What is gained when university leadership revisits and recommits to equality considering the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development

  1. Idoia Begoña Fernández Fernández 1
  2. Estíbaliz Saéz de Cámara Oleaga 1
  3. Leire Imaz Zubiaur 1
  1. 1 Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea
    info

    Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea

    Lejona, España

    ROR https://ror.org/000xsnr85

Journal:
Feminismo/s
  1. Merma Molina, Gladys (coord.)
  2. Urrea Solano, María Encarnación (coord.)
  3. Gavilán Martín, Diego (coord.)

ISSN: 1696-8166 1989-9998

Year of publication: 2024

Issue Title: The Sustainable Development Goals from a gender equality perspective

Issue: 43

Pages: 245-272

Type: Article

DOI: 10.14198/FEM.2024.43.10 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openDialnet editor

More publications in: Feminismo/s

Sustainable development goals

Abstract

In 2015, all United Nations Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an ambitious initiative that aims to confront society’s biggest challenges in a decisive and coordinated fashion. One such challenge is set out in SDG 5, achieving gender equality. Following the adoption of the 2023 Agenda, many higher education institutions have implemented strategies to make tangible progress towards this goal. To that end, universities have been drawing on their previous work in gender equality (in addition to other areas such as climate change, inclusivity, and quality education), constituting a solid foundation for embarking on this new path. However, the 2030 Agenda mandates that the challenges affecting people and the planet be viewed in an integrated manner and that social, economic, and environmental aspects interact in unprecedented ways, underscoring the fact that continuing with previous policies is not sufficient; instead, we need to aim higher and devise more integrated and interrelated ways that will ultimately be more effective. In this paper, we analyse how the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) has tackled these challenges at the policy level, and we report the steps the university has taken to place gender equality in a broader framework of sustainable development as an integrated whole. The new approach reworked the university’s educational model, led by the Vice-Rector’s Office of Innovation and Social Commitment, Sustainability and Equality Office. The new model has been taken up throughout the university and guides the institution for specific policies, plans and programmes in Education for Sustainable Development. We describe the initiatives with the most significant relevance for SDG 5 and the results for the last five academic years (2017-2021). The results show that significant progress is possible if appropriate and converging instruments are deployed, and efforts are sustained over time and supported by ongoing and rigorous monitoring of the results.

Bibliographic References

  • Asadikia, A., Rajabifard, A., & Kalantari, M. (2020). Systematic prioritisation of SDGs: Machine learning approach. World Development, 140, 105269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105269
  • Avelar, A. B., da Silva-Oliveira, K. D., & da Silva Pereira, R. (2019). Education for advancing the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals: A systematic approach. The International Journal of Management Education, 17(3), 100322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2019.100322
  • Dirección para la Igualdad de la UPV/EHU. (2009). I Plan de igualdad de Mujeres y Hombres de la UPV/EHU (2010-2013). https://www.ehu.eus/es/web/berdintasuna-direccionparalaigualdad/berdintasun-plana
  • Dirección para la Igualdad de la UPV/EHU. (2014). II Plan de igualdad de Mujeres y Hombres de la UPV/EHU (2014-2017). https://www.ehu.eus/es/web/berdintasuna-direccionparalaigualdad/berdintasun-plana-2014-2017
  • Dirección para la Igualdad de la UPV/EHU. (2017). Akademe. Programa para el liderazgo de las mujeres académicas. https://www.ehu.eus/es/web/berdintasuna-direccionparalaigualdad/akademe
  • Dirección para la Igualdad de la UPV/EHU. (2018). Protocol to prevent gender-based violence. https://www.ehu.eus/documents/2007376/9945919/Protocolo -UPV-EHU- cont r a- l a s -v iol enci a s -de-genero.pdf /c2c299d3-c2da-8707-d8ad-dca5cbc1e015?t=1543407042000
  • Dirección para la Igualdad de la UPV/EHU. (2019). III Plan de igualdad de Mujeres y Hombres de la UPV/EHU (2019-2022). https://www.ehu.eus/es/web/berdintasuna-direccionparalaigualdad/berdintasun-plana-2019-2022
  • Dirección para la Sostenibilidad de la UPV/EHU. (2018). Programa Campus Bizia Lab. https://www.ehu.eus/en/web/iraunkortasuna/campus-bizia-lab
  • Dugarova, E. (2018). Gender equality as an accelerator for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. UN Women. https://www.undp.org/publications/gender-equality-accelerator-achieving-sdgs/
  • Fernández, I., & Palomares, T. (2010). ¿Cómo desarrollar un currículum universitario en la sociedad del conocimiento? IKD, un modelo de desarrollo curricular en la Universidad del País Vasco. Desarrollo curricular de las nuevas titulaciones de grado. Servicio Editorial de la UPV/EHU. https://addi.ehu.es/handle/10810/12367
  • Fia, M., Ghasemzadeh, K., & Paletta, A. (2023). How higher education institutions walk their talk on the 2030 Agenda: A systematic literature review. Higher Education Policy, 36, 599-632. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-022-00277-x
  • Gobierno de España. (2020). Reconocimientos Premios Menina Euskadi. Delegación del Gobierno en la Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco. https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZxqfRXZ9ETfQHBzChRnHvfxtrkUi7bwoTXX
  • Gobierno Vasco. (2020). Guía práctica para organizaciones vascas. ¿Cómo implementar la Agenda 2030 y contribuir a los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible? Euskadi 2030 Gunea. https://bideoak2.euskadi.eus/2020/11/24/news_65067/GU%C3%8DA_PR%C3%81CTICA_PARA_ORGANIZACIONES_VASCAS.pdf
  • Griebeler, J.S., Londero Brandli, L., Lange Salvia, A., Leal-Filho, W., & Reginatto, G. (2022). Sustainable Development Goals: A framework for deploying indicators for higher education institutions. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 23(4), 887-914. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-03-2021-0088
  • Jara, Y. (2018, April, 10). Más de la mitad de las universidades públicas españolas registran casos de acoso. Pikara Magazine. https://www.pikaramagazine.com/2018/04/mas-de-la-mitad-de-las-universidades-publicas-espanolas-registran-casos-de-acoso/
  • Leal-Filho, W., Kovaleva, M., Tsani, S., Țîrcă, D. M., Shiel, C., Pimenta, M. A., Nicolau, M., Sima, B., Fritzen, B., Lange, A., Minhas, A., Kozlova, V., Doni, F., Spiteri, J., Gupta, T., Wakunuma, K., Sharma, M., Barbir, J., Shulla, K.,…Thipathi, S. (2022). Promoting gender equality across the Sustainable Development Goals. Environment, Development and Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02656-1
  • Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura–UNESCO. (2021). World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development. Berlin Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000381228
  • Red Española para el Desarrollo Sostenible-REDS. (2020a). Cómo Evaluar los ODS en las Universidades. 2020. https://reds-sdsn.es/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Gui%CC%81a-COMO-EVALUAR-ODS-2020-AAFF.pdf
  • Red Española para el Desarrollo Sostenible-REDS. (2020b). Implementando la Agenda 2030 en la Universidad. Casos Inspiradores. https://reds-sdsn.es/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Dosier-REDS_Casos-ODS-Univ-2020_web.pdf
  • Sáez de Cámara, E., Fernández, I., & Castillo-Eguskitza, N. (2021). A Holistic approach to integrate and evaluate sustainable development in higher education. The case study of the University of the Basque Country. Sustainability, 13, 392. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010392
  • Strachan, S., Logan, L., Willison, D., Bain, R., Roberts, J., Mitchell, I., & Yarr, R. (2021). Reflections on developing a collaborative multi-disciplinary approach to embedding education for sustainable development into higher education curricula. Emerald Open Research, 3(24). https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.14303.1
  • Sustainable Development Solutions Network– SDSN Australia/Pacific (2017). Getting started with the SDGs in universities: A guide for universities, higher education institutions, and the academic sector. Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Edition. Sustainable Development Solutions Network – Australia/Pacific, Melbourne.
  • United Nations. (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. UN. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
  • United Nations. (1975). World Conference of the International Women’s Year. UN. https://www.un.org/en/conferences/women/mexico-city1975
  • United Nations. (1979). Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). UN. https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/
  • United Nations. (1995). Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. UN. https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/pdf/BDPfA%20E.pdf
  • United Nations. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld
  • United Nations Sustainable Development. (2020). Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/
  • University of the Basque Country. (2019a). EHUagenda 2030 for sustainable development. https://www.ehu.eus/documents/4736101/11938005/EHUAgenda-2030-ENG.pdf/487b2c83-51e1-d0e2-dcd1-af419b2b5c26
  • University of the Basque Country. (2019b). UPV/EHU Panel of Sustainable Development Indicators. https://www.ehu.eus/documents/4736101/11938005/EHUagenda2030-Panel-of-indicators.pdf/40e28e80-4e8b-421c-66e7-6ec589c573d1