- Title
- Reading between the Sustainable Development Goals: interpretations, gender equality and post-development alternatives in Bangladesh
- Creator
- Islam, Sabrina
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2021
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, proclaim to promote sustainable development through equitable progress in the environmental, social, and economic elements of society across the globe. Despite the ambitious framework, critics have identified contradictions between the goals and inconsistencies in the means of implementation. This research explores to what extent major civil society, grassroots, and public sector actors are mindful of the limitations of the global framework by examining their perceptions of the status of development as directed under the SDGs in Bangladesh, a country making inequitable progress in recent years. Criticisms of the SDGs considered in this study fall under two categories: (1) moderate critiques that include (i) weak accountability and monitoring systems and (ii) inadequate funding support; and (2) radical critiques that incorporate (i) compliance with corporate capitalism and neoliberal policies and (ii) feminist critiques. At the core of the SDGs is the achievement of sustainability, which is strongly correlated to gender equality and women’s empowerment as the root causes of gender inequality are also drivers of unsustainable development. Linked to gender inequality is the challenge of intersectionality and therefore the need to address those gender groups marginalised due to intersecting identities. The three research questions of this study address the actors’ perceptions of the SDGs, more particularly concerning their contradictions and capacities to: (1) achieve their proclaimed goals in the context of the neoliberalised economy; (2) to address gender equality and women’s empowerment from an intersectional point of view; and (3) to facilitate a transition beyond developmentalism, from some actors’ post-developmentalist perspectives. To answer these questions, a qualitative research methodology was employed with purposive and snowballing sampling techniques engaged to recruit participants for semi-structured interviews and/or focus group discussions. The participants were categorised into five groups which were international NGOs (secular and faith-based), local NGOs, government organisations, UN organisations, and groups and communities advocating for alternative models aligned with post-development ideologies. The data indicated that representatives from secular international NGOs and groups promoting alternative models had the most critical understanding of the contradictions of the SDGs and were more sceptical of the agenda’s potential in advancing gender equality. The post-development alternative perspectives and practices were often self-sufficient with eco-friendly ways of production and consumption, and their matriarchal cultures promoted a fairer distribution of work between men and women both inside and outside of the household. Therefore, these provide more effective ways to address sustainable development and gender equality and women’s empowerment compared to the SDGs. These perspectives are also valuable in evaluating the SDG agenda more profoundly from outside their theoretical and ideological frameworks.
- Subject
- Sustainable Development Goals; SDG 5; gender equality and women’s empowerment; post-development; Bangladesh
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1440242
- Identifier
- uon:41108
- Rights
- Copyright 2021 Sabrina Islam
- Language
- eng
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Goal 5: Gender Equality
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 354 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |