POLICY

BRIEF
SDG 5:
ACHIEVE GENDER EQUALITY AND
EMPOWER ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS
By: Bejie Limen Alapag
POLICY
BRIEF
SDG 5:
By: Bejie Limen Alapag

ACHIEVE GENDER EQUALITY AND

EMPOWER ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS

01
STNETNO
COVER PAGE

02 TABLE OF CONTENTS

03 INTRODUCTION OF THE STUDY

04 CONTEXT AND IMPORTANCE OF THE

STUDY

05 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

06 APPENDICES

07 SOURCES CONSULTED
 SDG 5:
POLICY ACHIEVE GENDER EQUALITY AND
EMPOWER ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS
BRIEF
INTRODUCTION
By: Bejie Limen Alapag

The roots of SDG5 go as far back as the United Nations Conference on Women held in
Mexico in 1975 and the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). From the mid-1970s, women entered the
development agenda thanks to the continuous efforts of liberal feminist economists
who promoted and brought visibility to women’s issues (Calkin, 2015). These efforts
continued to be part of feminists’ agenda in the 1980s and 1990s and women’s rights
remained on the international development agenda (Cornwall and Rivas, 2015). Many
of these conversations and efforts to tackle women’s social and cultural precarious
circumstances were later captured and systematised in the 2000-2015 Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) which aimed to provide a list of clear targets and to enact
the work laid out by feminists since the 1970s. MDG3 in particular focused on
“promot[ing] gender equality and empower[ing] women.” The 2015 United Nations
Report on the MDGs highlighted the targets met and the areas that needed further
work, such as in achieving literacy levels, strengthening and facilitating women’s
access to health services, and ensuring employment access, among others. According
to the report, steady improvements had been noted and many countries enacted
women-focused instruments, but these were rather unevenly developed, and their
visibility varied across countries. The report asserted that millions were being “left
behind because of their sex, age, disability, ethnicity or geographic location” and that
more targeted efforts were needed “to reach the most vulnerable” (David, Albert and
Vizmanos, 2018, p. 8). Adopted in 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
were designed to replace the MDGs as a set of universal objectives to tackle political,
environmental, and economic problems facing the globe. A gendered lens was
explicitly incorporated across some of the SDGs (including SDGs 1, 2 3 and 4), and
SDG5 focused specifically on “achiev[ing] gender equality and empower[ing] all
women and girls.” Instead of the top-down approach of the MDGs, SDG5 aimed to
engage more women’s voices in the processes of addressing gender issues. New
aspects such as women’s unpaid work, their sexual and reproductive rights and
gendered-based violence were brought to the forefront as well.
 SDG 5:
POLICY ACHIEVE GENDER EQUALITY AND
EMPOWER ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS
BRIEF
By: Bejie Limen Alapag

CONTEXT AND IMPORTANCE OF THE POLICY

The international community has identified goals and targets for promoting
gender equality in several key international instruments. As a signatory to these
instruments, the Philippines shares these commitments to gender equality. The key
international instruments include: • The International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), known as
the Women’s Bill of Rights, signed by the Philippines in 1979, and the Optional
Protocol, ratified in 2003, define what constitutes discrimination against women
and obligate governments to take action to promote and protect the rights of
women. • Declaration of Elimination of Violence Against Women (1993) is a clear
pronouncement that violence against women is a violation of human rights and
fundamental freedoms. • The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPA,
1995) has been implemented within the framework of the 30-Year Philippine Plan
for Gender Responsive Development. It includes agreements for eliminating
discrimination against women, eradicating poverty, adopting measures towards
placing women in key positions and it provides recommendations concerning
unpaid work. It also recognizes women’s rights to control their sexuality and
reproduction (the number of children they want to have). The BPA takes into
consideration armed conflict situations as well as the racial and ethnic roots which
affect gender equality.

The Millennium Declaration and the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
are being implemented through 2015 by all 189 United Nations Member States with
the aim of reducing poverty and improving lives. Gender equality promotion is
the specific target of MDG number 3, but is also universally recognized as central
to achieving the targets of the other 7 MDGs.
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger 2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women. 4. Reduce child mortality 5.
Improve maternal health 6. Combat HIV/AIDS , malaria and other diseases 7.
Ensure environmental sustainability 8. Develop a global partnership for
development

 SDG 5:
POLICY ACHIEVE GENDER EQUALITY AND
EMPOWER ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS
BRIEF
By: Bejie Limen Alapag

POLICY RECOMMENDATION
SDG 5 is aimed to “achieve gender quality and empower all women and girls”, or
simply on “Gender Equality”. It has nine (9) targets and fourteen (14) indicators. SDG
5 is focused on pursuing the main goal of real and sustained gender equality in all
aspects of women and girls’ lives which includes (1) ending gender disparities, (2)
eliminating violence against women and girls’ lives, (3) eliminating early and forced
marriage, (4) securing equal participation and opportunities for leadership, and (5)
universal access to sexual and reproductive rights.
1. Tackling structural barriers to gender equality: Governments should focus on
policies that address structural, power and political dynamics that perpetuate
discrimination against women and girls and represent barriers to gender equality,
including removing discriminating legal frameworks, implementing policies that
promote women’s labor force participation, including through equal access to
education at all levels, recognizing, reducing and redistributing unpaid care work and
ensuring universal health coverage, including sexual and reproductive health.
2. Strengthening accountability mechanisms at the national level: Governments and
other stakeholders should build accountability mechanisms into interventions and
strategies and monitor the effectiveness of these mechanisms, including taking action
to ensure that such mechanisms are responsive to rights of women and girls.
3. Increasing investment and financing for gender equality: Governments and other
stakeholders can increase investments for gender equality and women and girls’
empowerment by promoting investments not just in gender equality but across all
sectors, including agriculture, education and culture, care services, social protection,
health, infrastructure, justice, and water and sanitation.
4. Increasing data collection capacity: Governments should strengthen national
statistical systems to collect and produce high-quality, accessible, reliable, timely and
disaggregated data to monitor SDG indicators and support evidence-based policy
formulation.
 SDG 5:
POLICY ACHIEVE GENDER EQUALITY AND
EMPOWER ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS
BRIEF
By: Bejie Limen Alapag

SOURCES OF THE STUDY

Philippine Commission on Women
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
UNITED NATION
UNDP