The Sustainable Development Goal 16 is to "promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels." The target of SDG 16 is to significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere and, End abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and all forms of violence against and torture of children.
All women need to be able to turn to fair, effective institutions to access justice and essential services. Without these, instability and injustice spread, and discrimination is perpetuated. In both developing and developed countries, however, a variety of institutions continue to fail women and girls, especially through impunity for gender-based violence. The COVID-19 emergency has seen a surged in SGBV cases around women and in Asia, The Americas and Sub-Sahara Africa. But also, evidence has shown how women leaders across the world have effectively handled the pandemic threats from frontline healthworkers, caregivers, advisers to farmers and market women.
This doesn't deny the reality that almost half of all women victims of discrimination and SGBV
where conflict strikes, men are more likely to die on battlefields, but a disproportionate share of women will be targeted for sexual violence, among other violations, and homicide rates among women typically rise. Even though the gender dimensions of conflict are increasingly well documented, along with women’s wide-ranging contributions to peace processes, women remain poorly represented in formal mechanisms for negotiating and sustaining peace.
More broadly, whether in global, regional, or national governance, women tend to be underrepresented in the governance of institutions. This is discriminatory, but it also entrenches gender disparities, during times of emergencies and peace, as women’s voices go unheard in decision-making. The current COVID-19 pandemic has challenged world leaders and national government as to how women's voices have been overlooked by autocratic regimes and removed out of critical decision-making processes.
The time is now, to broaden the conversation around peacebuilding and women's participation especially for uneducated and illietrate women.
