SDG 5 – Gender equality

Many advantages through equal participation

Inequality between men and women is still deeply embedded in societies. While progress has been made, disasters and crises such as climate change, pandemics or armed conflicts and increasing right-wing populism in many countries continue to set back the goals that have been achieved and pose new challenges to gender equality commitments. The targets for very few of the 18 SDG 5 indicators have been achieved or nearly achieved to date, with only around 20% of them "on track". Whether it is a question of access to decent work, gender-specific differences in employment and pay, access to digital and other future technologies, basic economic protections or access to political and economic decision-making structures – women are generally worse off. According to the latest “Global Gender Gap” report, it will take another 134 years to close the gender gap at the current rate.

Amplified by the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic or patriarchal regimes with traditional role models, many women and girls experience limited access to healthcare services and education. The same applies to financial services. As a result, women often lack opportunities to earn a living independently and they remain dependent on their family or are exploited. If young women marry early – most recently 640 million girls under the age of 18 worldwide – and fall pregnant early, they lack the time for education and employment. Violence against women also rises – and not only in armed conflicts. Women's knowledge and experience, e. g. with regard to the impacts of climate change or biodiversity, are often ignored. In addition, discriminatory laws exclude women from societal decisions, political participation and from land and inheritance rights. On average, women worldwide spend 2.5 times three times as much time on unpaid work, such as bringing up children or caring for the sick and elderly, i.e. so-called “care work”, as men. This leads to time poverty as well as lower income and, if available, to lower pension payments as a result.

All this, while gender equality between women and men is a human right. It is a prerequisite for sustainable development and contributes to significantly improving quality of life for all people. A fair and inclusive society, a sustainable and successful economy and a forward-looking approach to the environment can only be attained if women and girls are included. The empowerment of women also has a multiplier effect: while women spend about 90% of their income on the health, education and nutrition of their families, men spend only about 30 - 40%.

The advancement of gender equality and strengthening of women’s rights are therefore a priority for international and German development policy and a core aspect of the 2030 Agenda. The BMZ is committed to the realisation of human rights and the equal participation of all people in social, political and economic life – regardless of gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, skin colour, disability or other characteristics.

While SDG 5 focuses exclusively on gender equality and empowering women, another 45 sub-goals and 54 indicators include gender equality as a key factor for the overall sustainability agenda.

With its projects, KfW is committed to gender equality and the strengthening of women's rights and marginalised groups worldwide, thereby helping to implement the 2030 Agenda.

For KfW, the promotion of gender equality is a crosscutting topic in all sectors. In all projects, KfW takes care to consider the opportunities and risks with regard to gender equality in every project step – from planning, project design and implementation to the operational phase and ex post evaluation. It is about doing justice to the varying circumstances, interests and potentials of women, men and LGBTIQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual and Intersex) people. In projects to promote income and employment, for example, business models and infrastructure are designed to address the gender-specific potential and challenges of both male and female entrepreneurs and trainees, e.g. in a vocational training center in Senegal.

In many countries, women have fewer opportunities than men to take part in societal debates, gain access to resources and make self-determined decisions for themselves or their family. This is why KfW provides targeted support to enable women’s participation and to empower women. Innovative projects in the context of climate adaptation measures in Bangladesh, for example, empower women as decision-makers in local communities so that the needs of women and girls are taken into account in the design of measures and discriminatory gender norms are dismantled.

In the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), KfW supports projects for self-determined family planning in Côte d'Ivoire and HIV prevention in South Africa on behalf of the BMZ. Almost half of married or partnered women worldwide have no decision-making power over their sexual and reproductive health and rights. Access to sexuality education and information, contraceptives and health services that enable professional care as well as safe pregnancies and births is what enables women and girls to make self-determined decisions about their lives in the first place. In addition, equal access to education in particular lays the foundation for women and girls to develop their skills and lead an economically independent life. On behalf of the BMZ, KfW therefore supports scholarship programs such as "Wings-to-Fly" in Kenya, which enable girls in particular to complete school and receive vocational training.

Women are less likely than men to have access to financial services and have less basic financial education. If women have their own bank accounts and can access credit more easily, they can set up companies, offer services or invest in education. This enables them to earn an income of their own and achieve greater financial independence. KfW therefore supports funds in the area of gender lens investing, among others. The funds of the non-profit organisation Women's World Banking (WWB), for example, improve access to financial services for women and at the same time increase their share of employment in financial institutions.

With the Agenda 2030, the global community has set out to overcome all forms of gender-based violence in the public and private sphere. Nevertheless, it is estimated that one in three women suffer physical or sexualised violence at least once in their lives, more than 230 million girls and women are affected by female genital mutilation (FGM), and one in five women is being married before her 18th birthday. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic alone is expected to result in 10 million additional forced marriages of underage girls by 2030.

KfW is committed to ending such practices and combating violence against women. It also supports projects that offer professional help to survivors of gender-based violence and thus contribute to breaking the spiral of violence, e.g. in Ethiopia, which is suffering from civil war.

In 2024, many projects of KfW Development Bank contributed to achieving SDG 5. With around EUR 392 million, gender equality was strengthened as the main goal. In addition, numerous projects with a total financial volume of over EUR 5.4 billion promoted gender equality as an important secondary goal. By 2025, more than 90% of the BMZ's newly committed project funds are to be allocated to projects that contribute to gender equality.

KfW thus supports its partners in strengthening women's rights and gender equality worldwide.

Person at the sewing machine in a textile factory, in the background others at work.

More security for female employees

Textiles from Bangladesh dominate the world market, partly because they are particularly cheap. So far, this has often been at the expense of occupational safety and the environment. KfW has participated in a European financial consortium that provides loans for social and ecological improvements in textile companies. Women in particular benefit from this.

Portrait von Vorstandsmitglied der KfW Christiane Laibach

Aids Prevention in South Africa

Women and girls in South Africa are disproportionately affected by HIV, partly due to economic and socio-cultural structures that disadvantage women and often expose them to sexualised violence. Many of them are no longer prepared to accept this and are taking their lives into their own hands. The "Bumb'ingomso" programme supports them in this.

Financial Inclusion

Finance is not just for men

When education offers wings to fly

Laying the foundation for reconciliation

The gender dimension of hunger

Women in KfW projects

Whether as an employee in the laboratory of a Georgian sewage treatment plant, a teacher in a newly built school in Maputo, a scholarship holder in a Kenyan secondary school or an entrepreneur who uses a loan to set up a confectionery company and creates jobs - in the picture gallery you will get to know very different women who all benefit from KfW projects.