Gender

The United Nations is now focusing its global development work on the recently-developed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Women have a critical role to play in all of the SDGs, with many targets specifically recognizing women’s equality and empowerment as both the objective, and as part of the solution.

Goal 5, to "Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls" is known as the stand-alone gender goal, because it is dedicated to achieving these ends. Deep legal and legislative changes are needed to ensure women’s rights around the world. While a record 143 countries guaranteed equality between men and women in their Constitutions by 2014, another 52 had not taken this step. 

Stark gender disparities remain in economic and political realms. While there has been some progress over the decades, on average women in the labour market still earn 20 per cent less than men globally. As of 2018, only 24 per cent of all national parliamentarians were female, a slow rise from 11.3 per cent in 1995.

https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/gender-equality/

The EU Commission highlights the important role of the social services sector in closing gender gaps in the labour market by saying: “Insufficient access to quality and affordable formal care services is one of the key drivers of gender inequality in the labour market. Investing in care services is therefore important to support women’s participation in paid work and their professional development. It also has potential for job creation for both women and men”.

http://socialemployers.eu/en/news/new-eu-gender-equality-strategy/