SDG 5 in the home stretch: A milestone for gender equality or an unfulfilled promise?

Dulce Daniela Chaves: Professor at the National University of La Plata (Argentina). Coordinator of the Center for Gender Studies and International Relations, Institute of International Relations, UNLP. Mail: dulcedchaves@gmail.com

The time to account for real progress on gender equality, the fifth of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is upon us. In less than six years, we will know if it will be another failed commitment of the international community. Despite speeches and reports describing and denouncing situations that, as human beings, outrage us, millions of girls and women continue to face violence, poverty and discrimination in every corner of the world.

Ten years after the United Nations member countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, committing, among other goals, to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls; and only a few months away from commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, challenges persist.

According to the SDG Gender Index 2024, no country is on track to achieve gender equality by 2030, and if current trends continue, globally, it will take – at least – another century to achieve it. Furthermore, the index conducted by EqualMeasures 2030 argues that nearly 40% of countries have stagnated or even regressed between 2019 and 2022; and, even more alarmingly, that 74% of SDG targets will not be achieved without gender equality.

One of the most pressing problems is gender-based violence in all its forms – from sexual harassment and human trafficking to digital violence and femi(ni)cidia – which continues to be a major global concern. The statistics in many countries are alarming, showing that the solutions implemented by States and organizations have not yet been sufficiently effective.

A clear example of this is the scourge of child marriage, which – far from being eradicated – is on the rise. The global alliance Girls Not Brides reports that, worldwide, 28 girls or adolescents marry every minute, which is equivalent to 12 million minors per year. “If this global trend continues, 150 million girls and adolescents will be married or united within the next decade” (OAS-MESECVI, 2022, p.3).

On the other hand, despite progress in terms of female participation in the labor market, the wage gap remains a major obstacle to the autonomy of those of us who make up half of the world’s population. Women continue to earn less than men, even when we occupy similar positions and are as qualified as our male colleagues. On top of that, we continue to face job insecurity, especially in sectors such as care, teaching and healthcare, which are predominantly female-dominated areas.

In addition, we cannot overlook the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated gender inequalities, particularly affecting women in areas such as employment, mental health and domestic violence. In turn, the global economic crisis, climate change and geopolitical conflicts continue to have a disproportionate impact on women and girls, particularly in contexts of poverty, forced displacement and/or when ethnic and racial issues play a crucial role.

Although there has been progress in the legal framework of the States, significant cultural and political barriers persist that hinder the full implementation of SDG 5. Resistance to gender equality policies in various regions, coupled with the persistence of sexist stereotypes and patriarchal norms, continues to prevent women from exercising their rights in a comprehensive manner.

According to UNDP’s Gendered Social Norms Index, gender-biased social norms are responsible for blocking the path to equality. “The index, which covers 85% of the world’s population, reveals that about 87% of women and 90% of men harbor biases against women in key dimensions: politics, education, economics, and physical integrity. Nearly half of the world’s population believes that men make better political leaders than women (…) On average, the proportion of women as heads of state or government has remained consistently below 12 percent since 1995.”

These stereotypes affect access to representation and political exercise, becoming symbolic and cultural obstacles that make it difficult for women to participate as protagonists in the public sphere. Even in countries with a history of female presidents, conservative discourses, disguised as religious values and “pro-family” slogans, are becoming increasingly recurrent and dangerous. These counter-narratives are increasingly present in the media, social networks, public opinion, judicial doctrine, the discourses of those who govern us and educational institutions.

An example of this is the recent statement made by the rector of the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA), Miguel Ángel Schiavone, who, in an official act in the National Congress, invited by the ruling party La Libertad Avanza, described as a “failure” that women work and practice sports. This comment took place on March 25, within the framework of the commemoration of the “Day of the Unborn Child”, moment in which the X account of the Argentine Government House highlighted the “defense of human life from its conception” and reiterated that “life always wins over death”. This message, clearly provocative, alluded to the right to abortion, a significant conquest of feminist, leftist and human rights organizations in Argentina.

The statements of the highest authority of the UCA on the role of women in society do not constitute an isolated narrative; they are inserted in a national context characterized by the regression of rights and the resurgence of neoliberal policies in the domestic order. In this scenario, a space, both institutional and symbolic, has opened up for certain ideas, previously restricted to private circles, to be openly expressed, reflecting a change of era in the dynamics of power and in the legitimization of discourses of exclusion and hatred.

Thus, there are many leaders around the globe who have expressed opinions and/or made decisions that have been perceived to be against women’s rights, particularly in relation to abortion, gender equality and reproductive autonomy. They present themselves as defenders of traditional family values and religion, and have reiterated their opposition to the feminist movement, the LGBTQ+ collective and gender equality policies; in a clear act of ignorance and/or disregard for everything recognized by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, 1979), among other international normative instruments. Some of these leaders are: Viktor Orbán, prime minister of Hungary; Jair Bolsonaro, former president of Brazil; Andrzej Duda, Polish president, who has supported the strictest abortion laws in Europe, passed in 2020; Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu; and U.S. President Donald Trump, who in September 2024 hinted that, if re-elected, women’s reproductive rights would be a thing of the past; and as of April 1 of this year, cut off U.S. government funding for the prominent sexual and reproductive rights-focused organization Planned Parenthood.

In the case of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte¹, he is remembered for his misogynistic comments. For example, in 2016 he joked about the rape of an Australian woman who was killed during a riot. In the same line of derogatory and mocking statements, with connotations of sexual violence, we can inscribe statements by Bolsonaro; Trump; Javier Milei, and the former prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan. For his part, Salva Kiir Mayardit, the president of South Sudan, has been accused of allowing and fostering an environment of hostility and threat against the integrity of his female citizens, who have been treated as spoils of war. The absence of effective justice mechanisms and impunity in a context of political instability and armed conflict have perpetuated these practices.

But it is not only males in power who advocate for a traditional position of women in their societies: during her participation in the Fratelli d’Italia programmatic conference in 2022, Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy, stated that the real goal of gender ideology is the “disappearance of women as mothers.” In the same vein, during his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump suggested that those who have abortions should be punished; and in 2014, Erdoğan stated that they should not seek equality with men, arguing that women should fulfill a “natural” role in society.

What is behind the idea of women returning to that supposed “natural” place, to that “biological destiny” that Simone de Beauvoir questioned? A few years ago, when I elaborated the category of “public motherhood mandate”, to refer to the psychological, emotional and sociocultural pressure that we women have internalized about “mothering” in the symbolic and everyday to the rest of the identities, in a complementary way to the family nucleus, and as a consequence of the attributes and expectations socially constructed around us, I did not imagine that this concept could be useful to reflect on the recent (re)emergence in the various digital environments of the phenomenon of the “tradwife” (traditional housewife or traditional wife).

The viral propagation of these “perfect mother-wives-housewives” promotes ideals centered on male satisfaction, which include, of course, the hegemonic beauty standards imposed on women. In addition, this model encourages female sacrifice, meaning the total surrender of a woman’s time and energy to attend exclusively to her husband or partner and their common offspring. Likewise, it presents cis-heteronorma² and monogamy as the only desirable and ethical forms of personal and family fulfillment.

Going back to that definition I once offered on the category of “public motherhood mandate”, I argued that we are expected and demanded – as a result of the successful process of patriarchal socialization – to fulfill the expectation of caring for, and sometimes even educating, other people (of various ages and/or conditions of functional diversity). This role is mediated by the myth of romantic love and by the trappings of selflessness and unconditional empathy, which have historically crystallized the maternal function. This second part of the definition could explain very well what is at stake, in terms of social imaginaries, with the dissemination of the tradwife model; especially in a situation like the present, of manifest tension between those who defend the human rights of women and those who want to take them away, in the name of faith, culture or the homeland.

The tradwife, then, would respond, in addition, to the mandate described above, from the “public” character in the sense of being disseminated through the networks and because their exposure is intended to become a sobering message for other women, from the exacerbation of the values that the right wing defines as belonging to “traditional families”.

This mandate includes as an imperative for women in politics (and also in other areas) an idealized “must be” that is functional to the hegemonic capitalist global order. The interpretations of our realities have always been made from biases that have constructed us as otherness; and, consequently, institutions have responded to these dynamics of subalternization, making States deeply masculinized spaces.

Final thoughts

Before we as humanity embody “The Handmaid’s Tale”³ and the time for accountability on SDG5 ends, it is worth recalling the seven recommendations of the 2024 SDG Gender Index to provide a plan of action (among international actors, governments, civil society organizations and the private sector) to help reinvigorate the quest for sustainable gender equality. These are:

1. Elevate the leadership, power and voice of women and girls.
2. Reform and implement equality laws and policies.
3. Promoting ‘data feminism’ and closing gender-sensitive data gaps.
4. Increase resources and investments in public services and social infrastructure, including care.
5. Recognize and respond to the unique needs and life stage of adolescent girls and young women.
6. Invest in and create space for feminist organizations and movements.
7. Place gender equality and justice at the center of international solidarity and cooperation.

To the above, we could add an eighth recommendation, deeply interrelated with the previous ones, which is derived from the Gender Social Norms Index 2023 (United Nations Development Program, UNDP), and to which I incorporate some suggestions:

1. Addressing gender-biased social norms through education and awareness-raising (through institutions, media and social networks), and through representation and recognition (in all areas and levels of personal and community life).

Given all of the above, the question arises: what are these horizons of emancipation to which we can aspire, taking into account the established right-wing narratives? We were promised a more just world, but we are becoming spectators of a chimera. Without a new social contract between states and citizens, the intolerable aspects of gender equality (and so many other human rights issues) will become part of a landscape to which we are becoming accustomed. As many activists say: “If you don’t feel anger, you’re not paying attention,” or—I would add—you belong to that segment of humanity that benefits from inequality and feels no need to do anything different with their privileged position.

[1]It’s worth noting that the former Philippine president was arrested on March 11, pursuant to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, on charges of crimes against humanity.

[2]Cis-heteronormativity is a system of beliefs and social norms in which the view is imposed that heterosexuality and binary gender identity (male and female), which corresponds to the one assigned at birth, is the only legitimate and natural way of being.

[3]Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” portrays a totalitarian society in which women are stripped of their rights. Its television adaptation, The Handmaid’s Tale (2017–2025), has had a global impact, establishing itself as one of the most influential series of recent years.