Abstract
Sustainable development has become a buzzword in all fields and domains. Since the Brundtland Report, several attempts to exactly define the meaning of it appeared, even if not always consensual, inclusive, or convergent. However, SD is a holistic notion, encompassing economic, social, cultural, political, and environmental dimensions. Inclusive development is one of the 17 central elements of the Sustainable Development Goals. It follows the United Nations Development Programme's human development approach and joins in the standards and values of human rights. The chapter aims to reflect on the gender inequality problematic and explore how higher education can have an important role on this ongoing process. After a literature review, a co-creation project in IPCA, Portugal is presented. Conclusion seems to point out that education for entrepreneurship, namely through active learning methodologies, can develop the needed 21st century skills, especially if learned in active entrepreneurial education systems and oriented to reach inclusive sustainable development.
TopIntroduction
Sustainable Development (SD) has become a buzzword in all fields and domains of our daily life (Dieguez, Amador & Porfirio, 2012). Since the Brundtland Report, a publication released in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), several attempts to exactly define the meaning of it appeared, even if not always consensual, inclusive, or convergent (Dieguez, 2018). SD is a core concept within global development policy and agenda (Cerin, 2006; Abubakar, 2017), a development paradigm and a thought that calls for improving living standards without risking the earth’s ecosystems or causing environmental challenges (Browning & Rigolon, 2019; Mensah& Casadevall, 2019). It is a holistic notion, encompassing economic, social, cultural, political, and environmental dimensions (Arts, 2017).
Inclusive Development (ID) is one of the 17th central elements of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), kernel keys of the global United Nations (UN) development agenda for the period 2016–2030. ID follows the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) human development approach and join in the standards and values of human rights: participation, non-discrimination, and accountability (UNDP, 2021). This relation has been long discussed (Fukuda-Parr, 2004; Darrow, 2012; Sen, 2014) and its dynamics are not fully clear (Fedderke & Klitgaard, 2013; Lettinga & van Troost, 2015). Nonetheless, the awareness that human rights’ matter in development efforts is evident (Marks, 2005; Piron & O’Neil, 2016), even if those efforts remain weak in what concerns inequality, discrimination, social exclusion, and marginalization (Arts, 2017). Reports by the UNDP and the annual State of the World’s Children reports by UNICEF encourage critical reflexion to confront inequality - e.g., based on age (Dornan, & Woodhead, 2015), disability (Bukola, 2011; Lord, Raja & Blanck, 2013), ethnicity (UNICEF, 2015), sexual orientation or geography (Adepoju, Gberevbie & Ibhawoh, 2021), and gender (Cornwall & Rivas, 2015) - and pursuing inclusive development (Langford, Sumner & Yamin, 2013).
However, in Social Sciences, the term gender is used to describe the social differentiation between women and men (Weeks, 2000; Santos, 2014). From this perspective, labelling someone as a man or woman, male or female (according to a binary view of gender) is a social decision that is related to our beliefs about gender (Nunes, 2016). Additionally, gender is therefore something that is socially constructed, and its understanding varies over time and according to the historical context in which each person is inserted (Connell, 2002; Alexander, John, Hammond & Lahey, 2021). Transsexuality is still a tabu (Merhi, 2021) and this fact is a strong barrier to achieving the human rights. This is mostly because transsexuality is considered a mental disorder (Divan, Cortez, Smelyanskaya & Keatley, 2016) which means that a sustainable solution is needed.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Gender Equity: Refers to the fairness and justice in the distribution of benefits and responsibilities between women and men. The concept recognizes that women and men have different needs and power, and that these differences should be identified and addressed in a manner that rectifies the imbalance between the sexes.
Gender Equality: Is the absence of discrimination based on a person's sex in opportunities, the allocation of resources and benefits, or access to services.
Sustainable Entrepreneurship: SUSTAINABLE entrepreneurship is a business strategy focused on increasing value for society, the environment and the company or business.
Human Rights: Rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.
Inclusive Development: Development that includes marginalized people, sectors and countries in social, political and economic processes for increased human well-being, social and environmental sustainability, and empowerment. Inclusive development is an adaptive learning process, which responds to change and new risks of exclusion and marginalization.
Sustainable Development: Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Transgender: A person whose gender identity differs from the sex the person had or was identified as having at birth.
Entrepreneurship: It is a way of thinking, reasoning, and acting that is obsessed in opportunity, all-inclusive in method and where leadership is connected to create and retain value.
Culture: Is a social pattern that is heritage within a society. It determines what is important and unimportant, right, and wrong, acceptable, and unacceptable. Culture includes explicit and tacit values, norms, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and assumptions.
Inclusive Growth: Growth that not only creates new economic opportunities, but also one that ensures equal access to the opportunities created for all segments of society, particularly for the poor.