• Introduction
• No Poverty
• Zero Hunger
• Good Health
• Quality Education
• Gender Equality
• Clean Water
• Decent Work
• Reduced Inequalities
• Responsible Consumption
• Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
• Partnerships for the Goals

Goal 5 seeks to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls ensuring women are given equal access and rights to land, property, sexual and reproductive health, and technology. The goal aims to provide women and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes.

• End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.
• Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.
• Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation
• Recognise and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies, and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate.
• Eliminating gender disparities in education and ensuring equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.
• Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision making in political, economic and public life.
• Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.

 

Discrimination against women is a global issue. Women experience biases based on their gender in every country of the world. In Pakistan, gender discrimination is rampant in both rural and urban areas. The status of women is not considered equal to that of men in Pakistani culture, and gender equality gaps are striking.

The Salvation Army in Pakistan is concerned about this issue and wants to promote gender equality throughout the country. In 2019 a gender equality training manual was developed and published to help Salvation Army personnel hold faith-based facilitated conversations in local communities about the importance of gender equality and what can be done to bridge the gender gap. Salvation Army personnel throughout the country have been trained to hold these sessions, and gender equality conversations have been conducted in Salvation Army centres throughout Pakistan, with positive feedback. The initative has become an important part of The Salvation Army’s work in Pakistan and conversations have been held with local women, men and teenagers in rural and urban communities.

The facilitation process has allowed people to participate and share their views and thinking on gender discrimination issues in the light of faith. Their ideas and views are valued during the group discussions in order to encourage everyone to take the responsibility to reduce the negative effects of issues on women’s and girl’s lives. These exercises help people to think and plan to take account of the issue. The facilitation team listens to ideas, shares resources, and the helps the group as they decide and plan what they can do toward reducing gender discrimination.

The intended outcome is to bring about a change in attitudes and behaviours, especially in men and boys, of women and girls, to help women recognise their rights, to challenge stereotypes, and to lead to women and girls being treated equally in opportunities, education, and access to health services, careers and decision making.

It is estimated that out of all the underage youth who are commercially sexually exploited in the United States, 70 percent have spent time in the foster care system. To help empower and celebrate the strength of girls in foster care, The Salvation Army USA has partnered with Brave Global. Through messages of hope, identity, empowerment and worth, the programme desires to remind girls on the margins how God sees them, their bravery, and how they are actually part of the solution. The strategy is to connect and empower youth in the hope of stopping exploitation and to be a preventative step, working with girls to impact their lives before traffickers do.

The programme starts with a catalytic one-day event for conversation and connection for girls ages 12–18 in the foster care system. This event is designed to remind the girls that they are valuable and lovable, and to encourage them to dream big dreams for what their futures can be. The programme creates a safe space for youth to grow by building a bridge between the local church, local government, and not-for-profit agencies. After the event, participants join a group of other girls who will be mentored in intentional ways by someone who desires to show them that life can be different than what they have known.

The goal of Brave is for churches and non-profits from all over the area to come together to remind girls who are or have been in foster care that they are worth celebrating. The hope is that this event will change a generation and to change the statistics for girls who end up in the sex industry and for girls who have babies too young, and to encourage girls to become whatever they are meant to be. Brave aims to become a global campaign that invites God’s people to reach out to the most vulnerable girls with a message of empowerment in every community across the Western world.

 

The Salvation Army provides International Positional Statements on contemporary moral and social issues, approved by the General on advice from the International Moral and Social issues Council (IMASIC).  A positional statement is an articulation, crafted with careful and prayerful thought, of the official viewpoint of The Salvation Army. As well as stating the position, each document expresses the scriptural and theological grounds for the statement and the underlying principles as well as background and context on the issue and practical responses.

In 2019 The Salvation Army released an International Positional Statement on Sexism. The statement reads:

Sexism is discrimination based on sex or gender, most often against women and girls and is increasingly understood as a fundamental human rights issue.

Sexism often includes a combination of prejudice plus power. It is expressed through systemic, structured prejudice and cultural discrimination and can be present in a family, communities of faith, and societal and national cultures.

The Salvation Army believes that both male and female are made in the image of God and are equal in value and therefore is opposed to sexism. We reject any view that subordinates women to men, or men to women.

The Salvation Army believes that our world is enhanced by equitably valuing, equipping and mobilising all human beings. While valuing gender equity, The Salvation Army acknowledges with regret that Salvationists have sometimes conformed to societal and organisational norms that perpetuate sexism. We are committed to model the equitable valuing, equipping and mobilising of men and women, and will speak into societies around the world where sexism exists."

COVID-19 Response

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could reverse the limited progress that has been made on gender equality and women’s rights. The coronavirus outbreak exacerbates existing inequalities for women and girls across every sphere – from health and the economy to security and social protection. 

Women play a disproportionate role in responding to the virus, including as frontline healthcare workers and carers at home. Women’s unpaid care work has increased significantly as a result of school closures and the increased needs of older people. Women are also harder hit by the economic impacts of COVID-19, as they disproportionately work in insecure labour markets. Nearly 60 per cent of women work in the informal economy, which puts them at greater risk of falling into poverty. 

The pandemic has also led to a steep increase in violence against women and girls.  With lockdown measures in place, many women are trapped at home with their abusers, struggling to access services that are suffering from cuts and restrictions.

The Salvation Army is responding to the needs of women worldwide during the pandemic. In the United Kingdom, mindful of the potential for increased levels of relationship breakdown brought about by the stresses of the continuing lockdown, The Salvation Army is promoting a free online marriage course. In Madagascar a new project seeks to improve nutrition for pregnant women, nursing mothers and orphaned children – some of the most at-risk groups.

Our Commitment

“The Salvation Army is committed to SDG 5, which has served as the North Star for the Gender Equity Taskforce of The Salvation Army, guiding us upon our journey, challenging us to keep going, and reminding us that we have not arrived yet. SDG 5 has been instrumental in the development of Gender Equity Key Domains for The Salvation Army, which will now be discussed, agreed upon and actioned. A commitment to SDG 5 not only empowers women and girls, it also strengthens organisations by embracing and utilising a tremendous deep reserve of untapped gifting.”

 

Commissioner (Dr) Mark Tillsley, PhD., International Secretary for the Americas & Caribbean Zone
Co-Chair of the International Salvation Army Gender Equity Taskforce