Progress to achieve gender equality by 2030 – the 5th Sustainable Development Goal – has stalled. The pandemic set back gains that had been made toward equality, and gender disparities remain entrenched in labor-force participation, unpaid care work, and access to essential services. Nearly one in five young women is married before the age of 18, and more than 245 million women and girls experience physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner each year (United Nations, 2023).
Yet the scale of the problem should not obscure the fact that some interventions do work, and they may not always require complex programming or large budgets.
Interventions that address the root causes of gender-discriminatory practices tend to have more lasting impact than those focused on surface-level issues. Take the case of child marriage – an illegal but still highly prevalent practice in some parts of the world. In lower-income households, economic hardship often drives families to marry off daughters, either because girls are seen as financial burdens or because marriage can bring a “bride price” in some cultures that eases household strain (Corno & Voena, 2021).
However, recent evidence offers hope. A review of 11 high-quality interventions and evaluations found that programs that provided an economic incentive for children to remain in school, such as cash transfers conditioned on school attendance or payment of school fees, resulted in reduced incidence of child marriage as well as an increase in age at marriage. Furthermore, recent data shows notable progress in South Asia, where the rate of child marriage among girls has fallen from nearly 50 per cent to under 30 per cent. (UNICEF, 2024). Policies and programs must address the intersectional nature of child marriage, which is linked to long-term consequences like lower educational attainment, reduced use of preventive health care, diminished bargaining power in the household, and increased risk of physical abuse and domestic violence (Chari et al., 2017).
As with child marriage, addressing intimate partner violence (IPV) requires tackling the structural and economic factors that limit women’s autonomy. Programs that strengthen women’s economic position have shown encouraging results. A recent systematic review of 19 randomized controlled trials found that economic empowerment interventions targeting women — such as cash transfers, vocational training, and access to credit — can significantly reduce their risk of experiencing physical, sexual, and emotional violence. These findings are based on women’s self-reported experiences, highlighting the potential of such interventions to reduce their exposure to IPV.
But the evidence also offers a cautionary note. When these programs shift household power dynamics without addressing underlying gender norms, they can sometimes lead to increased violence. In contrast, programs that coupled economic empowerment with deliberate efforts to shift gender norms — through dialogue groups or partner engagement — tended to achieve more consistent and lasting outcomes. This finding reinforces a key lesson: when tackling IPV, addressing power dynamics directly matters as much as addressing women’ economic empowerment.
This insight extends beyond households into the public sphere. Increasing women’s representation in political leadership is another way to challenge entrenched power structures – and research resonates with this claim. A literature review found that an increase in female political representation led to improved provision of public goods, especially with regard to education and health. For example, a randomized policy experiment found a notably higher number of drinking water projects by women-led panchayats in India as compared to those led by men. Another study found that female representation in Norwegian politics influenced specific policy choices and parliamentary deliberations, such as increased support for childcare initiatives.
Advancing gender equality is not only a moral imperative but a strategic one. Progress on SDG 5 is foundational to achieving the broader Sustainable Development Goals, as it intersects with nearly every dimension of development, shaping outcomes in health, education, economic opportunity, and peace. The evidence is clear: achieving gender equality requires bold, intersectional solutions and coordinated action across sectors to ensure that all people, regardless of their gender, can reach their full potential.
For more such insights synthesizing high-quality evidence on the progress related to SDG 5 and other Global Goals, visit 3ie’s Development Evidence Portal.
We delve deep into insights on several other goals as part of our SDG blog series. You can read them below:
- Reaching SDG 3: Promoting immunizations can safeguard children from preventable diseases and death
- Reaching SDG 15: Evidence shows how to protect land ecosystems by leveraging communities
- Reaching SDG 16: A long way to go to promote peace, but we know some tools are effective
- The systems challenge behind ending hunger: Why SDG 2 requires more than food
- Reaching SDG 7: Sustainable energy for all is a complex goal. Evidence about how to get there is uneven
Comments
We have seen that sometimes just highlighting the contribution of the women to the family's income helps to change the power dynamics in a positive way among a married couple. We work with home based weavers who weave fabrics for us. When we did a time and motion study of the work done by our weavers, we realised that the women in the family spends a significant amount of time to put yarn on bobbins which is then used by her husband to weave the fabric. So now when we work out the weaving charges, we are factoring in the labour put in by the women of the family. Since paying her directly was not an option due to issues like shifting of onus from weaver for any defects etc, we have increased the weaving charges payable to the weaver and made it a point to sit across with him and his wife and explain to both why there was a hike in the rate . We have observed that many weavers now accord more respect to the contribution of their wives to their income as now it has a quantifiable amount. Also the fact that we pointed out the importance and quantum of the woman's contribution has helped many see it in that context. Earlier probably it was taken for granted.
Thank you so much for sharing this powerful example. It’s encouraging to see how simply recognizing and quantifying women’s contributions can shift household dynamics and enhance appreciation for their role. By assigning economic value to women’s labor and fostering shared understanding within families, your approach reflects what we highlighted in the blog—that practical, context-sensitive solutions can meaningfully empower women without the need for complex programming.
Good insight!!