Gender equality key to achieving SDGs

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, New York

United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, has warned that failure to prioritise gender equality could derail the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the 2030 deadline.

Speaking at Nigeria’s Women’s Day event in New York during the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), she said excluding women from development efforts would undermine global progress.

Mohammed described gender equality, SDG Goal Five, as the ‘docking station’ for all 17 SDGs.

“Without women, that’s half the world’s population, it means half of the ambitions, possibilities and potential of the world will be lost,” she said.

Mohammed stressed that national budgets must prioritise women’s needs across all sectors, including health, agriculture, energy and education.

She also advocated reserved legislative seats for women in Nigeria’s National and State Assemblies to strengthen representation and policymaking.

Nigeria’s Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, used the occasion to unveil the Renewed Hope Social Impact Interventions 774 (RH-SII-774). She described the initiative as one of the most ambitious gender-responsive development frameworks in Africa, targeting women in all 774 local government areas of the country.

According to her, the programme is structured around nine pillars aimed at dismantling barriers to women’s economic independence, leadership and dignity.

Sulaiman-Ibrahim listed them to include clean energy access through the Women’s Initiative for National Growth through Solar (WINGS), agricultural empowerment under the WAVE programme, digital inclusion through the Digital Harmony initiative, improved healthcare systems, innovation centres for women entrepreneurs, leadership training through SheLeads, skills development, child protection reforms and family support initiatives. She emphasised that women’s empowerment is not merely a social programme but an economic and national development strategy.

“The time for promises has passed; the time for action is now,” she said.