The Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), in collaboration with the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Education Section, held a virtual workshop, focusing on UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 on the 8th of June 2021. The workshop was intended to bring together early-career researchers from all around the world interested in establishing connections to colleagues in their field.
The Special Envoy which was invited as the main speaker delved into the questions that were targeted at gender equality and the WPS agenda. Some of the key areas the SE gave in-depth analysis were on the value of multilateral cooperation in addressing gender equality, the role young researchers can play across borders and the globe to address the issues of gender equality, and her call to action for the next generation of researchers interested in gender equality.
In the interventions of the SE, she addressed the issues of gender biases that undermine the social fabric and deny women equal rights. The SE emphasized the need to pay attention to women within households as grassroots level policies are often designed without taking into account women, who are then invisible further leading to the persistent and increasing level of poverty and the need to adequately cost and recognize women’s contribution, especially non-monetary contributions. She pointed out that many of the successes gained on Gender Equality have been driven by local women, many of whom have very limited formal education, and urged young researchers to seek to develop intellectual humility and be willing to work with partitioners on the field to bring solutions to gender equality. She urged the researchers to seek genuine allyship with women researchers in the global south and encourage development research and teachings from the developed world towards universities and institutions in the south that reinforces the fundamental importance that of gender-based perspectives.
