SDG Blog 4

Gender Equality in Qatar



Unfortunately, Qatar has been ranked the second worst country in the world when it comes to gender equality (Sintia, 2020). With this being said, women in Qatar face a great amount of discrimination and oppression. There is a significant lack of women in work, school, and political seats. In fact, Qatar's Gender Gap Index of 2014 indicates that their economic participation is ranked 101/142, political participation is ranked 140/142, and educational attainment is ranked 94/142 (Spring Forward, 2015.). These statistics demonstrate the need for new gender equality implementation in Qatar in order to achieve gender equality for their sustainable development goal.

In order to combat this discrimination against women and provide them with natural human rights, "the Human Rights Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Qatar had organized a forum which had focused on scrutinising and analysing the achievements to date," (Committee, 2019). This forum allowed Committee Experts to ask Delegates questions in regarding their efforts for change. After presenting various reforms and emphasizing the need to eliminate women's oppression in Qatar, some changes have been seen. According to the report, "Four women had joined the Shura Council (...) the Family Affairs Department had been established within the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs, as a high-level body to deal with the family and especially women’s issues, in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030," (Committee, 2019). However, Committee Expert pointed out that the there are still two major laws, the Family Law and Nationality Act, that are preventing Qatari women from making any real progress towards equality. Furthermore, there is no law prohibiting domestic violence nor is there a national strategy that acknowledges this issue.


In regard to these barriers, Qatar has recently enforced a variety of projects that will tackle this issue; "The National Development Strategy 2018-2022 contained 56 projects which addressed issues such as social protection, women’s empowerment, family support, home support services, and others," (Committee, 2019). These projects include the implementation of a National Anti-Trafficking Committee in order to fight human trafficking and punish those responsible for involvement. 
Based on this information, Qatar is slowly working towards gender equality. However, I do believe more enforcement should take place due to the little amount of change they are experiencing today. 





References

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women examines the report of Qatar. (2019). OHCHR. Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24789&LangID=E. 

Radu, S. 2020. Top 10 Worst Countries for Gender Equality, Based on Perception. U.S. News. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/slideshows/10-worst-countries-for-gender-equality-ranked-by-perception

Spring Forward for Women Programme. (2015). UN Women. Retrieved from https://spring-forward.unwomen.org/en/countries/qatar

SDG Blog 3

Gender Equality in Jordan



Today, Jordan is working on meeting gender equality and female empowerment in their country in several different ways. This focus on diminishing gender inequality will allow more access to education, occupations, health services, land and property, and political decision making. This equal accessibility to these things will broaden our chance to become a much more feasible world.

According to USAID, with equal access to education, "Jordan boasts a highly educated female population with the potential to advance Jordan’s economic, social, and political development," (Gender Equality and Female Empowerment, 2019). However, although Jordan is slowly working towards this equality, there is still a gap between men and women and "constitutional rights and acceptable social norms, with traditional expectations and cultural restraints continuing to limit women’s advancement," (Gender Equality and Female Empowerment., 2019). Despite this, Jordan has partnered with USAID Mission and they are constantly helping Jordan create policy reforms to allow equal education. In fact, they have developed 59 laws and procedures that promote gender equality (Klein, 2018). These laws have helped over 94% of girls to attend primary school and 90% to attend secondary school. Furthermore, they have allowed Jordan to receive one of the highest literacy rates of girls in the Middle East (97.3%), (Klein, 2018). Several programs such as Go Girls, a national initiative that encourages the exposure of STEM subjects to girls, have also been implemented in hopes of achieving gender equality in education.

Aside from education, Jordan is also focusing on the presence of women in politics. According to UN Women, only about one sixth of seats in Jordan's Parliament are held by women (Jordan pledges..., n.d.). In regard to this, government organizations such as The Jordanian National Commission for Women are emphasizing the need for women in policy and narrowing the gap that exists today. New laws have also been implemented and have revised the past electoral law. The New Electoral Law has assigned 15 seats for women (Jordan pledges..., n.d.). After this was initiated, there has been an increase in the total number of women from 12% to 15.4% (20 women), (Jordan pledges..., n.d.).

Jordan has been able to increase gender equality by partnering with organizations, revising laws, and monitoring programs that have been created for SDG 5. Jordan's partnership with USAID, UNICEF, and other nongovernmental organizations has allowed them to become closer to their goal.


References

Gender Equality and Female Empowerment. (2019). USAID. Retrieved from https://www.usaid.gov/jordan/gender-equality-womens-empowerment

Jordan pledges to align national laws with international commitments and expand support to women and girls in many areas (updated). (n.d.) UN Women. Retrieved from https://www.unwomen.org/en/get-involved/step-it-up/commitments/jordan

Klein, Grace. (2018). Top 10 Facts About Girls' Education in Jordan. Retrieved from https://borgenproject.org/top-10-facts-about-girls-education-in-jordan/

SDG Blog 2

Gender Equality in India

Today, women in India experience several forms of gender inequality. This includes lack of access to education, work, and representation in political decision making. This hindrance not only affects women, but it also affects humanity as a whole. By refusing to allow women to obtain rights, we are withholding our chance to create a equitable and feasible world. In order to promote gender equality, India is implementing several tactics that will help meet this sustainable development goal. As of June 2019, “India has achieved gender parity at the primary education level and is on track to achieve parity at all education levels,” (“SDG 5: Gender Equality”, n.d.).

In order to ensure gender equality is present, India has developed different strategies such as the prime ministers initiative known as “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao,” (“SDG 5: Gender Equality”, n.d.). Beti Bachao Beti Padhao “is being implemented through a national campaign and focussed multi sectoral action in 100 selected districts low in CSR (Child Sex Ratio),” (Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, n.d.). There are three objectives of this initiative. These objectives are: “Prevention of gender biased sex selective elimination,” “Ensuring survival & protection of the girl child,” and “Ensuring education and participation of the girl child,” (Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, n.d.). Other programs such as Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana and Janani Suraksha Yojana are also working towards increasing female employment and empowerment of girls, (“SDG 5: Gender Equality”, n.d.). Because of programs like these, India is able to fight gender inequality head on.   
Furthermore, the percentage of seats in political offices held by women is increasing. Although the Lok Sabha, also known as the House of People, has only reached 11% of women, the Panchayati Raj Institutions, also known as local self-government, has achieved a total of 46% of women, (“SDG 5: Gender Equality”, n.d.). However, India is still slowly working on increasing female representation in political and economic offices and organizations.
In order to ensure that these goals are being met, India’s Parliament is playing a significant role in organizing several forums that target these sustainable development goals, including gender equality. According to the Voluntary National Review Report (2017), “ The NITI Aayog, with the Prime Minister as its chairperson, is to provide the overall coordination and leadership,” (Voluntary National Review Report, 2017). Additionally, India is making sure these goals are financially attainable by using programs such as “Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the world’s largest financial inclusion programme,” (Voluntary National Review Report, 2017). It has allowed “the Government to disburse a cumulative amount of INR 1.6 trillion (USD 25 billion) to 329 million beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer,” (Voluntary National Review Report, 2017). With this money, India has been able to provide employment, build schools, build houses, and so on (Voluntary National Review Report, 2017). 
Like many other countries, India is working extremely hard in order to meet their sustainable development goals. By implementing new programs and continuing to promote these goals, India will be able to achieve gender equality in the future. 

References

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao. (n.d.). Government of India. Retrieved from

https://wcd.nic.in/bbbp-schemes
SDG 5: Gender Equality. (n.d.). United Nations in India. Retrieved from

https://in.one.un.org/page/sustainable-development-goals/sdg-5/
Voluntary National Review Report. (2017). United Nations. Retrieved from

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/15836India.pdf

SDG Blog 1

1. Gender Equality in Sri Lanka

Photo: UN Women/Charmalee Jayasinghe

Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, are global goals that aim to better the world in many ways, such as fighting poverty, gender inequality, and climate change (“SDGs.:.Sustainable (...), n.d). Gender equality is identified as the 5th Sustainable Development Goal (“SDGs.:.Sustainable (...), n.d). In order to reach this goal, it would cost about 5-7 trillion dollars; this is the normal cost for each sector (“The Sustainable Development (...)” n.d.). There are several targets, indicators, and progress of this goal that have been focused on over the past few years.

According to the SDGs, there are about nine targets for gender inequality. Some of these targets include, "ending all forms of discrimination against women (...)," "eliminating all forms of violence (...)," and "recognizing (...) unpaid care and domestic work through (...) public services," (Goal 5.:.Sustainable (...),” n.d.). The indicators of these targets focus on enforcing legal frameworks and equal proportions of independence and accessibility to everyday necessities. These necessities include access to health care, ownership of land, paid domestic and care work, and many more.

There are several countries that suffer from gender inequality. The country that I will be focusing on is Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has a total population of 22,576,592 people (“Sri Lanka Demographics Profile,” 2019). Of these 22,576,592 individuals, the sex ratio at birth is 1.04 males to females (“Sri Lanka Demographics Profile,” 2019), thus making it a predominantly male country which easily allows for gender inequality. According to UN Women, “Amongst 187 countries, Sri Lanka ranks 97 with a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.691 (...) and a rank of 74 for its Gender Inequality Index (GII),” (“UN Women Sri Lanka,” n.d.). This demonstrates that there are several problems Sri Lanka faces that causes them to have a low HDI and GII compared to other countries. In fact, according to UN Women (n.d.), women in Sri Lanka are very underrepresented in political decision-making, making them the lowest women-represented South Asian country (“UN Women Sri Lanka,” n.d.). However, Sri Lanka has been able to recognize these problems and aim for solutions through the 17 SDGs.

About three years ago, Sri Lanka adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (Ellepola, 2018). In February of 2017, the Sustainable Development Division was initiated in one of Sri Lanka’s ministries in hopes of successfully implementing and monitoring the 17 SDGs (Ellepola, 2018). In order to implement these goals, tactical plans and road maps have been made in several different ministries that correspond to each specific goal (Ellepola, 2018). For instance, according to Ellepola (2018), many ministries work hand in hand, such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Health and the Ministry of Education, in order to increase healthy nutrition rates among women and children in Sri Lanka (Ellepola, 2018).

References

Ellepola, Y. (2018, October 22). From Planning to Implementation: Raising Awareness on the UN Sustainable Development Goals in Sri Lanka. Think Tank Initiative. Retrieved from http://www.thinktankinitiative.org/blog/planning-implementation-raising-awareness-un-sustainable-development-goals-sri-lanka 

Goal 5.:.Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform. (n.d.). United Nations. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg5

Photo: UN Women/Charmalee Jayasinghe

SDGs.:.Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs

Sri Lanka Demographics Profile 2019. (2019, December 7). Index Mundi. Retrieved from https://www.indexmundi.com/sri_lanka/demographics_profile.html

The Sustainable Development Agenda - United Nations Sustainable Development. (n.d.). United Nations. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/

UN Women Sri Lanka. (n.d.). UN Women. Retrieved from https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/countries/sri-lanka