On Monday 28th November 2022, on the occasion of the CDP Group’s Multistakeholder Forum 2022, we had the opportunity to hear the speech by Anita Bhatia, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women.

During the slot dedicated to “ESG Talk | Sustainability between genders and generations”, the Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, explored the theme of Govenance as a fundamental dimension for verifying, measuring, controlling and supporting the commitment in terms of sustainability of a company or an organization.

Bhatia underlined how goal number 5 of the SDGs, aimed at gender equality, is indispensable for sustainable development and that to achieve this goal three different fronts must be taken into consideration: the social, the economic and the environmental one.

The role of women in each specific field is fundamental and the common goal must be the removal of the various obstacles that can stand in the way of putting these principles into practice.

Bhatia’s speech pointed out how disheartening it is to find that after having covered almost half of the road envisaged by the UN Agenda 2030, it is absolutely clear that we are not respecting the programmes, indeed the data indicate that there is a reversal of progress.

This consideration was the link to signal how there is a need to implement more courageous actions which must be supported by concrete funding suitable for carrying out each specific programme.

Monday’s speech also represented an opportunity to point out that the glass ceiling remains intact. Close to 1 managers/supervisors every 3 is a woman. At the current pace of change, parity will not be achieved for another 140 years.

It was also recalled that only 26% of Countries have comprehensive systems to track gender- budget allocations. That funding for gender equality is not keeping pace with global challenges and, above all, is not counteract the setbacks that women’s human rights are experiencing, so dramatically, all around us, as evidenced by the Gender Snapshot Report.

Stimulating global collaboration and investment in the gender equality program must become the challenge and priority for all Governments, so as to make up for some lost time through concrete actions to be financed with national and international investments coordinated in harmony with the Paris Agreements.

If, as it was defined in antiquity, time is measured in the change of things; time seems to have stopped and it’s not exactly a good feeling.

Focus on SDGs 5 – Gender Equity & Gender Snapshot Report