Gender equality and sustainable development

Gender equality is intrinsically linked to sustainable development: women represent half the world’s population, yet face systemic deprivations relative to men in all societies.

In Europe and Central Asia, inequalities persist between women and men in access to decent work and income. Women perform more than twice as much unpaid care and domestic work as men, reducing their ability to work for income. On average, the gender gap in labour force participation around 20 percent in the region. Women face multiple challenges as they try to advance their careers, while women earn on average 30 percent less than men. 

In addition, women entrepreneurs encounter more difficulties than men in accessing the finance, credit, skills, technology and networks they need to be successful in employment. To tackle this, the joint UNDP and UNICEF digital platform STEM4ALL has been created to accelerate the representation and leadership of women and girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and increase job security, financial stability and inclusive innovation. 

UNDP works to promote gender equality in sustainable development and economic growth by:

• Implementing programmes aimed at creating jobs for women and men; and supporting their transition to digital-enabled and related jobs;
• Advocating for national legal frameworks and development strategies for women’s economic empowerment;
• Supporting governments and partners in the public and private sectors to recognize, redistribute and reduce women’s unpaid care and domestic work;
• Providing women-led enterprises with grants, business development and mentoring support;
• Supporting research on public policy initiatives to promote gender equality in decent work;
• Proposing measures and policies that promote gender equality in the green economy.
• Creating a multi-sectoral, global community of practice called the STEMinists Network where members can share insights, create spaces for dialogues, learn from one another and find partners for collaboration;
• Providing resources for statistical data, policy briefs, guides and inspirational journeys of women who are breaking down gender barriers in STEM.