Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Gender Equality focuses on making sure that women and girls have the same rights and opportunities as men and boys. It is about ending discrimination and violence so that everyone is safe and respected. This goal works toward equal pay, shared responsibilities at home, and ensuring women have an equal voice in leadership and decision-making.
Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Gender Equality focuses on making sure that women and girls have the same rights and opportunities as men and boys. It is about ending discrimination and violence so that everyone is safe and respected. This goal works toward equal pay, shared responsibilities at home, and ensuring women have an equal voice in leadership and decision-making.
Introduction to Goal 5
A curriculum designed for Goal 5 that inspires the values and competencies behind this mission for grades 5-12.
Featured Lesson: Creative Writing
Words That Spark Change: Writing for Fairness and Equality
Dive into Goal 5 through the lens of creative writing. This lesson provides hands-on activities and creative exploration designed to bring the concepts to life for students.
Lessons
Creative Writing Exploration
Explore Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls through creative writing.
Emotions in Color: Painting for Fairness and Equality
Explore Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls through art.
Words That Spark Change: Writing for Fairness and Equality
Explore Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls through creative writing.
Moving Together for Fairness: A Dance Exploration of Gender Equality
Explore Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls through dance/movement.
Voices for Justice: Acting for a Fairer World
Explore Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls through drama.
Our Fairness Playlist: Songs for a Gender-Equal World
Explore Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls through music.
These learning objectives are organized into five categories that together form a comprehensive approach to understanding and engaging with this goal.
Knowledge
- •
Identify and define gender equality as the idea that all people, no matter their gender, should have fair and equal chances and be treated with respect.
(Cr1.1.MS, Cn10.1.MS) - •
Recognize different ways gender inequality can appear in everyday life (e.g., unfair stereotypes, limited opportunities, unfair treatment based on gender).
(Cn10.1.MS, Cn11.1.MS) - •
Understand that empowering all women and girls benefits everyone in a community and the world.
(Cn10.1.MS, Cn11.1.MS)
Discourse
- •
Explore and describe how feelings and messages abou fairness and equality are expressed through various art forms (creative writing, visual art, dance, drama, music) by reflecting on visuals, words, movement, sounds, and stories).
(Re7.1.MS, Re8.1.MS) - •
Participate in respectful discussions about gender roles, stereotypes, adn the importance of treating everyone fairly, regardless of their gender.
(Re9.1.MS, Cn11.1.MS) - •
Communicate their own thoughts, feelings, and developing ideas about Global Goal 5: Gender Equality through creative expression in various artistic mediums.
(Cr3.1.MS)
Attitudes
- •
Develop empathy and understanding towards the experiences of individuals who face unfairness or stereotypes related to their gender, fostering a more compassionate perspective.
(Re8.1.MS, Cn10.1.MS) - •
Begin to challenge gender stereotypes and biases, promoting an inclusive mindset that values the unique talents and contributions of all people.
(Re9.1.Ma, Cn10.1.Ma) - •
Cultivate a strong sense of fairness and respect for all, fostering a personal desire to contribute positively to social change within their communities.
(Cn11.1.MS)
Capacity
- •
Develop critical thinking skills by observing and discussing how different artistic elements (like colors, lines, rhythms, movements, and/or dialogue) can represent challenges and solutions related to gender equality.
(Re9.1.MS, Cn10.1.MS) - •
Practice collaboration and communication skills through engaging in group art projects, shared writing activities, and coordinated movement, drama, or musical performances to tell stories about fairness and equality.
(Cr2.1.MS, Pr5.1.MS) - •
Develop creative expression skills through purposeful experimentation with diverse artistic mediums (visual art, creative writing, dance, drama, music) to communicate their understandings and feelings about gender equality.
(Cr3.1.MS)
Action
- •
Identify simple and age-appropriate actions they can take to promote fairness and respect for all genders in their daily lives within their school and home.
(Pr6.1.MS, Cn11.1.MS) - •
Participate in collaborative artistic projects that creatively express messages of hope and support for gender equality.
(Cr3.1.MS, Pr6.1.MS) - •
Reflect on their personal role in fostering a more just and equitable world for all genders, encouraging a sense of responsible global citizenship.
(Re9.1.MS, Cn11.1.MS)
Empowering youth to become active agents of change in the pursuit of achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls. Recognizing that even small, consistent actions, sparked by their creative explorations, can contribute to a larger global impact.
Taking Action Beyond the Classroom
Here are ways your students can extend their learning and apply their understanding of Global Goal 5 in their wider community and beyond.
Become "Fairness" Storytellers: Choose a favorite piece created in the lessons (e.g., Emotion Spectrum artwork, a line of dialogue from the Words That Spark Change script, the Fairness Flow Dance, etc.). Share with family friends, or local community groups (like a library reading hour, a scout meeting, or a community center). This allows them to use their art to tell a powerful story about why gender equality matters for everyone.
Concrete Action: Aim to share their creative work related to gender equality with at least three people outside of school.
Respect Rules Posters/Campaigns: Inspired by discussions in the creative writing and drama lessons, design posters or short social media messages (with adult permission, if online) promoting respectful language and actions that challenge gender stereotypes in their school or local community. Focus on messages like "Everyone gets a turn," "Girls can do anything boys can do, and boys can do anything girls can do," etc.
Concrete Action: Organize a Respect Rules poster campaign in the classroom or school hallways to promote positive gender equality messages.
Create a Voices for Justice Playlist: Building on the Fairness Playlist activity, curate a new, longer playlist of songs that specifically highlight themes of gender equality, celebrating uniqueness, or standing up to unfairness. Share this playlist with friends or family, explaining why each song is meaningful for Global Goal 5.
Concrete Action: Curate a personal playlist and share it with at least one family member or friend, explaining its connection to Global Goal 5.
Research a Gender Equality Champion: Research a real person (from history or today) who has worked to make things fairer for girls, boys, women, or men, either locally or globally. Write a short paragraph, draw a picture, or create a brief "movement story" (dance) about this person to share with others.
Concrete Action: Research and present (either orally, visually, or through movement) one Gender Equality Champion to the class or family members.
Fair Play Ambassadors/Games: Inspired by the Moving Together for Fairness lesson, become Fair Play Ambassadors during recess or in sports. Actively ensure that games are inclusive, that everyone gets a turn, and that all participants are treated with respect, regardless of gender.
Concrete Action: Commit to being Fair Play Ambassadors during recess for at least one week, focusing on inclusive play.
Benchmarking Progress
A quick view of the official UN targets for this goal paired with the indicators that track global progress. Use these to connect classroom inquiry with real-world data.
Target 5.1
End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.
Indicators
- 5.1.1
Whether or not legal frameworks are in place to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex.
Target 5.2
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.
Indicators
- 5.2.1
Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to physical, sexual, or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by form of violence and by age.
- 5.2.2
Proportion of women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by age and place of occurrence.
Target 5.3
Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.
Indicators
- 5.3.1
Proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in a union before age 15 and before age 18.
- 5.3.2
Proportion of girls and women aged 15-49 years who have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting, by age.
Target 5.4
Recognize 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.
Indicators
- 5.4.1
Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age and location.
Target 5.5
Ensure women's full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.
Indicators
- 5.5.1
Proportion of seats held by women in (a) national parliaments and (b) local governments.
- 5.5.2
Proportion of women in managerial positions.
Target 5.6
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.
Indicators
- 5.6.1
Proportion of women aged 15-49 years who make their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care.
- 5.6.2
Number of countries with laws and regulations that guarantee full and equal access to women and men aged 15 years and older to sexual and reproductive health care, information and education.
Target 5.a
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.
Indicators
- 5.a.1
(a) Proportion of total agricultural population with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land, by sex; and (b) share of women among owners or rights-bearers of agricultural land, by type of tenure.
- 5.a.2
Proportion of countries where the legal framework (including customary law) guarantees women's equal rights to land ownership and/or control.
Target 5.b
Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women.
Indicators
- 5.b.1
Proportion of individuals who own a mobile telephone, by sex.
Target 5.c
Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.
Indicators
- 5.c.1
Proportion of countries with systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women's empowerment.