Essay Example on Equality for Women: Uniting for Sustainable Development

Women and girls all over the world have to be equally treated in the community with equal opportunities. Moreover, they are also entitled to live as a life free of violence and free of discrimination. Equality to women stands to be one of the seventeen sustainable development goals which are integrated into all dimensions of inclusive and sustainable developments. According to the United Nations, gender equality requires to be urgently acted upon so that they can get rid of the many reasons of discrimination that hinder women from achieving their goals either in private or in public spheres (Schweber, & Feinman, 2018). Like in an example, there is a need of changing the discriminatory laws that are in existence and adopting legislation that has proactive advancement to equality. There are at least 50 countries that lack domestic laws required for the protection of women violence and there are others that prevent women possessing equal rights as men in the current world.

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Priority should be given to elimination of gender-based violence. Given this, it is one of the most enveloping individual rights violations than today's globe. Considering information from 87 nations, 1 in 5 feminine gender below the ages of fifty have bad experiences of bodily and sexual hostility by a close partner in the last twelve months. There are incidences of harmful practices like child marriage that counts for over 15 million girls below the age of 18 years all the years. Women work 2.7 times in unpaid jobs and domestic work than the other gender. Despite these women working this hard for no pay, there are families, economies, and societies that depend on the work of these women and thus it ends up to lower costs and a fewer amount time for engaging in non-work practices (Schweber, & Feinman, 2018). In addition to the same allocation of financial resources also inequality, there is an acceleration of development in a number of areas. Thus, there is a need to have a pale balance of accountability for any unpaid concern work to both genders.

Other rights such as sexual and rights to reproduction are critical in their own lives too. The shortfalls that come in the said methods multiply to other kinds of discrimination that deprive the rights of education to women and also a decent living. As a matter of fact, only 52% of women in marriages or in any union are free to make decisions about the way they relate in their sexual activities, use of contraceptives and healthcare. In many cases, many women have participated in political positions and won in the past few years. This is inclusive of using special quotas but still, the numbers that they hold are a mere 23.7 percent of the political leadership seats which is more short of the required numbers. Such situations are not even enhanced in the personal sectors as women here internationally occupy less than a third of senior and middle management positions.

In most of the conflict-affected countries and the unstable states, and also the countries of many successful leaders, a great number of women have bad experiences mostly when they want to access justice, gender equality, and power positions (Schweber, & Feinman, 2018). Even if there are efforts in certain agendas by 2030 which main aim is to achieve gender equality and empowerment of the girls and women, there are barriers that hinder access to equality and fairness either socially, politically, legally and economically. Going as per the 38th conference of the UNHRC held in Geneva, IDLO held a high-level side event which focused on offering justice to women and girls. The event was attended by great panelists who come from a number of regions and they contributed their views and their experiences on the role that the rule of law played when trying to achieve access to justice and equality for both men and women.

Around the world, women and girls are still suffering from inequalities of the law and rules. More than 150 countries around the world that hold legal provisions that discriminate against women as they put the rule of law at the square of gender equality. According to Irene Khan, the rule of law states that the principle behind equality places importance in equal protection and equal rights to everyone so that there is justice. In the panel that Iren Khan officiated the panelists realized that obtaining formal justice solutions for the cases that impact women negatively in particular, like gender-based violence, domestic and family issues are out of reality. This is achievable in any conflict-affected situations. In countries like Afghanistan, there are steps forward over the past few years. These include adding the word woman in the country's constitution. Secondly, the country added the number of women prosecutors and also there was the formation of special units in the office of the Attorney General that usually dealt with violence against women situations. Additionally, the office of the Attorney General new sections was set to fight the criminalization of honor killings which were violations of women rights and also violations of the newly set laws. Further, accessing justice remains an elusive activity for many in the country. In her speech, Irene Khan stated that women accessing justice should not be considered as a luxurious thing. Rather, it is entirely a basic human right that relates to human dignity.

The rule of law in any country is not the only thing to be considered in attaining justice for women. Many leaders of women groups define gender equality as being a multidimensional issue as this puts remarks on various issues such as class, education attainments. Also the rural and the urban contexts with political and social status are other factors that affect gender equality and empowerment of women. While referring to an example of femicide in the home country, the UN Special Rapporteur on the lawyer's independence and Judges, Mr. Diego Garcia explained that political environment and media role is to increase awareness about the rights of women to be one of the most critical components. The special reports offered attainable recommendations on the judicial council and well-established governance that Diego Garcia had introduced being part of his yearly report to the council. The chairman further made highlights on the need for encompassing a mirror within the law courts as well as how the culture and environment should treat both women and girls.

Equality for women means a vital and decision making a role in social, economic and political development. Equally treated women have achieved great success while trying to enhance their status in a number of aspects. The women in these positions have brought a number of radical changes in their perception as well as their roles in various and diverse fields. Women involved in decision making and leadership positions in the past few decades have brought major contributions to major developments and success of some businesses.

References

Schweber, C., & Feinman, C. (2018). Criminal justice politics and women: The aftermath of legally mandated change. Routledge.