Strategies For Gender Equality In Sustainable Development Goals.

Aim of Sustainable Development Goal- Gender Equality

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) refers to goals which have been set by United Nations and they help to deal with social and the economic development issues (Unwomen.org., 2022). The gender inequality is a pervasive form of inequality within the world and it has denied women their voices and devalued work of the women (Agarwal, 2018).  It has made position of women unequal to that of the men’s from national to the global levels. This report throws light on aims of the Sustainable Development Goal of Gender Equality and features that are being addressed with the help of this goal. This report discusses about how the groups within Australia have been able to address the crisis and the strategies that can be adopted that can help to deal with the problem in the world.

The aim of Sustainable Development Goal- Gender Equality talks about granting women and the girls equal rights and the opportunities so that they can lead a free life without any kind of discrimination (Miotto, Polo López & Rom Rodríguez, 2019).  The SDG- gender equality can be said to be the fundamental human right that can help in the creation of peaceful and the sustainable world (Un.org., 2022).

The main features of this SDG lies in the fact that it wants to end all kinds of the discrimination against women and the girls. It wants to eliminate various forms of the violence taking place against women and the girls within public and the private spheres.

It has been argued by Laudatosimovement.org. (2022) that:

“According to the biblical account of creation, God placed man and woman in the garden he had created (cf. Gen 2:15) not only to preserve it (“keep”) but also to make it fruitful (“till”).”

There has to be proper relationship in between the human beings and world and there has to be correct understanding of the work that can help to endow purpose on human activity. The man can be said to be the source of economic and the social life as they possess capacity for the contemplation. The men and the women have capacity for improvement and they have to further moral growth for the development of spiritual endowments. There has to be gender equality in between men and the women within world of employment and they have to be provided opportunities for their personal growth (Miotto, Polo López & Rom Rodríguez, 2019).  The work should be able to adhere to norms of gender equality and talents of men and the women have to be developed fully within the workplace. There has to be steady employment for all the individuals without any kind of discriminatory practices that can assist in the proper functioning of the society.

The discriminatory laws have to be changed and legislation has to be adopted that can help to advance equality in the pro-active manner. It wants to put an end to trafficking and sexual exploitation that can help the women to assert their dignity within the boundaries of the modern society (Laudatosimovement.org., 2022).  It has been found that there exist 49 countries which do not have laws for offering protection to the women from the incidences of domestic violence (Alarcón & Cole, 2019).  The nursing profession is not immune from the gender inequality and it has undermined position of the nurses in the present day society (Azcona et al., 2020). The men decide for becoming the nurses for their self-actualisation or the survival needs and they had not been accepted by medical profession.

Features of the SDG

There exist various groups in Australia which have helped to address the crisis in the nursing profession. Woolworths Group has been able to improve representation of the women in the management roles and they have built strong pipeline of the female talent in various areas of the organisation. They have been able to address crisis as 54 % of their workforce are women and they have increased number of the women in the leadership positions. It has been found that 42 % of the managers are the women and it has ensured their commitment towards the improvement of gender equality (Woolworthsgroup.com.au., 2022). They have been able to achieve gender equality as they have offered flexible work options which have helped them to develop the successful careers. They have been able to address Gender Pay Gap with the aid of their Equal Pay Policy which have helped to achieve gender equality. Wesfarmers has Diversity and Inclusion Policy and it has helped them to achieve objective for providing the satisfactory returns to the shareholders (Wesfarmers.com.au., 2022). They have made use of diverse teams that have helped them to gain access to the best talents which has helped in harnessing creativity. It has helped them to create environment in which individuals have equal access to employment and the other benefits. The have provided parental and the carer support so that it can help to provide support to the members of the team. It can help in fostering activism and leadership of the women in regard to gender equality issues for ensuring voices and the participation of the women. It can help in valuing voices and experiences of the women that can help to ensure meaningful and the genuine representation of the women. It can help to work collectively that can help to bring perspectives of the women which are relevant for lives of the young women (Gunn et al., 2019).  The industrial revolution has helped in marking decisive change in location and status of labour of the women and productive work has moved from outside home within waged employment (Curtis et al., 2020).  

There are certain strategies that can be adopted that can help to deal with the present crisis of gender inequality within Australia.  I can engage themselves in dialogue that can help to facilitate reflective thinking that can help to overcome gender bias in the nursing education.  It can help to remove assumptions that can pave the path for gender equality within the nursing profession. I can refrain from using gender-biased language that can serve to provide encouragement to men and the women. The nurses have to face challenges for unbalancing unpaid and the paid work which makes the nurses feel less confident in their profession. The nurses have the responsibility of tackling gender discrimination in the professional field of nursing (Doran et al., 2019). I can exercise interpersonal skills which can help in the minimisation of gender discrimination prevailing among the nursing staff. The expectations of female nurses can be analysed that can help to remove incidence of gender inequality in the nursing profession. I have to start conversations with the staff that can help to tackle the problem of gender discrimination in the nursing field (Agarwal, 2018). I have to set right tone that can help in the prioritization of gender equality and take actions in the decisive manner.  They have to re-brand nursing as being gender-neutral that can help to lend legitimacy to that of the profession. I can in my personal life communicate in an open manner with other individuals within broader society that can be instrumental for the removal of gender equality. They have to consider multitude of views and the opinions which are different which can help in ensuring gender equality. The stereotypes have to be tackled that deters men in the nursing profession which can be effective for meeting growing shortage of the nurses. There has been decline of the male nurses owing to complex product of the cultural and the historical factors (Cottingham, 2019).  They have to be provided with adequate pay and the acceptable conditions of working that can help to ensure personal and the professional advancement for the men in the nursing profession (Wilson et al., 2020).  

Conclusion

The objective of the SDG- gender equality is to grant women with equal rights and opportunities that can enable them for leading free life. It wants to put an end to various kinds of the discrimination taking place against women and girls. It wants to put an end to violence against the women in various spheres of life. The consideration of nursing education as science subject can create the way for bringing about progression of male nurses.

References

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Alarcón, D. M., & Cole, S. (2019). No sustainability for tourism without gender equality. Journal of Sustainable Tourism.

Azcona, G., Bhatt, A., Davies, S. E., Harman, S., Smith, J., & Wenham, C. (2020). Spotlight on gender, COVID-19 and the SDGs: Will the pandemic derail hard-won progress on gender equality?.

Cottingham, M. D. (2019). The missing and needed male nurse: Discursive hybridization in professional nursing texts. Gender, Work & Organization, 26(2), 197-213.

Curtis, K., Brysiewicz, P., Shaban, R. Z., Fry, M., Considine, J., Gamboa, F. E. A., ... & Peden, M. (2020). Nurses responding to the World Health Organization (WHO) priority for emergency care systems for universal health coverage. International emergency nursing, 50, 100876.

Doran, F., Hutchinson, M., Brown, J., East, L., Irwin, P., Mainey, L., ... & Yates, K. (2019). Australian nursing and midwifery student beliefs and attitudes about domestic violence: A multi-site, cross-sectional study. Nurse education in practice, 40, 102613.

Gunn, V., Muntaner, C., Ng, E., Villeneuve, M., Gea-Sanchez, M., & Chung, H. (2019). Gender equality policies, nursing professionalization, and the nursing workforce: a cross-sectional, time-series analysis of 22 countries, 2000–2015. International journal of nursing studies, 99, 103388.

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