Originally published by Ray Chambers on LinkedIn: The Incredible Benefits of True Gender Equality

I have committed the last fifteen years of my life joining forces with leading global health partners to tackle some of the world’s most pressing health issues. Under the United Nations’ previous Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and now under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there have been many valuable lessons learned on how best to achieve substantive change. One of the most valuable lessons I have learned is that those most vulnerable are often key to achieving transformative progress. Among the most catalytic for driving positive change are women and girls.

According to the World Health Organization, women tend to spend more on the health, education and welfare of the household, and to save more. In sub-Saharan Africa, which bears the highest burden of malaria, we have seen how the leadership of women is key to prevention and treatment interventions. Women, specifically mothers, are often the primary caregivers in their families and communities. They ensure that children sleep under insecticide-treated mosquito nets to prevent infection, and when those do fall ill, ensure that a proper diagnosis and treatment regimen are obtained. The amazing progress made in the fight against malaria, particularly the reduction of malaria deaths in African children by 70%, could not have been possible without the leadership of women and mothers.

Beyond the individual-level, progress in global health is also being driven by women at the leadership level. The work of women leading the world’s development agencies and governments, such as UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed; Oby Ezekwesili, and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia; Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka of UN Women; Joy Phumaphi of the African Leader’s Malaria Alliance; and Melinda Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has made all the difference. I would also like to applaud Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, for recognizing the need for increased levels of female representation at the highest levels of global health leadership, and for appointing a majority female leadership team last year.

In conflict resolution and peace building efforts, themes highly correlated with public health outcomes, women are also key to catalyzing change. Women community leaders have been central to mobilizing many of the world’s most successful peace efforts, and evidence indicates that peace settlements with female involvement tend to be more durable than those negotiated solely by men. The 2003 Rwandan Constitution included a quota providing for 30% reserved seats for women in all decision making bodies. In 2008, the 30% quota was met, and women currently hold 56% of the legislative seats. Now, a country previously in crisis is presiding over more peaceful prosperity. Imagine how fundamentally different the world would be if we had more female leaders, from local community leaders to the highest levels of government?

This June, under the leadership of Canada’s G7 Presidency, gender equality will be a central theme of the G7 agenda. With the clear and distinct leadership that Prime Minister Trudeau has shown with respect to gender equality, the world has a unique opportunity to truly execute and achieve SDG 5 – gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls.

To ensure that this work is implemented with deliberate haste, the leaders of the G7 should consider adopting a series of time-bound, quantifiable goals for achievement by 2030 (following the lead of UN Women’s “Planet 50-50”), more specifically including:

· Half of all nations in the world should be led by women;

· Half of all Fortune 500 companies should have CEOs who are female;

· Half of all Fortune 500 boards of directors should be comprised of women.

Benchmark achievements leading up to 2030 should help steer these efforts to ensure we are on the path to success (e.g. 25% of the leadership of nations and companies being women by the year 2020, and 33% by 2025). To support attainment of these goals, additional factors should be supported and promoted, including:

· Half of all high school graduates globally should be girls;

· Half of all college graduates should be girls;

· Half of all economic opportunities, management positions, and promotions in employment positions in the world should be offered to women.

The time is ripe to drive forward progress in gender equality, and support all women and girls in achieving their full potential. The groundswell of global movements shining a light on gender equality (e.g. Women Deliver, Vital Voices) and the opportunity provided by Canada’s G7 platform, prove that now is the time to make good on our promise to see the potential of all women and girls fully realized. The state of our humanity depends on it.