Continuous Assessment of Sustainable Development Goal 5 in South African Context

Abstract

Varied cultures and customs have varied perspectives on gender roles. As a result, issues pertaining to gender disparity could also vary. Nonetheless, a typical gender-related connection is that women are expected to conform to patriarchal norms, stifled, and discouraged from advancing professionally. The study investigates several facets of gender inequality in South Africa. Information is gathered from official reports of Gender Links, the Commission for Gender Equality, the Public Service Commission, Acts, online publications, journal articles, books, and other sources pertaining to gender issues. Document analysis is used to evaluate the data. The findings show that challenges to achieve gender equality as part of sustainable development goal (SDG) 5 are social norms, economic and political factors, gender-based violence (GBV), to state a few. The challenges to implement SDG 5 are associated with lack of coordinated evidence-based monitoring and evaluation and poor forensic capacity for GBV that is part of target SDG 5.2; high unemployment and economic exclusion of women, related to targets SDG 5.1 & 5.5; lack of Care Infrastructure-Increased Unpaid Care and Domestic Work for women, linking to target SDG 5.4; and the Secondary Victimisation Loop that is target SDG 5.2. The article offers suggestions to improve the gender equality environment as a contribution to the disciplines of Public Management and Gender Studies.