Essay on the Power of Women: Achieving Sustainable Development Through Gender Equality

The centrality of gender equality, women's empowerment, and the realization of women's rights in attaining sustainable development have been widely considered in recent decades *Women 12). This recognition is evident in a number of global norms, and pacts including principle 20 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Growth, implemented in 1992 in its statement regarding the full engagement of women being significant to attaining sustainable development (Women 12). Further, in the Beijing Declaration adopted in 1995, governments were asked to integrate gender concerns and prospectives into policies and programs for sustainable growth. Therefore, the essay will explain the need for gender equality and conformity across the three key facets of sustainable development.

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Integrating gender equality and sustainable development is essential for several reasons. First, it is considered to be a moral and ethical right (Women 12). According to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development document termed as 'The future we want" fostering gender equality and realizing the human rights, dignity, and capabilities of multicultural groups of women is a basic requirement of creating a just and sustainable world (Women 12). Second, it is essential to solving the unequal effects of economic, social, and environmental shocks and burden on women, and millennial girls, that destabilize the delight of their human rights and their crucial roles in sustaining their households and communities (Women 12). Finally, it is essential to back women's agency and capabilities to create better synergies between gender equality and sustainable growth consequences (Women 12).

Carter et al. (4) conducted a study to examine the impacts of gender norms on gender-role conformity. In his study, men and women did on average demonstrate instances of conformity, albeit in different ways. Men were seen to conform to their male peers, and women adapted to their female ones (Carter et al. 4). The discrepancy was evidenced when examining the conformity tendencies between groups, as males had higher rates of gender conformity than the opposite gender (Carter et al. 4). The outcomes of the study revealed that men and women may approach gender conformity inversely.

Currently, there is a possibility of men conforming to the values and norms of women. For example, many husbands are now helping their wives with household roles, unlike the traditional view that women would only be involved in doing household chores (Carter et al. 3-4). However, the ability to violate gender-role norms does not appear to be similar for men. Rather, men may be forced to comply with most gender norms, since they could otherwise run the risk of having their social status in danger. Finally, gender norms have a powerful effect on behavior and consequences of non-conformity can be swift and severe (Carter et al. 4). To be more precise, gender norms are usually an outcome of the power differential and can be more intense for men when their masculine proscriptions are confronted.

In another strong argument on gender conformity, Eagly (96) provides some facts on why women might be more prone to social influence compared to men. Her social role concept implies that almost all behavioral discrepancies between males and females emanate from cultural stereotypes about how men and women are supposed to behave and the social roles that are taught to young individuals (Eagly 133). Eagly notes that men are usually labeled to be more agentic, and may hence try to be more resistant to influence than women. For instance, in social surveillance experience, a gender difference seemed to stem from men's non-conformity with surveillance (Eagly 114-116). Male conformity with surveillance was not only lower than female conformity with surveillance but also lower than both male and female orthodoxy without observation. In another perspective, women may be more prone to social influence due to the female gender role laying a firm emphasis on communal qualities (Eagly 98).

On gender, there is increasing proof of the synergies between gender equality, and on the other hand economic, social and ecological sustainability (Women 13). For instance, when females have a greater voice, and participation in public administration, public resources are more likely to be channeled towards investments in human development priorities, including child health, nutrition, and access to employment (Women 13). Ensuring women's access to and control over agricultural assets and productive resources is basic for fostering food security, and sustainable livelihood. Women's knowledge agency and collective action are essential to find, demonstrating, and establishing more economically, socially, and ecologically sustainable pathways to preserve local landscapes; adapt to climate change, produce and access to food (Women 14).

Augmenting women's full engagement is widely seen as central to policymaking. For instance, their key investment in community forest management bodies yields positive results for both forest sustainability and gender equality (Women 13). Further, certain elements of gender equality like female education and women's share of employment can have a positive outcome on economic development, even though this effect is reliant on the nature of growth strategies, the structure of the economy, and the sectoral composition of women's employment and labor market segregation (Women 13). Finally, global norms, and standards on females, and the girls' human rights and gender equality provide a firm basis for advancing action to strengthen the critical role of women in achieving sustainable growth (Women 19). Finally, the Beijing Declaration of 1995 provided a landmark for the international agenda on women's human rights, gender equality and empowerment of women (Women 20).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the paper has explained the need for gender equality and conformity across the three key facets of sustainable development. When women are also given equal opportunities for investing in the key areas of sustainable growth, the aspects of discrimination on the basis of sex or gender are often defeated in the long run. Ensuring women's access to and control over agricultural assets and productive resources is basic for fostering food security, and sustainable livelihood.

Works cited

Carter, Matthew F., et al. "The gender conformity conundrum: The effects of irrelevant gender norms on public conformity." The Journal of social psychology 159.6 (2019):1-5. Retrieved from: file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/TheGenderConformityConundrum.pdf

Eagly, A. H. (2013). Sex differences in social behavior: A social-role interpretation. Psychology Press.

Women, U. N. "World Survey on the role of women in development 2014: Gender Equality and Sustainable Development." A report signed by the Secretary General and Executive Director, UN Women (2014). Retrieved from: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/1900unwomen_surveyreport_advance_16oct.pdf