BY Chris Mills Rodrigo
No countries are on track to achieve gender equality by 2030, according to the gender index of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which measures global conditions against a set of targets established by the United Nations.
Of the more than 100 countries to sign up for the U.N.'s SDGs, not one is set to meet the gender targets in 14 of the 17 listed goals, from Equal Measures 2030.
“With just 11 years to go, our index finds that not a single one of the 129 countries is fully transforming their laws, policies or public budget decisions on the scale needed to reach gender equality by 2030,” Alison Holder, director of Equal Measures 2030, said in a statement.
“We are failing to deliver on the promises of gender equality for literally billions of girls and women,” Holder said.
The report also said that 2.8 billion women and girls are living in countries that are failing to do enough to help their lives.
"This report should serve as a wake-up call to the world. We won't meet the SDGs with 40% of girls and women living in countries that are failing on gender equality," Melinda Gates, co-chairwoman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said in a statement.
The report graded countries from 0 to 100, with the top of the scale representing the point at which gender equality in relation to the U.N. indicators has been achieved.
The global average score was 65.7, which the report considers "poor."
Even the top 10 countries — Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Slovenia, Germany, Canada, Ireland and Australia — did not reach a 90, or "excellent," score.
"It's clear that even the most gender-equal countries need to improve on issues like climate change, gender budgeting and public services, equal representation in powerful positions, gender pay gaps, and gender-based violence," Holder said.
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Related to SDG 17: Partnership for the goals and SDG 5: Gender equality
