persist between women and men in access to decent work and income. Women perform more than twice as much unpaid care and domestic work as men, reducing their ability to work for income. On average, the gender gap in labour force participation around 20 percent in the region. Women face multiple challenges as they try to advance their careers, while women earn on average 30 percent less than men.

In addition, women entrepreneurs encounter more difficulties than men in accessing the finance, credit, skills, technology and networks they need to be successful in employment. To tackle this, the joint UNDP and UNICEF digital platform STEM4ALL has been created to accelerate the representation and leadership of women and girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and increase job security, financial stability and inclusive innovation.

UNDP works to promote gender equality in sustainable development and economic growth by:

Implementing programmes aimed at creating jobs for women and men; and supporting their transition to digital-enabled and related jobs;
Advocating for national legal frameworks and development strategies for women’s economic empowerment;
Supporting governments and partners in the public and private sectors to recognize, redistribute and reduce women’s unpaid care and domestic work;
Providing women-led enterprises with grants, business development and mentoring support;
Supporting research on public policy initiatives to promote gender equality in decent work;
Proposing measures and policies that promote gender equality in the green economy.
Creating a multi-sectoral, global community of practice called the STEMinists Network where members can share insights, create spaces for dialogues, learn from one another and find partners for collaboration;
Providing resources for statistical data, policy briefs, guides and inspirational journeys of women who are breaking down gender barriers in STEM.

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Gender and the environment: What are the barriers to gender equality in sustainable ecosystem management?

Gender equality and women’s empowerment are matters of fundamental human rights and prerequisites to meeting sustainable development goals around the world.

Photo: NTFP-EP Cambodia, Kouy Socheat

This 4-part blog series sets out the benefits of (part 1) and barriers to (part 2 – upcoming) gender equality within sustainable ecosystem management. Part 3 (upcoming) zooms in on solutions, outlining key tools and strategies. Part 4 (upcoming) highlights examples of gender-responsive interventions. This blog sets out four benefits of ensuring women and men are effectively and equally included in sustainable ecosystem management.

A gender gap is a gender-based inequality; it is any disparity in treatment or situation between women and men, often rooted in social, cultural and legal norms and customs. Gender gaps create barriers to effective sustainable development and livelihoods by limiting or restricting women’s access to resources and decision-making opportunities. In some cases, violence can be used against women as a means of control over resources and opportunities, reinforcing power imbalances and gender inequality.

Good governance in sustainable ecosystem management can only be achieved by understanding gender gaps and addressing the specific barriers. Without doing this, sustainable ecosystem management approaches risk exacerbating gender inequality to the detriment of conservation goals, community wellbeing and human rights. This blog outlines three critical gender gaps that present barriers to sustainable ecosystem management.

1. Unequal and insecure rights over land

Land is essential in securing livelihood resources, including shelter, food and income; facilitating access to decision-making power and maintaining cultural identity. Access to and secure tenure over land is also closely linked to natural resource access and management, such as water and forest resources, with benefits for sustainable ecosystems. One study from the Amazon region shows that securing land rights for Indigenous women and men contributes to reduced deforestation rates and is a cost-effective measure for climate change mitigation.

Legal and social barriers

Even though women have major roles using land for food security, income and household resources, women make up only 13.8% of landholders globally , often facing numerous legal and social barriers in all aspects of land rights – including rights to sell, manage or control the economic output from their land. Insecure land rights are a huge barrier for women in participating in or leading sustainable management efforts, as they may not have decision-making power over how land is used and managed if they do not own it. Furthermore, while women that manage land may want to adopt sustainable management approaches, if they do not have their name on the land title, they may not be able to access loans to invest in technology and inputs.

Traditional and cultural norms

Traditional and cultural norms can play a role in dictating who is capable of managing land, which can restrict women’s access to land even in countries where they have legal rights over it. In the Rukwa and Katavi regions of Tanzania, ActionAid Tanzania, in collaboration with LEAT, Haki Ardhi and other community-based groups, set out to shift perceptions on women’s ability to manage and own land by organizing village dialogues to raise awareness and sensitize communities on equal land rights. While cultural and societal shifts do not occur overnight, these dialogues were a necessary starting point to empower women and build acceptance within the communities, with women now actually owning their properties of land.

The importance of secure and equal land rights in sustainable ecosystem management cannot be understated. A recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), reaffirmed that strengthening women’s access to and control over land improves sustainable management efforts, such as by increasing investments and willingness to engage in conservation activities, including tree planning and sustainable soil management.

2. Underrepresentation in natural resource decision making and leadership

From national governments to local community groups, women are vastly underrepresented in decision making. For instance, women make up less than 25% of all national parliamentarians around the world. This underrepresentation also extends to national environmental decision making, where women hold only 12% of top ministerial positions in environment-related sectors worldwide, as well as in district or community level committees, where women are generally underrepresented.

In many communities, cultural norms and time-intensive household care duties often impede women’s abilities to participate in community consultations and decision-making processes about sustainable management initiatives. This means that when it comes to natural resources and ecosystem management, women’s needs, priorities and knowledge are often ignored or overlooked, impacting their empowerment and agency and undermining the effectiveness of sustainable management solutions.

Transformative power

Research and experiences increasingly show the transformative power of inclusive decision making and both women’s and men’s unique differentiated knowledge in successful environmental programming and sustainable development. For example, at the national and international level, countries with more women parliamentarians are more likely to ratify environment treaties . At the community level, in India and Nepal , forest management groups that included women showed better resource governance and conservation outcomes.

Additionally, government bodies, private sector companies and organisations need to look internally and evaluate the barriers to and opportunities for inclusive decision making. A Rocha Ghana recognised the importance of gender mainstreaming in both their projects and within the institution and made the decision to develop an institutional gender policy. The first step in this process required them to conduct a gender audit to assess the barriers for staff in mainstreaming gender in projects and accessing decision making opportunities within the organisation. The results of this audit will inform a gender policy to improve conditions for inclusive organisational decision making and reaffirm institutional commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

3. Gender-based violence

Gender-based violence is pervasive around the world. Globally, 1 in 3 women will experience some form of gender-based violence in her lifetime, but national and context-specific evidence shows that incidence can be much, much higher. Rooted in discriminatory gender norms, gender-based violence is used as a form of control, subjugation and exploitation to maintain and reinforce gender inequality. Gender-based violence is a violation of basic rights and has long-term impacts on every aspect of a survivor’s life, from health and wellness to public participation and economic and political empowerment.

Complex links

The links between gender-based violence and the environment are complex, but recent research from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) establishes a knowledge base demonstrating that gender-based violence can both be driven by and impact power imbalances in control over land and natural resources, especially when those resources are scarce or under stress.

Tactic to silence dissent

Gender-based violence has long been a tactic to silence dissent from women defending human and environmental rights and deter others from speaking out, with Indigenous women facing increased violence due to intersecting forms of discrimination. As shown by the women community leaders and activists that took part in the latest ReSisters Dialogue , these trends of violence, threats and intimidations occur across countries and contexts. However, this gathering of women defenders also shows a growing support system and resistance to these trends and a strengthened network of strong and inspiring women.

If sustainable development programmes do not consider local gender dynamics and drivers of gender-based violence, interventions can inadvertently exacerbate conditions that contribute to an increase in violence. Addressing gender-based violence across environment-related contexts and sectors is important for realizing conservation and resilience-focused interventions and advocacy, as well as for realizing human rights and peace and security. Fostering safe civic spaces, building awareness on rights and improving structural protections for women to engage in and defend their rights to environmental resources and land is essential.

Addressing barriers: consider the context

While gender gaps are a risk to effective sustainable ecosystem management, these gaps can also be addressed in sustainable management approaches through promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment. It is important to note that gender inequality and the resulting gaps and barriers are different in every context. Therefore, any projects, programmes and strategies for sustainable ecosystem management need to be grounded in a gender and social context analysis that considers gaps, as well as opportunities to address them, specific to the context.

More information

For more information and support on gender analyses and gender mainstreaming, view the SRJS and gender tool developed by the IUCN Gender team. The tool is meant to help establish a common understanding of gender equality and social inclusion terms and issues; to help ensure that gender equality and social inclusion principles trigger concrete actions and results; and to help recognize the value of a gender-responsive, socially inclusive approach to safeguarding international public goods.

View the SJRS Gender Tool here .

This blog series was prepared by IUCN and IUCN NL and originally appears on IUCN NL . It is part of the programme Shared Resources, Joint Solutions (SRJS), a strategic partnership between IUCN NL, WWF NL and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 2017, the IUCN has provided support to SRJS partners to meet their gender commitments and goals in their work to protect climate resilience, the water supply and food security. For more resources on gender mainstreaming, visit the IUCN Gender and Environment Resource Center online .

Republic of the Philippines Philippine Commission on Women

Gender Equality and the Sustainable Development Goals

The culmination of the MDGs in 2015 called for continuity and consolidation of its results while making these more sustainable through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development . In September 2015, 193 United Nations Member States gathered for the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit and adopted the new global plan of action entitled, “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” (See UN Resolution 70/1, the 2030 Agenda ). The 2030 Agenda, its 17 Goals and 169 targets, are a universal set of goals and targets aimed at eliminating poverty, protecting the planet, and improving the lives of everyone, fighting inequalities and increasing country’s productive capacity, increasing social inclusion and curbing climate change and protecting the environment, while ensuring that no one is left behind over the next fifteen years. The SDGs are designed to be a “blueprint” to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”. The 17 sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda are:

SDG 5 is aimed to “achieve gender quality and empower all women and girls” , or simply on “Gender Equality” . It has nine (9) targets and fourteen (14) indicators. SDG 5 is focused on pursuing the main goal of real and sustained gender equality in all aspects of women and girls’ lives which includes (1) ending gender disparities, (2) eliminating violence against women and girls’ lives, (3) eliminating early and forced marriage, (4) securing equal participation and opportunities for leadership, and (5) universal access to sexual and reproductive rights.

The SDG 5 targets and indicators are listed below (See also Goal 5: Gender Equality in SDG Tracker )

Sustainable Development Goal 5: Targets and Indicators

Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Prioritizing gender equality is one of the cross-cutting concerns in the 2030 Agenda. Women’s empowerment and gender equality is integral to all dimensions of inclusive development. There is consensus that progress on all of the SDGs is realistically achieved if women’s empowerment and gender equality are prioritized holistically.

Translating the SDG to the Philippine Context

The conclusion of the MDGs in 2015 paved the way for the discussion of a post-2015 agenda. The focus was on building a sustainable world where environmental sustainability, social inclusion, and economic development are equally valued. The post-2015 agenda adopted an inclusive and comprehensive approach with emphasis on development as a right, with attention directed towards traditionally marginalized groups such as ethnic minorities, indigenous groups, and women.

In the interest of creating a new, people-centered, development agenda, a global consultation was conducted online and offline. Civil society organizations, citizens, scientists, academics, and the private sector from around the world were all actively engaged in the process which included activities like thematic and national consultations. In the Philippines, such activities were led by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

The SDGs and targets are integrated and indivisible, global in nature and universally applicable, and take into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development and respecting national policies and priorities. Each government is expected to take ownership and establish national frameworks, set nationally-owned targets guided by the global level of ambition but taking into account country-level circumstances for the achievement of 17 goals. The SDG global indicator framework which consists of 232 unique indicators was developed by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDG) established by the UN Statistical Commission .

SDG indicators were classified as follows:

Tier 1 – Indicator is conceptually clear, has an internationally established methodology and standards are available, and data are regularly produced by country; Tier 2 – Indicator is conceptually clear, has an internationally established methodology and standards are available, but data are not regularly produced by country; and Tier 3 – No internationally established methodology or standards are yet available for the indicator, but methodology/standards are being (or will be) developed.

In line with the Philippines’ commitment in achieving the SDGs, the PSA Board issued PSA Resolution No. 04 Series of 2016, Enjoining Government Agencies to Provide Data Support to the Sustainable Development Goals. As such, the agencies were also enjoined to monitor the country’s performance in achieving the SDGs based on the indicator framework determined by NEDA, PSA and relevant government agencies. The PSA was also designated as the official repository of the SDG indicators in the Philippines. Thereafter, multisectoral workshops and consultative meetings were conducted to assess the availability and relevance of the global SDG indicators in the country. As a result, in 2017, the PSA Board approved the Official List of SDG Indicators for Initial Monitoring in the Philippines through PSA Board Resolution No. 9, Series of 2017, with 155 indicators, of which 102 were global SDG indicators, 28 proxy indicators and 25 supplemental indicators. These indicators will be sourced from surveys, censuses and administrative data of PSA and other government agencies as well as data of international agencies.

As the official repository of the SDG indicators, PSA updates data on the country’s performance in achieving SDGs through the SDG Watch Philippines. Under the SDG Watch Philippines, 7 targets and 15 indicators were identified under the SDG 5. ( See SDG Watch ). To facilitate the monitoring of the country’s performance in achieving the SDGs, PSA established the SDG Focal Points consisting of the focal persons designated by the various source agencies of the SDG indicators, including the Philippine Commission on Women.

Localization of the SDG 5

Being the oversight agency in the implementation of the SDGs, NEDA has developed the SDG website , a platform that gives updates on the SDG localization initiatives of the Philippines, consisting of key government programs, activities and projects contributing to each goal.

For SDG 5, the localization initiatives are composed of the following:

18-Day Campaign to End Violence Against Women (VAW)
Mapping of VAW Services, Programs, and Facilities in the Philippines
Making VAW Desks Functional
Strengthening Monitoring and Evaluation of the Implementation of the Gender and Women Empowerment Plan 2019-2025
Conduct of Conferences, Fora, or Consultation Workshops Relative to the Implementation of SDG 5: Gender Equality.

The report can be found here .

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GOAL 5: GENDER EQUALITY

Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Goal 5 aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Gender equality is a human right. It is also a precondition for realizing all goals in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

Though girls and boys on average face similar challenges in early childhood, gender disparities become more pronounced as children grow. Adolescent girls, due to expected gender roles, may face a disproportionate burden of domestic work, expectations to be married, risks of early pregnancy, as well as sexual and gender-based violence. Globally, 650 million girls and women alive today have been married as children and over 200 million have undergone female genital mutilation. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has deepened existing gender inequalities, especially for the most marginalized children.

UNICEF’s contribution towards reaching Goal 5 centres on embedding gender equitable results across all programming to ensure that children grow, learn and thrive, regardless of their gender. UNICEF places a special focus on adolescent girls in recognition that investment in adolescent girls has the potential to bring about transformative change for girls, their families and their communities, as well as for the next generation. UNICEF also supports governments in generating, analysing and using gender data to identify and address barriers to gender equality among children and women.

UNICEF is the custodian for global monitoring for two indicators that measure progress towards Goal 5: Indicator 5.3.1 Proportion of women aged 20–24 years who were married or in a union before age 15 and before age 18; and Indicator 5.3.2 Proportion of girls and women aged 15–49 years who have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting, by age. UNICEF is also co-custodian for two Goal 5 indicators: Indicator 5.2.1 Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by form of violence and by age; and Indicator 5.2.2 Proportion of women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by age and place of occurrence.

In addition, UNICEF is the custodian or co-custodian of four additional sex-disaggregated or gender-specific child focused indicators under Goals 3, 4, 8 and 16:

3.1.2 Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel
4.2.1 Proportion of children aged 36-59 months who are developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being, by sex
8.7.1 Proportion and number of children aged 5-17 years engaged in child labour, by sex and age
16.2.3 Proportion of young women and men aged 18–29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18

Child-related SDG indicators

Target 5.1 end all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere, legal frameworks that promote, enforce and monitor gender equality in employment and economic benefits.

Explore the data

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TARGET 5.2 Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation

Percentage of ever-partnered women and girls (aged 15 years and older) subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months.

Indicator definition
Computation method
Comments & limitations

Intimate partner violence includes any physical, sexual or emotional abuse perpetrated by a current or former partner within the context of marriage, cohabitation or any other formal or informal union.

Although both girls and boys can be victims of intimate partner violence, girls are at greater risk. Given prevailing social norms that sanction male dominance over women, violence between intimate partners is often perceived as an ordinary or normal element of relationships, particularly in the context of marriage or other unions. In fact, violence directed at girls and women by an intimate partner is the most common form of gender-based violence.

This indicator refers to intimate partner violence, which includes any abuse perpetrated by a current or former partner within the context of marriage, cohabitation or any other formal or informal union. For the purpose of global monitoring, the indicator is currently being defined as proportion of ever-partnered women and girls aged 15 to 49 years who have experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months. The rationale for using a proxy indicator is that comparable data are currently only available for a subset of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and the fact that there is no agreement on a standard operational definition for psychological violence.

The conceptual definitions of the types of violence covered in the SDG indicator, as defined in the 2014 UN Guidelines for Producing Statistics on Violence against Women, are:

‘Physical violence’ consists of acts aimed at physically hurting the victim and include, but are not limited to acts like pushing, grabbing, twisting the arm, pulling hair, slapping, kicking, biting or hitting with a fist or object, trying to strangle or suffocate, burning or scalding on purpose, or threatening or attacking with some sort of weapon, gun or knife.

‘Sexual violence’ is defined as any sort of harmful or unwanted sexual behaviour that is imposed on someone, whether by use of force, intimidation or coercion. It includes acts of abusive sexual contact, forced engagement in sexual acts, attempted or completed sexual acts without consent, non-contact acts such as being forced to watch or participate in pornography, etc. In intimate partner relationships, sexual violence is commonly defined as: being physically forced to have sexual intercourse, having sexual intercourse out of fear for what the partner might do or through coercion, and/or being forced to do something sexual that the woman considers humiliating or degrading.

‘Psychological violence’ includes a range of behaviours that encompass acts of emotional abuse and controlling conduct.

Numerator: Number of ever-partnered women and girls (aged 15 years and above) who have experienced physical, sexual and/or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months.

Denominator: Number of ever-partnered women and girls (aged 15 years and above) in the population.

It is important to note that because of the stigma surrounding intimate partner violence, available data are likely to underestimate the true prevalence.

The availability of comparable data remains a challenge as many data collection efforts have relied on varying survey methodologies, not used the same definitions of partner or spousal violence and of the forms of violence, utilized different survey questions, and sampled diverse age groups. The quality of interviewer training is also highly variable. Because of this, data should be interpreted with caution.

Currently, national data included in the global SDG database are disaggregated only by age (when possible) but not by type of violence, as called for in the indicator definition. This is because, while there is global consensus on how physical and sexual intimate partner violence are generally defined and measured, psychological partner violence is conceptualized differently across cultures and in different contexts.

In addition, the indicator definition makes reference to experiences of intimate partner violence by ever-partnered women aged 15 years and older. However, a majority of the available data have only been collected for a subset of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years, and there is a general lack of consistency in the age range of sample populations across other available sources. Therefore, global reporting on this indicator at this moment only reflects violence experienced by ever-partnered girls and women aged 15 to 49 years.

Women and girls aged 15 and older subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner in the previous 12 months

Sexual violence directed at women and girls represents one manifestation of gender inequality and is symptomatic of the widely held view that girls and women have low status in society and are expected to comply with and conform to certain defined gender roles.

While sexual violence may take different forms and occur in many settings, this indicator is limited to sexual violence perpetrated by individuals other than an intimate partner. Having data on this indicator will help to better understand the extent and nature of this form of violence and to inform the development of appropriate policies and programmes for prevention and response.

This indicator refers to the proportion of women and girls aged 15 years and older who have experienced sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner, in the previous 12 months. The indicator is limited to sexual violence perpetrated by individuals other than an intimate partner.

The conceptual definition of sexual violence covered by the SDG indicator, as defined in the 2014 UN Guidelines for Producing Statistics on Violence against Women is: “Any sort of harmful or unwanted sexual behaviour that is imposed on someone. It includes acts of abusive sexual contact, forced engagement in sexual acts, attempted or completed sexual acts with a woman without her consent, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, threats, exposure, unwanted touching, incest, etc.” However, in most surveys that collect data on sexual violence against women and girls by non-partners, the operational definition is limited to forced sexual intercourse or other forced sexual acts and attempted or coerced sexual intercourse or other sexual acts.

Numerator: Number of women and girls (aged 15 years and above) who have experienced sexual violence by a non-intimate partner in the previous 12 months

Denominator: Number of women and girls (aged 15 years and above) in the population

The availability of comparable data remains a challenge as many data collection efforts have relied on different survey methodologies and used varying definitions of sexual violence as well as survey questions to elicit information. Diverse age groups are also often utilized. Additionally, not all surveys on violence against women collect information on non-partner violence. Respondents’ willingness to discuss experiences of violence and understanding of relevant concepts may also differ according to how a survey is implemented and the cultural context, and this can affect reported prevalence levels.

Efforts and investment are required to develop an internationally agreed standard and definition of sexual violence by non-partners that will enable comparison across countries. Monitoring this indicator with certain periodicity may be a challenge if sustained capacities are not built.

TARGET 5.3 Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation

Proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in a union before age 15 and before age 18.

Child marriage is a harmful practice that violates the rights and impairs the well-being of children. The SDG framework includes child marriage under the goal for gender equality, acknowledging that child marriage can be seen as a manifestation of gender inequality, reflecting societal values that hold girls in low esteem and deprive them of agency. Although indicator 5.3.1 measures child marriage among girls, the practice occurs among boys as well, and is a breach of children’s rights regardless of sex.

Child marriage is addressed in a number of international conventions and agreements and is prohibited by national legislation in many countries.

This indicator intends to measure the prevalence of child marriage, that is, how widespread the practice is in the population.

This indicator is defined as the proportion of women aged 20 to 24 years who were first married or living in a cohabiting union as if married before age 15 and before age 18. The prevalence of child marriage is measured retrospectively among women whose risk of marrying in childhood is complete, i.e., those who are at least 18 years old, and the age group of 20 to 24 years is used by convention to represent the current prevalence of the practice.

Both formal (i.e., marriages) and informal unions are covered under this indicator. Informal unions are generally defined as those in which a couple lives together as if married but for which there has been no formal civil or religious ceremony (i.e., cohabitation).

The term child marriage is used to refer to unions in which a girl or boy lives with a partner as if married before the age of 18, though the SDG indicator captures only child marriage among girls.

Numerator: Number of women aged 20 to 24 years who were first married or in union before age 15 (or before age 18).

Denominator: Total number of women aged 20 to 24 years in the population.

The measure of child marriage is retrospective in nature by design, capturing age at first marriage among a population that has completed the risk period (i.e., adult women). While it is also possible to measure the current marital status of girls under age 18, such measures would provide an underestimate of the level of child marriage, as girls who are not currently married may still do so before they turn 18.

Percentage of girls and women (aged 15-49 years) who have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM)

FGM is a harmful practice that violates the rights and impairs the well-being of girls. In communities where it is practised, it can be seen as a direct manifestation of gender inequality, reflecting societal values that hold girls in low esteem and deprive them of agency. Thus, in the SDG framework the target of eliminating harmful practices is placed under the goal for gender equality.

FGM is addressed in a number of international conventions and agreements and is prohibited by national legislation in many countries.

This indicator intends to measure the prevalence of female genital mutilation, that is, how widespread the practice is in the population.

FGM refers to “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for nonmedical reasons.”

The term female circumcision is often used interchangeably with FGM, although some object to this term as it erroneously suggests that female circumcision is analogous to male circumcision.

Numerator: Number of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM.

Denominator: Total number of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years in the population.

Data users should also keep in mind the retrospective nature of these data, which results in this indicator not being sensitive to recent change. In countries where girls are cut before 1 year of age, for example, most girls aged 15 to 19 years are reporting on an event that took place 14 to 18 years earlier. Thus, there is a time lag between when changes in the practice occur and when they are reflected in the data.

Furthermore, in terms of understanding the prevalence, it may be misleading to focus on national-level estimates, as in many countries FGM is practised by specific ethnic groups that may be concentrated in certain geographic locations in the country.

In MICS and DHS, questions about FGM are only included in a subset of countries where the practice is concentrated. Thus, it is important to note that even in countries with no FGM data, the practice still may exist. This may include high-income countries that are destinations for migrants from countries where the practice still occurs, as well as certain low- and middle-income countries in which FGM exists among specific population groups.

TARGET 5.6 Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences

Proportion of adolescent girls and young women aged 15-19 years who make their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care.

Proportion of women aged 15-19 years (married or in union) who make their own decision on all three selected areas i.e. decide on their own health care; decide on use of contraception; and can say no to sexual intercourse with their husband or partner if they do not want. Only women who provide a “yes” answer to all three components are considered as women who make their own decisions regarding sexual and reproductive health. A union involves a man and a woman regularly cohabiting in a marriage-like relationship.

A woman is considered to have autonomy in reproductive health decision making and to be empowered to exercise their reproductive rights if they (1) decide on health care for themselves, either alone or jointly with their husbands or partners, (2) decide on use or non-use of contraception, either alone or jointly with their husbands or partners; and (3) can say no to sex with their husband/partner if they do not want to.

Number of married or in union young women and adolescent girls aged 15-19 years old:

i). For whom the decision on health care for themselves is not usually made by the husband/partner or someone else; and

ii). For whom the decision on contraception is not mainly made by the husband/partner; and

iii). Who can say no to sex.

Only women who satisfy all three empowerment criteria are included in the numerator.

UNICEF encourages governments to address adolescent girls’ issues, empowering them with the education and skills required to realize their full potential. UNICEF has three key asks of governments:

Give adolescent girls all the opportunities they deserve as they mature to adulthood.
Support women’s economic empowerment and redistribution of care responsibilities through investments in family-friendly policies across workplaces.
Address the gender gap through timely collection and use of gender-disaggregated data.

Learn more about UNICEF’s key asks for implementing Goal 5

See more Sustainable Development Goals

ZERO HUNGER

GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

QUALITY EDUCATION

GENDER EQUALITY

CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION

AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY

DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

REDUCED INEQUALITIES

CLIMATE ACTION

PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS

PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS

Advancing social justice, promoting decent work ILO is a specialized agency of the United Nations

Migrated Content

Equality of opportunity and treatment in employment
Equal remuneration for work of equal value
Equal access to safe and healthy working environments and to social security
Equality in association and collective bargaining
Equality in obtaining meaningful career development
A balance between work and home life that is fair to both women and men
Equal participation in decision-making at all levels

Key resources

Resource guide on gender equality in the world of work

Indigenous women entrepreneurs in Papua GET Ahead

Gender dimensions of agricultural and rural employment: Differentiated pathways out of poverty

Find out more fom:

Bureau for Gender Equality (GENDER)

Norms and Standards

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100)
Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981
Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183)
Further relevant instruments

Explainer: Sustainable Development Goal 5

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Activists, social leaders, organizations, women and men shout slogans against gender-based violence during the "Vivas nos Queremos" protest in Quito, Ecuador. Photo: UN Women/Johis Alarcon

In 2015, recognizing the global nature of challenges like poverty, inequality and climate change, UN Member states universally adopted the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda . Resolving to meet these matters head on, the international community set forth an ambitious vision for the future.

The Agenda encompasses three core elements: economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection. Together, these interconnected principles form the basis of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which provide a blueprint for progress across all areas of life.

Gender is woven throughout the SDGs as it sits at the intersection of economic, social and environmental issues. It has its own Goal, SDG 5—with the ambition of achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls—and is mentioned explicitly in 10 of the other Goals.

Each SDG contains specific objectives that can be measured and tracked over time. Like a global checklist, these objectives allow us to check our progress as we approach the 2030 deadline. There are nine objectives within SDG 5, which UN Women and UNDESA take annual stock of in our Gender Snapshot report .

Learn more about these nine objectives, and find out how near—or far—we are from reaching them in 2022.

End discrimination

Gender-based discrimination has long kept women and girls subordinate to men in the workplace, in politics and at home. In some countries such discrimination persists in the law—legally barring women, for example, from certain professions—while in others economic barriers like the gender pay gap prevent women from experiencing full equality. Ending gender-based discrimination will require laws and frameworks that promote, enforce and monitor gender equality across all areas of life .

This means equal access to employment and economic benefits, including both laws against workplace discrimination and systems in place to address violations. It means laws on violence against women—legislation specifically addressing sexual harassment, for example, or criminalizing rape within marriage. It encompasses equal rights and protections within marriage and the family, such as the right to initiate a divorce or be recognized as head of household, as well as dedicated family courts to protect such rights. And it includes equality in overarching legal frameworks like constitutions, as well as the equal right to run for and hold public office.

Though there has been notable progress in this area, the pace of legal reform is far too slow. At current rates of change, the report estimates we are 21 years from universal laws banning violence against women and a whopping 286 years from gender equality in legal frameworks.

In Lebanon in 2017, the successful campaign to repeal article 522 made use of striking visuals of women wearing bandages as wedding dresses. Article 522 had given immunity to rapists if they married their victims. Photo Courtesy of ABAAD/Patrick Baz

End violence

Violence against women and girls, already a pervasive problem before 2020, surged in the wake of COVID-19. Many women report feeling more unsafe since the start of the pandemic: nearly 7 in 10 women (68 per cent) say that verbal or physical abuse by a partner has become more common, and 1 in 4 women describes more frequent household conflicts.

Over the past year, nearly 1 in 10 women aged 15+ (9.9 per cent) have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a partner; for women between the ages of 15 and 49 , that figure jumps to 12.5 per cent. On global average, a woman or girl is killed by someone in her own family every 11 minutes.

In total, it’s estimated that 736 million women have experienced physical or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime. And given limitations in data collection, the scope of the problem is likely even larger.

Students of the Midwifery School in El Fasher, North Darfur, march to commemorate the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence during an event to raise awareness in communities about gender-based violence and its implications for the lives and livelihoods of women and girls. Photo: UNAMID/Hamid Abdulsalam

End harmful practices

Practices like child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) deprive women and girls of their agency, both reflecting and cementing their subordinate status. Marriage robs girls of their childhood, forcing them to take on the responsibilities of adult womanhood too early. It limits their futures, often preventing them from completing school. And it harms their health, putting them at heightened risk of adolescent pregnancy and its accompanying complications, as well as of domestic violence. Female genital mutilation, most often performed on children, also has serious health consequences in both the short and long term.

Child marriage remains a pervasive practice which COVID-19 threatens to exacerbate . As of 2021, nearly 1 in 5 women (19.5 per cent) aged 20-24 was married before turning 18—down from more than 1 in 4 (25.8 per cent) in 2001 but still alarmingly high. To end child marriage by 2030, the rate of change must increase by 17 times.

Progress on FGM, already too slow, also risks reversal in the face of the pandemic . Encouragingly, however, opposition to the practice appears to be gaining momentum. 2021 saw 4,475 communities make public commitments to its elimination—a 48 per cent increase from the year before.

Recognize and value unpaid work

From laundry to cooking to caring for children or the elderly, maintaining a household requires an exhaustive list of daily tasks and chores—labour that’s typically done free of charge by women and girls. This work, though essential to day-to-day life as well as to the global economy, remains largely unrecognized and unvalued.

Before 2020, women did roughly three times as much unpaid work as men on global average. Then came COVID-19, during which lockdowns drove a massive increase in the daily load of household chores and care work. School and preschool closures created an additional 672 billion hours of unpaid childcare in 2020—512 billion of which would have been shouldered by women, assuming the same division of household labour. Governments offered little support: 60 per cent of countries and territories did not take any action to ameliorate this strain.

Lightening the unpaid burden on women and girls will require two kinds of change. Traditional gender roles must give way to a redistribution of household labour, with men and boys taking responsibility for an equal share. At the same time, it’s on governments to provide better public services and social protections—such as expanded care systems and requirements for paid parental leave—that help to reduce the load on individuals.

Jill Sparron, a Laboratory Technician with a fisheries company, picks up her son Calel from daycare. Jill's employer offers a flexible schedule which helps her manage as a single mom. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

Ensure full participation in public life

Women’s equal representation in leadership matters—not only for achieving gender equality, but for making sound decisions in politics, the workplace, and every area of public life. Equal leadership ensures that diverse perspectives and voices make it to decision-making forums, a need recently underscored by COVID-19 task forces, where women’s vast underrepresentation led to crucial gaps in response and recovery plans.

This was not an aberration: women’s representation across political and economic leadership remains far from equal. At the national level, women hold just 26.4 per cent of parliamentary seats globally—and under 10 per cent of seats in 23 countries. In the economic sector, as of 2020, they hold 28.3 per cent of managerial positions, up only 0.3 per cent from 2019.

Without an increase in the rate of progress, gender parity in national parliamentary bodies won’t be reached until 2062. In the workplace things are even worse, with gender parity in management remaining 140 years away.

The outlook is better in local politics, where women hold a little over one third of seats (34.3 per cent) in local decision-making bodies. Parity here is within reach, but it will depend on the widespread implementation of gender quotas to meet the 2030 deadline.

Coumba Diaw, 48, overcame many cultural barriers to join politics. She became the only female mayor of the Sagatta Djoloff commune in the region of Louga, Senegal, which is made up of 54 other municipalities, all headed by men. Photo: UN Women/Assane Gueye

Ensure access to sexual and reproductive health and rights

Restricting women’s bodily autonomy is a pervasive form of patriarchal control, both at the government level and within the family. Women’s empowerment depends on the protection of their sexual and reproductive health and rights, including access to health care and education and the right to make their own informed decisions about their bodies.

As of 2022, 76 per cent of laws needed to guarantee access to sexual and reproductive health care—including maternity care, abortion, contraception, sexual education, HPV vaccination, and HIV testing, counseling and treatment—are in place across 115 countries.

As of 2021, just over half (57 per cent) of the world’s women were able to make their own informed decisions about sex and reproduction. This means the freedom to make choices about health care and the use of contraceptives as well as to say no to sex with a husband or partner. The backslide on women’s rights currently underway threatens to reduce this number further.

Ensure equal economic resources

Control over economic resources is a crucial driver of women’s empowerment, providing increased security and independence and improving standards of living. Land ownership in particular helps to reduce women’s reliance on male partners or relatives and increases their access to credit.

Ensuring equal land rights, including equal inheritance rights and shared land rights within couples, is essential for the realization of the 2030 Agenda. But despite women’s relatively equal representation in agriculture—they make up roughly half of the agricultural labour force in developing countries—their equal right to land ownership is guaranteed in only four of 52 countries with data for 2019–2021.

Elena Sam Pec lives in Puente Viejo, a mostly agrarian indigenous community in Guatemala. The women of the village participate in a joint programme by UN Women, World Food Programme (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which is empowering more than 1,600 rural women to become economically self-reliant. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

Promote women’s empowerment through technology

Technology plays an ever-increasing role in the ways we learn, work and communicate, and cellphones have gone from a luxury to an essential means of connecting with the world. But for many of the world’s women, such technology—as well as the access and independence it confers—remain out of reach: based on data for 2017-2021, women are less likely than men to own a phone in 50 of 82 countries.

Sound policies and legislation

Gender equality is not going to happen on its own. We need enforceable policies and legislation at all levels of government to promote the empowerment of women and girls. Particularly in the wake of COVID-19, whose socioeconomic impacts overwhelmingly hit women harder than men, gender-sensitive policies are essential for narrowing persistent gender gaps.

This requires dedicated resources. By tracking—and making public—budget allocations toward gender equality, governments can ensure adequate financing, as well as increasing transparency and accountability. But according to data from 2018–2021, only 26 per cent of countries have comprehensive systems in place to track such allocations, and 15 per cent have no system at all.

The time to act is now

Across its nine objectives, the latest data on SDG 5 underscores just how far we are from achieving it. Despite progress on some issues, recent backslide in other areas—such as on reproductive rights and women’s economic empowerment—has put gender equality further out of reach.

Without seriously increased investments and commitments, including to gender data availability and use, SDG 5 will not be achieved by 2030 and may not be achieved at all. The time to come together as a global community and demand better—better laws and protections, better access to resources and services, and better funding—is now.

Women and girls can’t afford to wait any longer.

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
Gender data gaps
Gender discrimination
Gender equality and inequality
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Unpaid work
Gender-responsive budgeting
Sexual and reproductive health and rights
Economic empowerment
Ending violence against women and girls
Gender equality and women’s empowerment
Innovation and technology
Leadership and political participation

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POLICY PAPERS

Why and how multilateral development banks support improved outcomes for economic migrants and refugees, recommended.

Refugee girls in rocky terrain look at camera and smile

Economic migrants and refugees can bring both benefits and costs to their hosting countries. If well-integrated, they can support themselves, their families, and their hosting countries as producers and consumers. Both economic migration and forced displacement are therefore integrally linked with development outcomes. Recognizing this, multilateral development banks (MDBs) are supporting their beneficiary member countries to improve outcomes for economic migrants and refugees, in the form of billions of dollars in grants and loans, as well as technical assistance, policy dialogues, and knowledge exchanges. This paper provides an introductory snapshot of some of the financing instruments, projects, and strategies used; particularly innovative approaches; and challenges MDBs face in expanding their engagement. It is hoped this paper will be useful to anyone who engages with MDBs and wants to understand how they engage on economic migration and forced displacement, particularly as these issues continue to grow in importance.

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Why gender equality is key to sustainable development
Gender equality is not just the concern of half of the world's population; it is a human right, a concern for us all, because no society can develop - economically, politically, or socially - when half of its population is marginalized. We must leave no one behind. This is a year of global action. Governments will adopt a new set of ...
PDF GENDER EQUALITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: A PATHWAYS APPROACH
papers for publications by leading researchers from different national and regional contexts. ... paper that informed the UN Women flagship report The World Survey on the Role of Women in Development 2014: Gender Equality and Sustainable Development by Melissa Leach, Director, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex; Lyla Mehta ...
United Nations: Gender equality and women's empowerment
Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world ...
Promoting gender equality across the sustainable development goals
Introducing SDG5-gender equality. In an unprecedented global effort, the heads of state and government and high representatives in the United Nations (UN) meeting of September 2015 put forward the '2030 Agenda', a global plan for human and environmental prosperity, structured in 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets, indicative of the scale and of the ambition of the ...
Gender Equality as an Accelerator for Achieving the SDGs
February 4, 2019. Gender equality lies at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which asserts gender equality as both a fundamental human right and a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. The evidence collected in this discussion paper shows that gender equality is critical to achieving a ...
PDF Why Gender Equality Matters Across All Sdgs
This excerpt is from UN Women's global monitoring report Turning Promises into Action: Gender Equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It is chapter 3 of the report, which shows why gender equality matters for achieving all 17 SDGs. The report also sets an agenda for strengthening accountability for gender equality
PDF GENDER EQUALITY AND INCLUSIVE GROWTH
in advancing gender equality. ISBN: 978-1-63214-153-8 Citation: Elson, D., and A. Seth (Eds.). 2019. Gender Equality and Inclusive Growth: Economic Policies to Achieve Sustainable Development. New York: UN Women. Design: DammSavage Editor: Gretchen Luchsinger Production Coordination: Gabrielle Leite
Women and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders in 2015, embody a roadmap for progress that is sustainable and leaves no one behind. Achieving gender equality and women's empowerment is integral to each of the 17 goals. Only by ensuring the rights of women and girls across ...
PDF Empowering Women for Sustainable Development
This paper focuses on women's empowerment as a key process in reaching gender equality and, through that, sustainable development. The next section discusses the concepts of women's empowerment and sustainable development and shows how both are inter-linked through the lens of intra and inter-generational justice.
Gender Equality and Sustainable Development: A Pathways Approach
This paper puts forward a 'gendered pathways approach', as a conceptual framework for addressing the interactions, tensions and trade-offs between different dimensions of gender equality and of sustainability. It was produced for UN Women's flagship report the World Survey on the Role of Women in Development 2014: Gender and Sustainable Development. It is now also released as part of the ...
Gender equality: the route to a better world
SDG 5, whose stated aim is to "achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls", is the fifth of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, all of which Nature is examining ...
Overcoming gender inequality for climate resilient development
The share of girls growing up in countries with the highest gender inequality could be reduced to about 24% in 2030 compared to about 70% today. Largely overcoming gender inequality as assessed in ...
Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow
The theme for this year is "Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow". The climate crisis and gender inequality are two core issues at the heart of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The global effort to advance gender equalityand tackle climate change at the same time is one of the greatest challenges to humanity in the 21st ...
PDF GENDER EQUALITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
A sustainable development pathway with gender equality would improve women's (and girls') access to new opportunities and new possibilities. It would enhance women's capabilities, so they are more able 'to choose the lives they have reason to value' (Sen, 1999, p18).
PDF Gender Equality: A Key For Poverty Alleviation And Sustainable Development
constructively engage in changing existing gender roles, unequal access to and control over resources as well as decision-making, are critical to achieving gender equality and sustainable development, and must therefore be promoted. Empowerment of disadvantaged groups is a key strategy for poverty alleviation and social change.
Twenty years of gender equality research: A scoping review based on a
The United Nations selected gender equality, with an emphasis on female education, as part of the Millennium Development Goals , and gender equality at-large as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030 . These latter objectives involve not only developing nations, but rather all countries, to achieve economic ...
Gender equality and sustainable development
Gender equality and sustainable development. Gender equality is intrinsically linked to sustainable development: women represent half the world's population, yet face systemic deprivations relative to men in all societies. In Europe and Central Asia, inequalities persist between women and men in access to decent work and income.
Gender equality and education in the sustainable development goals
The papers can be cited with the following reference: "Paper commissioned for the Global Education Monitoring Report 2016, Education for people and planet: Creating sustainable futures for all". ... Target 4.7 specifically positions knowledge and skills relating to gender equality as part of sustainable development. 4c's aim to increase ...
Gender and the environment: What are the barriers to gender equality in
A gender gap is a gender-based inequality; it is any disparity in treatment or situation between women and men, often rooted in social, cultural and legal norms and customs. Gender gaps create barriers to effective sustainable development and livelihoods by limiting or restricting women's access to resources and decision-making opportunities.
Gender Equality and the Sustainable Development Goals
The 17 sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda are: SDG 5 is aimed to "achieve gender quality and empower all women and girls", or simply on "Gender Equality". It has nine (9) targets and fourteen (14) indicators. SDG 5 is focused on pursuing the main goal of real and sustained gender equality in all aspects of women and girls ...
SDG Goal 5: Gender Equality
Goal 5 aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Gender equality is a human right. It is also a precondition for realizing all goals in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Though girls and boys on average face similar challenges in early childhood, gender disparities become more pronounced as children grow. Adolescent […]
Gender Equality and the Sustainable Development Goals in Asia and the
The report establishes a baseline for governments and policy makers to monitor and accelerate progress towards gender equality commitments in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs). It identifies data gaps and underscores the necessity of heightened urgency to improve production and use of gender statistics for evidence-based SDG localization.
PDF Genderequality a Gender Equality Nd S and Sustainable Ustai Development
GENDER EQUALITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 132 978-92-1-130330-8 220 East 42nd Street New York, NY 10017, USA Tel: 646-781-4400 Fax: 646-781-4444 ... first drafts of the background papers, on the basis of which the authors made revisions for a second draft. Apart from the authors,
Gender and development
Gender and development. Gender equality is considered a critical element in achieving Decent Work for All Women and Men, in order to effect social and institutional change that leads to sustainable development with equity and growth. Gender equality refers to equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities that all persons should enjoy ...
Empowering All, Achieving More: A Critical Analysis of World ...
This article employs a critical analysis framework to assess the World Bank's Gender Strategy 2.0. It draws upon relevant academic literature, including feminist scholarship, reports from international organizations like the World Bank and the UN Women, and case studies of successful gender equality initiatives.
PDF Gender Equality for Sustainable Development in India- An ...
Objective 1: To study the importance of Gender Equality for sustainable development. Gender equality is a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. Gender equality is important so that discrimination against women and girls can be ended. Moreover violence against
Explainer: Sustainable Development Goal 5
Together, these interconnected principles form the basis of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which provide a blueprint for progress across all areas of life. Gender has its own Goal, SDG 5—with the ambition of achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls—and is mentioned explicitly in 10 of the other Goals.
The Vital Role of Women in Sustainable Development
Promoting gender equality and women's empowerment is essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and building a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable world. By investing in women's education, health, and economic empowerment, societies can create enabling environments that enable women and girls to thrive and contribute to ...
Towards Achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of Gender Equality
The 5th goal of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDG) is aiming at achieving gender equality throughout the globe while encouraging and facilitating the empowerment of women in every corner of legislative bodies. On the broader objective of UN-SDG, India being a signatory has initiated a number of proactive steps to realize this vision.
Why and How Multilateral Development Banks Support Improved Outcomes
Economic migrants and refugees can bring both benefits and costs to their hosting countries. If well-integrated, they can support themselves, their families, and their hosting countries as producers and consumers. Both economic migration and forced displacement are therefore integrally linked with development outcomes. Recognizing this, MDBs)are supporting their beneficiary member countries to ...

Why gender equality is key to sustainable development

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Twenty years of gender equality research: A scoping review based on a new semantic indicator

Introduction

Data collection

Text processing and keyword extraction

Classification of research topics

Evaluation of semantic importance

Overview of main topics

Compensation.

Decision-making.

Career progression.

Performance.

Organization.

Human capital.

Emerging topics: Leadership and entrepreneurship

Research gaps and conclusions

Supporting information

Acknowledgments

Gender equality

CORE COMPONENTS

Gender and the environment: What are the barriers to gender equality in sustainable ecosystem management?

1. Unequal and insecure rights over land

Legal and social barriers

Traditional and cultural norms

2. Underrepresentation in natural resource decision making and leadership

Transformative power

3. Gender-based violence

Complex links

Tactic to silence dissent

Addressing barriers: consider the context

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Republic of the Philippines Philippine Commission on Women

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GOAL 5: GENDER EQUALITY

Child-related SDG indicators

TARGET 5.2 Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation

Women and girls aged 15 and older subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner in the previous 12 months

TARGET 5.3 Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation

TARGET 5.6 Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences

See more Sustainable Development Goals