UN calls for gender equality push, central to SDGs

At eight billion strong, the “human family is larger than ever”, but leaders are failing in efforts to ensure a peaceful and prosperous world for all, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message to mark World Population Day on Tuesday.

“Halfway to the 2030 deadline, the Sustainable Development Goals are dangerously off track,” he warned.  “Gender equality is almost 300 years away. Progress on maternal health and access to family planning has been glacial.”

Invest in women

Although they comprise half of everyone on the planet, women and girls are often ignored in discussions on demographics, with their rights violated in population policies, according to the UN.

As a result, women and girls can be limited in their ability to make decisions about their own health and sexual and reproductive lives, which in turn heightens their vulnerability to violence, harmful practices, and preventable maternal death.

The Secretary-General said gender-based discrimination harms everyone while investing in women uplifts all people, communities, and countries.

“Advancing gender equality, improving maternal health, and empowering women to make their own reproductive choices are both essential in themselves and central to achieving all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” he added.

Mr Guterres called for standing with women and girls fighting for their rights and for intensifying efforts “to make the Sustainable Development Goals a reality for all 8 billion of us”.