The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. The 17 Goals are all interconnected, and in order to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve them all by 2030.
Homeward Bound specifically contributes to Goal #4: Quality Education and Goal #5: Gender Equality.
Homeward Bound’s purpose is to elevate the visibility of women leading with a STEMM (science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine) background for the greater good. Our focus is on building the leadership capability to act individually and in concert towards a sustainable future for all. We contribute to this goal by building a global network of women who are supported with a common leadership development journey (leadership, visibility, science, strategy and wellness), all owning the principle that we are stronger together, focusing on having an impact at an individual, collaborative and collective level.
A global faculty of experts donate the design and delivery of content, and the coaching of all women involved.
We seek to directly address the inequality evident in women leading globally and contributing to decisions that affect us all.
We believe the shared learning journey and the subsequent networking, with a focus on common good, creates a safe, supportive, visionary community who have the skill and will to act for many of the Global Sustainability Goals, including, but not limited to: sustainability including life below water, life on land, climate action, responsible consumption and production, sustainable cities and communities, affordable and clean energy, clean water and sanitation and good health and wellbeing.
From the United Nations:
“Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. There has been progress over the last decades, but the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030.
Women and girls represent half of the world’s population and therefore also half of its potential. But gender inequality persists everywhere and stagnates social progress.
On average, women in the labor market still earn 23 percent less than men globally and women spend about three times as many hours in unpaid domestic and care work as men.
Sexual violence and exploitation, the unequal division of unpaid care and domestic work, and discrimination in public office, all remain huge barriers. All these areas of inequality have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic: there has been a surge in reports of sexual violence, women have taken on more care work due to school closures, and 70% of health and social workers globally are women.
At the current rate, it will take an estimated 300 years to end child marriage, 286 years to close gaps in legal protection and remove discriminatory laws, 140 years for women to be represented equally in positions of power and leadership in the workplace, and 47 years to achieve equal representation in national parliaments.
Political leadership, investments and comprehensive policy reforms are needed to dismantle systemic barriers to achieving Goal 5 Gender equality is a cross-cutting objective and must be a key focus of national policies, budgets and institutions.”
(UN.org. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/)