SDG 5: GENDER EQUALITY

Recognised for our firm and solid commitment to gender equality

No country in the world has reached equality between men and women. We need to redouble our efforts for everyone to have the same opportunities and rights, and that's how we will achieve a more peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.

Inequality between men and women is seen in each and every dimension of our lives. According to the UN Women report Turning promises into action: Gender equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development [PDF] (2018), it is the women who are the first to go hungry when there isn't enough food in the house. They are also the ones who are paid the least: the salary gap worldwide is 23 %. In the public sphere, they hold only 23.7 % of political posts.

In addition, according to this report, one out of every five women and girls has suffered physical or sexual violence at the hands of their partner in the last 12 months. There are still 49 countries that have no laws to protect women against violence, 45 have no legislation that specifically addresses sexual harassment and in 37 countries rape perpetrators are exempt from prosecution if they are married to or subsequently marry the victim.

Reversing these facts has become a real challenge for the 150 countries that signed the 2030 Agenda in 2015. This is why achieving true gender equality right across the board is number five of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Iberdrola aligned with the sdg

Keys to understand world gender inequality

Who does it affect?

Throughout the world, women are paid
23 % less than men.
1 in every 5 suffers physical or sexual violence at the hands of their partner.

They spend 4.3 hours a day on domestic chores compared to 1.6 hours for men. 49 countries have no laws to protect women against violence.

How is this distributed around the world?

The 10 countries with the greatest gender inequality are concentrated in Middle East and north of Africa (61 % parity); followed by Southern Asia (66 % parity).

80

60

40

20

0

Yemen

Iraq

Pakistan

Syria

Congo Dem.
Rep.

Iran

Chad

Saudí Arabia

Lebanon

Oman

Main causes

Austerity measures caused by the financial crisis, public sector cuts and inequality in the distribution of family and domestic responsibilities, that mostly affect women.


How can we put an end to it?

We need to increase financial support to promote equality policies at regional,
national and global level, introduce legislation to promote gender equality and give a higher profile to the opinions and visibility of women and girls.

Source: UN Women (2018) and World Economic Forum, Global Gender Gap Index (2020).

 

 SEE INFOGRAPHIC: Keys to understanding world gender inequality [PDF]

IBERDROLA SUPPORTS GENDER EQUALITY

Within Iberdrola group we maintain a firm commitment to our human capital as our best asset and the key to our success, and we are firmly behind a social model committed to professional excellence and quality of life for our employees. Our corporate policy is focused on creating a favourable labour relations framework based on equality of opportunity, non-discrimination and respect for diversity.

Iberdrola group's commitment and contribution to no gender discrimination has been acknowledged in 2020 by Bloomberg by the inclusion of the company in the 2020 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index. For the third year in a row, we are one of the companies in this index, which seeks to recognise those companies that have embraced a firm and solid commitment to gender equality. At Iberdrola, as set out in our Work/Life Balance and Equality of Opportunity Policy, we consider equality between men and women to be one of our essential company values, and for this reason we have launched over 70 different measures in Spain alone.

WHY IS THE UN'S GENDER EQUALITY GOAL SO IMPORTANT?

According to the UN, women and girls represent half the world population, so they make up half of the world's human potential. When their lives improve, when we achieve gender equality, the whole of society will reap the benefits, making the world a more peaceful, prosperous and sustainable place. For example, granting women access to a decent job and a regular income will not only help reduce poverty (SDG 1) but will also help achieve better results in the education, health and nutrition of women, girls and those who depend on them (SDGs 2, 3 and 4).

According to the World Bank, inequality between countries is currently higher than 25 years ago. In 2019, from a list of 189 countries included in the Human Development Report 2019, produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Norway, Switzerland and Ireland lead the field in gender equality issues.

TARGETS OF THE FIFTH SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL

Despite significant progress in the field of gender equality since the year 2000, it still isn't enough: currently, no country in the world has reached parity.

Given this situation, goals sought for 2030 are:

  • Eliminate all forms of violence against women, such as human trafficking, sexual exploitation, child marriage and female genital mutilation.
  • Recognise and value unpaid domestic work through public services, infrastructures and social protection policies.
  • Guarantee the full and effective participation of women and equality of leadership opportunities at all decision-making levels of political, financial and public life.
  • Introduce and strengthen policies and legislation to promote gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.


 MORE ABOUT THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS: