I. INTRODUCTION:

The term ‘gender’ was embraced because it is inclusive of both sexes and highlights how the two sexes exist relationally. The Gender is a constitutive element of social relationships based on perceived differences between the sexes and it is a primary way of signifying relationships of power. Gender and gender relations are never neutral, but embedded in and shaped by such larger systems of power as culture, economics and politics¹.

The feminist theory can be described variously, but three approaches generally have been used to address the issue of gender difference and inequality.

These are such as the first approach is liberal feminism, which denies or dismisses the importance of sex based differences. The second approach difference feminism recognizes the importance of equality while embracing the differences that exist between men and women. The third approach drawing on postmodernism centers on the gender differences between women². However, no single theory, frame work, set of values or public policy solution captures the diverse contexts in which women live their multiple lives. Post-modern feminist scholars prefer accounts that are partial, sensitive to context, analytically diverse and comparative rather than universal in their claims³.

The gender equality does not necessarily mean equal numbers of men and women or girls and boys in all activities, nor does it mean treating them in the same way. It means equality of opportunity and a society in which women and men are able to lead equally fulfilling lives. An aim of gender equality is recognizes that men and women often have different needs and priorities, face different constraints and have different aspirations. Above all, an absence of gender equality means a huge loss of human potential and has costs for both men as well as women and also for development⁴. Moreover, gender equality means when the people of all male and female genders have equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities. The gender equality prevents violence against women and girls. It is an essential for economic prosperity. The respective societies that those value as far as possible female & male as equal are safer and healthier⁵.

The gender equality is a human right. The females are entitled to live with dignity and with freedom from want and from fear. The gender equality is also a precondition for advancing development and reducing poverty. An empowered women contribute to the health and productivity of whole families and communities, and they improve prospects for the next generation⁶. The Women and girls represent nearly half of the world’s population. As per UN World Population report (2017) revealed an estimated 50.4 percent of the world’s population was male and 49.6 percent was female⁷.

Therefore, they are nearly half of its potential. The gender equality is an essential to achieve peaceful societies with full human potential, prosperous and sustainable development world. Moreover, it has been shown that empowering women spurs productivity and economic growth. Unfortunately, there is still a long way to go to achieve full equality of rights and opportunities between men and women. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to end the multiple forms of gender violence and secure equal access to quality education as well as health, economic resources and participation in political life for both women and girls and men & boys. It is also essential to achieve equal opportunities in access to employment, to positions of leadership and decision-making at all levels⁸. An UNO Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres has stated that achieving gender equality and empowering women as well as girls is the unfinished business of our time and the greatest human rights challenge in our world⁹.

An effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could reverse the limited progress that has made earlier on gender equality. The coronavirus outbreak exacerbates existing inequalities for women and girls across every sphere from health and economy to security and social protection. Women’s unpaid care work has increased significantly as a result of school closures and increased needs of older people. Women are also harder hit by economic impacts of COVID-19, as they disproportionately work in insecure labour markets. The nearly 60 per cent of women work in an informal economy, which puts them at greater risk of falling into poverty¹⁰.

The pandemic has also led to a steep increase in violence against females. With lockdown measures in place, many women are trapped at home with their abusers, struggling to access services that are suffering from cuts and restrictions. An emerging data shows that, since outbreak of the pandemic, violence against females and particularly domestic violence has intensified¹¹.

The Human Development Index (HDI) focuses on overall achievements in basic health, education, and economic activity. The Gender Development Index (GDI) measures how countries are doing in terms of some of the basic dimensions of gender equality such as wages earned (with controls introduced for differences in national income levels), life expectancy, and education levels attained. The Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) is a composite of gender inequalities in earnings (removing the controls for differences in national income levels in the GDI measure) in professional, managerial & technical occupations and in parliamentary representation. It thus addresses some of inequalities. It also offers partial insight into the nature of socio -economic disparities in a country. The countries that perform considerably better on the GEM index than on the GDI are also likely to be countries in which elite women have made important gains in the public domain but with little progress on the basic inequalities that affect poorer women¹².

However, women coming together around shared concerns have been an important impetus behind struggles for gender equality in different regions of the world¹³. But, gender equality remains an unfulfilled promise.The Sustainable development has been defined in many ways, but the most frequently quoted definition is from the Brundtland Commission report book on ‘Our Common Future’, which has mentioned that “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. The sustainability is the foundation for today’s leading global framework for international cooperation. An United Nations Organisation (UNO) has the 2030 agenda for sustainable development through its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Moreover, the 17 SDGs were adopted by all UN member states in 2015 with 169 targets to reach by 2030¹⁴. Among these goals, SDG 5 is related to the gender equality. This paper has explored this in order to achieve a reasonable gender equality to females for their sustainable development purpose in India.

II. The UNO’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

An UNO by its member states has adopted the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in September 2000 for realizing these targets values to achieve around the world by 2015¹⁵. Out of these goals, goal 3 is related to promote gender equality and empower women. Its main target is to eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005 and in all levels of education no later than 2015¹⁶.

In January 2015, the General Assembly of UN has began the negotiation process on the post 2015 development agenda. The process has culminated in the subsequent adoption of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. Moreover, this was a landmark year for multilateralism and international policy shaping with an adoption of major agreement on ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development with its 17 SDGs’ was adopted at an UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York in September 2015. This was adopted by all its 193 member states, which provided a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 SDGs, which are an urgent call for action by all countries such as developed and developing in a global partnership. They have recognized that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand in hand with strategies that improve health, education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth. These all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests¹⁷.

The 5 Ps of sustainable development are related to People, Planet, Prosperity, Partnership and Peace. The SDGs are a bold universal agreement to end poverty in all its dimensions and craft an equal, just and secure world for people, planet and prosperity by 2030¹⁸. The 17 SDGs and its 169 targets are part of this SD agenda adopted and came into effect on 1^st January 2016. Among these 17 SDGs, goal 5 is specifically related to ‘Gender equality: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’. There are 9 targets in this goal. However, these goals are the result of an unprecedented consultative process that brought national governments and millions of citizens from across the globe together to negotiate and adopt the global path to sustainable development for the next 15 years¹⁹.

The SDGs and its targets have been stimulating action in the following critically important areas such as poverty, hunger, education, health and well-being, gender equality, water and sanitation, energy, economic growth and decent work, infrastructure, industry and innovation, reducing inequalities, sustainable cities, consumption and production, climate action, ecosystems, peace as well as justice and partnership. This comprehensive agenda recognised that it is no longer sufficient just to focus on economic growth, but on fairer as well as more equal societies and a safer as well as more prosperous planet²⁰.

The 17 SDGs were build on the basis of decades of work by UNO, which including UNO’s department of Economic and Social Affairs and its the Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG). The DSDG has been playing a key role in evaluation of UN system wide implementation of the 2030 agenda, on advocacy and outreach activities relating to the SDGs. An annual high level political forum on sustainable development serves as the central UN platform for the follow-up and review of the SDGs²¹. At the core of this global agenda for 2030 is the principle of universality, that is ‘Leave no one behind’. It is critical to an implementation of these targets that they should be relevant to all governments and actors. Development in all its dimensions must be inclusive of all people, everywhere, and should be built through the participation of everyone, especially the most vulnerable and marginalised²².

III. The SDG 5, ‘Gender equality: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’

An United Nations Organization (UNO) is focusing its international development work on the recently-developed 17 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 an objective and as part of the solution. The goal 5 is known as the stand alone gender goal because it is dedicated to achieving these ends. The 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. The 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 1995²³.

By investing in an empowerment of women, we not only make progress on Goal 5 of the SDGs, we also make gains on an alleviation of poverty and fuel sustainable economic growth. The goal 5 aims to eliminate all forms of discrimination and violence against women in the public and private spheres and to undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources and access to ownership of property²⁴.

The following are the 9 targets of the SDG 5,which have to be implement in all UNO’s member states.

1. End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.

2. Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.

3. Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.

4. Recognise and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate.

5. Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.

6. Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences.

7. Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws.

8. Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women.

9. Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels²⁵.

IV: Assessment of UNO’s SDG 5 at the international level

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2020 has presented an overview of progress towards the SDGs before the pandemic started, but it also looks at some of the devastating initial impacts of COVID-19 on specific Goals and targets. The report was prepared by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in collaboration with over 200 experts from more than 40 international agencies using the latest available data and estimates. No area has been spared an effects of this pandemic. The pandemic abruptly disrupted implementation towards many of the SDGs and in some cases turned back decades of progress. The crisis has touched all segments of the population, all sectors of economy, and all areas of the world. Not surprisingly, it is affecting the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people the most. It has exposed harsh and profound inequalities in our societies and is further exacerbating existing disparities within and among countries²⁶. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, progress remained uneven and we were not on track to meet the goals by 2030²⁷.

Overall Assessment of UNO’s SDG 5 as per The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2020 data

Before the Covid-19, despite improvements full gender equality remains unreached. The Covid-19 implications have revealed that lockdowns had been increasing the risk of violence against women and girls in the forms of physical, sexual and psychological. The cases of domestic violence have increased by 30% in some countries. The Women represent 25% in national parliaments and 36% in local governments . The Women are on the front lines of fighting the coronavirus. Moreover, for this purpose, women account for 70% as health and social workers²⁸.

An international commitments to advance the gender equality have brought about improvements in some areas such as child marriage and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) have declined in recent years and women’s representation in the political arena was higher than ever before. But the promise of a world in which every woman and girl enjoys full gender equality and where all legal, social and economic barriers to their empowerment have been removed remains unfulfilled. In fact, that goal is probably even more distant than before, since women and girls have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The crisis was creating circumstances that have already contributed to a surge in reports of violence against women and girls and may increase child marriage and FGM. Moreover, women are likely to take on most additional care work owing to the closure of schools and day care centres²⁹. This assessment data includes India country.

A. COVID-19 was intensifying the risk of violence against women and girls:

The data from several countries showed an increase in reporting of domestic violence to helplines, women’s refuges & shelters and the police. When considering such data, it is important to keep in mind that less than 40 per cent of women who have experienced violence reported this crime or seek help. Being confined at home with some abusive partners and in some countries, lacking access to mobile phones or an Internet made it more difficult for women to safely reach out for help. According to data from 66 countries over the period from 2016 to 2018, mobile phone ownership among women was 6.8 percentage points, which was lower than for men on an average. Some women are also more likely to have their phones monitored by an abusive or controlling partners. In addition, because of service disruptions and closures, women had been experiencing violence have less access to support and may not seek or be able to receive medical care, if they needed³⁰.

B. The global pandemic could set back progress to end child marriage and female genital mutilation:

The marriage before an age of 18 is a human rights violation, which was mostly affecting females and can lead to a lifetime of disadvantage and deprivation. The risk of child marriage was highest in sub -Saharan Africa. Because of school closures and widening poverty as a result of the pandemic could put more girls at risk. The FGM is an another blatant violation of human rights. At least 200 million girls and women had been subjected to FGM in 31 countries where the practice is concentrated; half of these countries were in Western Africa. Although this harmful practice has been declining, there are still countries where FGM was almost universal, where at least 9 in 10 girls and women aged between 15 to 49 years had been cut. The COVID-19 is interrupting programmes to end the FGM, which could certainly threaten progress³¹. So, an UNO and FGM affected countries governments should stop this practice for not to happen.

C. Women spend more time than men in unpaid work, a burden that is likely to get heavier during the pandemic:

In an average day, women spend some more times as many hours in unpaid domestic and care work compared to men. The time spent in these activities tends to be even some higher for women with young children at home. In roughly, 75 per cent of countries with trend data, a small decrease had been observed in the time spent by women on unpaid domestic and care work compared with that spent by men. The COVID-19 crisis is radically changing how people, particularly women spend their time often with a negative impact on their well-being. A poll conducted in 17 countries has showed that both women and men are taking more responsibility for household chores as well as the care of children and family during the lockdown, but the majority of work continues to fell on women and girls, which was reflecting a pre pandemic pattern³².

D. Women are increasingly assuming positions of power, but the world is still far from parity:

As of 1^st January 2020, women’s representation in national parliaments (lower chamber and unicameral parliaments) had reached 24.9 per cent. This was a some improvement. The data from 133 countries and areas showed that women now had better access to decision making positions at the local level, holding a 36.3 per cent of elected seats in local deliberative bodies. Only 13 per cent and 15 per cent of countries respectively have reached gender balance (40 per cent or more) in legislative bodies in national parliaments and in local government. This progress was largely attributed to legislated gender quotas³³.

In 2019, women represented 39 per cent of the world’s workers and half of the world’s working age population. The women face higher barriers than men in accessing employment. And when they do get a job, they are often excluded from decision making positions. In 2019, women accounted for 41 per cent of managerial positions in South-Eastern Asia and 40 per cent in Northern America, but only 8 per cent in Northern Africa³⁴.

In the context of COVID-19, it is critical that women have to fairly represent in leadership positions related to the pandemic. This will help to avoid deepening existing inequalities. It will also ensure that gender dimensions and investments in gender equality are included in response, recovery legislation, economic packages and budgets during and after the pandemic³⁵.

E. Women and their reproductive health:

In 2019, countries had established 73 per cent of the laws and regulations needed to guarantee full and equal access to sexual, reproductive health and rights for women, according to data from the 75 countries. The findings were particularly heartening when it comes to HIV. On an average, countries had set in place 87 per cent of laws and regulations needed for HIV counselling and testing services; 91 per cent of those needed for HIV treatment and care services; and 96 per cent for HIV confidentiality. Meanwhile, countries had instituted 79 per cent of relevant laws and regulations that stipulate full, free and informed consent of individuals before they receive contraceptive services, including sterilization³⁶.

V. The implementation of SDG 5 in India: An Assessment:

India, which is one of an UNO’s member country has fully adopted the SDGs framework and aligned its development priorities with the global goals. The Government of India has been taking a lead role in implementing the framework, monitoring the progress and bringing on board various stakeholders in the journey towards achieving the targets. India is being a large diversities across its regions, the Central Government has also taken extensive measures to localise the SDGs and mainstream them into the development priorities of various Indian States and Union Territories³⁷. The many of the Central Government of India’s flagship programmes such as Swachh Bharat, Make in India, Skill India, and Digital India are at the core of the SDGs. The State and local governments in India have been playing a pivotal role in many of these programmes.

The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI)Aayog, which is the Government of India’s premier think tank has been entrusted with the task of coordinating the SDGs in India by its central government. They have adopted a government wide approach to sustainable development, emphasizing an interconnected nature of the SDGs across economic, social and environmental pillars. The Government of India’s Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has been working for developing national indicators for the SDGs. The central and state governments have been implementing the SDGs. Moreover, the local governments are also implementing majority of the SDGs in India.The SDG 5 also has been implementing in India. An UN country team in India supports NITI Aayog in its efforts to address an interconnectedness of the goals to ensure that no one is left behind and to advocate for adequate financing to achieve the SDGs. The SDG 5 also has been implementing in India.

If we see the present female status in India, only 65.46% of the female are literate as compared to 82.14% of male. An enrollment of girls in primary education is 100%, but 74.6% women are not enrolled in higher education. Women hold only 11% of seats in the Lok sabha, but 46% in panchayati Raj institutions. The child sex ratio is 919 for 1000 boys. 48.5% of population belongs to female. Only 27.4% women are in work force³⁸. This revealed that except enrollment of girls in primary education, some more gender equality achievement is needed for the females in India.

Assessment of SDG 5 in India as per India’s second Voluntary National Review report of 2020 data:

While measuring an India country's performance on the SDG India Index and Dashboard for SDG 5 and its disaggregated eight national indicators, an overall Index score for the country is 42 and ranges between 26 as well as 52 for the States and between 27 as well as 53 for UTs. This was on a scale of 0-100. This indicated that the distance to target covered so far by India in gender equality remains 42 with a significant variation among the subnational units also reflecting the need for greater collaborative action across the nation³⁹.

The various policies, legislation, programmes and schemes focused on gender equality aimed to ensure that women and girls are not excluded from India’s growth as well as prosperity and are able to benefit from and contribute to it. In the past five years, India has sharpened action on gender equality. While the change has been slow in some areas, other areas have seen positive results. For instance, the political participation of women is a key area where there has been commendable progress in the recent past⁴⁰

A, Social Protection and Livelihoods:

In an area of gainful employment, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which stipulates women's participation at a minimum of 33 per cent saw 54.59 and 54.67 per cent participation in 2018-19 and 2019-20 respectively. The financial support by capital accumulation through savings mobilization as well as access to credit and insurance services to women entrepreneurs have grown considerably in recent years. Under the government of India’s Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana scheme -National Livelihoods Mission aims to mobilise as well as organize women, build their skills, facilitate access to credit, marketing, other livelihoods services and organises women into Self Help Groups (SHGs). There are 10 million bank linked SHGs with as many as 87.66 per cent being women exclusive. Their membership is derived from 122.4 million households with an annual credit uptake of INR 583 billion (USD 7.7 billion) in 2018-19⁴¹.

B. Skilling and Financial Inclusion:

The financial inclusion received a big boost through the Central Government of India’s Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) program, which was widely expanding access to bank accounts along with access to direct benefits under various welfare schemes, credit, insurance services and other savings instruments like term deposits among others. In 2017, women's access to bank accounts rose significantly under this programme. Because of this, the gender gap had also slumped significantly⁴².

There was a significant per cent rose in women enrolling in long term skill development courses. The good number of candidates trained under the Government of India’s Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), which is the flagship scheme for short term skill development are women. There is a focus on developing women entrepreneurs through incentives and enabling credit under the MUDRA Yojana of which the significant per cent of the beneficiaries are women. The National Social Assistance Programme, which provides pension to those over 60 years of age, widows, persons with disabilities and families without an earning member significantly caters to the financial needs of women. The women constituted significant per cent of the beneficiaries respectively at Central and State levels⁴³.

C. Political and Economic Participation:

The women's political participation and representation remains low but is steadily increasing. The representation of women in the lower house (Lok Sabha) of Indian parliament increased slightly. The women's turnout for voting is rapidly and consistently increasing. In 2019 Parliamentary Lok sabha general election, women voter turnout rose to 68 per cent, which was tipping over that of men⁴⁴. The number of women, who have engaged in managerial positions have slightly declined. The female labour force participation in an age category of 15 to 59 years also declined slightly. The 35% of directors in Startups are women⁴⁵.

D. Social Empowerment:

The sex ratio has slightly dropped. The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (Save the Girl Child, Enable her Education) scheme aims to reverse this trend by awareness generation mainly through country wide campaigns only a partially successful. The registered cases of crime against women saw an uptick. The health as well as nutrition of women and girls are areas of concern. The POSHAN Abhiyan (National Nutrition Mission) targets to reduce the level of stunting, under nutrition, anaemia and low birth weight among babies by reducing malnutrition as well as under nutrition, anaemia among young children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers. The scheme for Adolescent Girls is also intended at breaking the inter-generational lifecycle of nutritional and gender disadvantage by providing a supportive environment to the girls in an age group of 11 to 14 years for self development⁴⁶. The Maternity Benefit Programme for women was started in 2017 by the government of India⁴⁷.

E. The Child Protection Unit:

The Child Protection Unit in an aspirational District of Muzzafarpur of Bihar state in India has performs an integrated role in child rights, health and education. This unit mobilises the community and emphasizes an importance of gender equality, reduction of mortality rates and relevant indicators pertaining to children and women. This unit creates awareness on pre and post-natal mother and child healthcare. The community members are sensitised using informative videos in the local language during daily panchayats and Ratri Chaupals (night meetings). Such activities have been drawing a large number of people, especially girls and women who have been pro active in spreading information and walking the talk⁴⁸.

F. ASHA EK UMEED KI KIRAN – WOMEN EMPOWERMENT CENTRE:

Under the special initiative of the District Collector of Kondagaon District of Chhattisgarh state in India to empower the local women by providing employment, an Asha centre was started in collaboration with District Project Livelihood College and District Skill Development Authority. The main objectives of this initiative are to improve an employability of women, generate awareness about various government schemes and connect remote areas with the mainstream. This centre focuses on a number of economic activities such as garment stitching training cum production unit, handloom weaving, sanitary pads production unit, glass bangles design and LED bulb repair & assembling and offers employment & training to over 300 women⁴⁹. However, apart from above, the Sukanya Samridhi Yojana (2015) on girl child prosperity and the Janani Suraksha Yojana (2005) for safe motherhood are the schemes going on in India’s commitment to the gender equality⁵⁰.

VI. CONCLUSION:

The Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is an-another blatant violation of human rights for females. At least 200 million girls and women had been subjected to FGM in 31 countries where the practice is concentrated; half of these countries were in Western Africa. Although this harmful practice has been declining, there are still countries where FGM was almost universal, where at least 9 in 10 girls and women aged between 15 to 49 years had been cut. So, the countries which are practicing this anti human activity against the females must stop this. It was also found that the gender equality for females sustainable development had slightly progressing under the SDG 5 in an UNO’s member states, which includes India. It was also slightly progressing in India country as per India’s second Voluntary National Review report of 2020 data.

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1. Delysa Burnier (2016), “Gender and Public Administration” in Domonic A. Bearfield & Melvin J. Dubnick(edited), Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy, Third edition, Boca Raton, CRC Press: Taylor & Francis Group, p.1542

2. Ibid

3. Ibid

4. Momsen Janet (2010), Gender and Development, second edition, London, Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group, Retrieved from https://www.pdfdrive.com/gender-and-development-2nd-edition-routledge-perspectives-on-development-d176261170.html, p.8.

5. https://www.vic.gov.au/gender-equality-what-it-and-why-do-we-need-it,accessed on 10th August,2020

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8. https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/gender-equality/,accessed on 8th August, 2020

9. Ibid

10. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/,accessed on 7th August,2020

11. Ibid

12. Kabeer Naila, Magnus Edda and Stark Agneta (2008), “Introduction: Reversing the Gaze” in Kabeer Naila and Stark Agneta with Magnus Edda (edited), Global Perspectives on Gender Equality Reversing the Gaze, New York ,Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group, Retrieved from https://www.pdfdrive.com/global-perspectives-on-gender-equality-reversing-the-gaze-routledge-unrisd-research-in-gender-and-development-d186142804.html,p.4.

13. Ibid, p.13.

14. https://www.iisd.org/about-iisd/sustainable-development, accessed on 8th August, 2020.

15. https://research.un.org/en/docs/dev/2000-2015, accessed on 20th August, 2020

16. Ibid, no.4, p.9.

17. https://sdgs.un.org/goals, accessed on 7th August, 2020.

18. Niti Aayog, Sustainable Development Goals:17 Goals to transform our world, New Delhi, Government of India

19. https://in.one.un.org/page/sustainable-development-goals, accessed on 7th August, 2020

20. Ibid

21. Ibid, no.17

22. Ibid, no.19

23. https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/gender-equality/,accessed on 8th August, 2020

24. https://in.one.un.org/page/sustainable-development-goals/sdg-5/, accessed on 7th August, 2020

25. Ibid, no.18, p.26

26. United Nations,(2020), “The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2020”, published by United Nations, Retrieved from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2020/The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2020.pdf, P.3.

27. Ibid, p.2

28. Ibid, no.26, p.10

29. Ibid, no.26, p.34

30. Ibid

31. Ibid

32. Ibid, no.26, p.35

33. Ibid

34. Ibid

35. Ibid

36. Ibid

37. Niti Aayog,(2020), “India VNR 2020: Decade of Action -Taking SDGs from Global to Local”, New Delhi, Government of India, Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/26281VNR_2020_India_Report.pdf

38. Ibid, no.24

39. Ibid, no.37,p.62

40. Ibid, no.37, p.59

41. Ibid

42. Ibid, no.37, p.60

43. Ibid

44. Ibid

45. Ibid, no.37, p.61

46. Ibid

47. https://pmsma.nhp.gov.in/maternity-benefit-programme, accessed on 18th August,2020.

48. Ibid, no.39

49. Ibid

50. Ibid, no.38

Received on 08.10.2022 Modified on 21.11.2022

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2022; 13(4):267-274.

DOI: 10.52711/2321-5828.2022.00043