Translating the SDG Commitments into Reality: Time Use Data for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in the Global South

It was a great moment when all 193 member countries of United Nations adopted the Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. Although it does not seem to be feasible to achieve all the goals by 2030, it is enough at this stage that countries understand the dynamics of the factors operating behind the poor status of the development today and adopt a new development paradigm that has the capacity to reach the SDGs sooner or later. Fortunately, the documents and reports prepared under the SDGs by the UN provide enough material to help countries to develop such a paradigm as well as they give enough flexibility and autonomy to countries for this purpose. The article argues that most countries today are moving on a development path that is far from conducive to the achievement of the SDGs including gender equality and women’s empowerment. Countries have to develop a new development path to reach these goals. The article also highlights the centrality of gender equality in the achievement of the SDGs by discussing the different areas of the SDGs. Finally, the article recommends some building blocks of an alternative development path that has gender equality and women’s empowerment build in it.