| dc.description.abstract | The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development places gender equality and the empowerment of women
and girls at the heart of its implementation with its promise to “leave no one behind”. It provides an
unprecedented opportunity to transform the lives of women and girls and to catalyse progress towards
sustainable development in all dimensions: economic, social and environmental. With its universal and
transformative mandate, the 2030 Agenda outlines a set of 17 integrated Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) and targets to achieve our common aspiration for a more equitable and inclusive world.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the
Empowerment of Women (UN Women) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in June 2016, in which
the two organizations pledged to strengthen their partnership and cooperation to promote gender
equality and women’s empowerment in Asia and the Pacific. In this spirit, Gender Equality and the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Asia and the Pacific: Baseline and Pathways for Transformative Change
by 2030 is a joint undertaking by ADB and the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. It reflects
the high-level commitment of both organizations to supporting national efforts and regional cooperation
to accelerate progress towards gender equality and gender-responsive implementation of the SDGs.
As countries have embarked on this collective journey, this publication provides the first assessment
of the current situation of women and girls in the region, based on available and comparable data
from official national and international sources. It establishes a baseline for governments and policy
makers to monitor and accelerate progress towards gender equality commitments in the SDGs, which
are captured in the stand-alone SDG 5 and as a cross-cutting priority across all SDGs. The report identifies
data gaps and underscores the necessity of heightened urgency to improve production and use of
gender statistics for evidence-based SDG localization. It also provides valuable insight into key catalysts
and policy recommendations to assist countries to achieve gender equality by 2030. The key to success
lies in coherent and coordinated efforts to harness the synergies between achieving gender equality and
realising all of the SDGs.
Gender equality must be addressed in its own right and as a catalyst of progress across the SDGs. The
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for integrated responses to the social, economic and
environmental challenges facing us today. This means going beyond conventional approaches to
development, leveraging effective cross-sectoral partnerships and new financing models, and harnessing
innovative technology that will bring about concrete changes to the lives of women and girls. Overcoming
deeply entrenched gender inequality would transform the world, empowering everyone to realise their full
potential and live a life of dignity. This publication provides invaluable evidence to support this effort to
make gender equality and sustainable development a reality for all. | en_US |
