16 Days of Activism – Spirit Perspective
Gabe Richards
What are the barriers you face in achieving your goals in terms of gender equality?
I’ve been in the fortunate position to be raised, led and mentored by a number of incredibly strong, passionate, wise, powerful women and men. They have always worked to open doors and build my character to a place that I feel comfortable calling out injustice and inequality. It is our duty to continue to provide and fight for opportunities for all.
Which of the 17 global goals is most important to you?
Number nine – Innovation and Infrastructure. I think that innovation is all sectors, be it energy, transport, industry, irrigation, as well as information and communication technologies that will help lead to progress in a number of the other 17 global goals. It’s the goal of continuous improvement to help build a more sustainable, responsible, equal world.
Why do you think gender equality is important in achieving that goal?
Innovation and creativity know no gender. If we want to advance and succeed, we need the best people possible leading the charge. I look forward to a future where there aren’t “female” leaders. There will just be leaders.
Kara Tessari
What are the barriers you face in achieving your goals in terms of gender equality?
A massive barrier we face as professional women athletes is an extremely low income in comparison. The amount of time and effort put into improving ourselves and our team as well as in many cases trying to support a family or even just ourselves makes it extremely difficult and almost impossible to do. There have been many times where I have questioned giving it all in because of financial concerns. Trying to achieve our goals and having that weight over our shoulders makes it incredibly challenging.
Which of the 17 global goals is most important to you? Why do you think gender equality is important in achieving that goal?
There are many global goals that this relates to and it is a big fear of mine. It is happening now and also concerns me for the future… the cost of living is going up dramatically but our wages aren’t and poverty will increase because of this. Which evidently will cause so many more issues relating to the global goals.
There are many industries that possibly we don’t know about where women are not getting equal rights whether that be how much they get paid or even just general everyday treatment. If we all work together and treat everyone the same these global goals will become a lot easier to achieve and it’s so important that we wake up and just do it, together.
Becca Tobin
What are the barriers you face in achieving your goals in terms of gender equality?
The barriers I face in achieving my goal in terms of gender equality is gender roles and stereotypes. I think people are so focused on gender roles and stereotypes it’s hard to get equal opportunities for both genders. Society and media force us to think based on our gender we can only do certain jobs. So kids get these ideas put in their heads at an early age and want to stick to the norm of what society says. So if we eliminate these gender stereotypes and roles this will open many doors for both genders to peruse a career in whatever field they please.
Which of the 17 global goals is most important to you? Why do you think gender equality is important in achieving that goal?
Out of the 17 global goals number 4- Quality Education is the most important to me. I think gender equality is important in achieving this goal because if we are giving a quality education it will help us break society’s norms of gender roles and stereotypes. Also, when having a quality education it will give us more opportunities to get the job of our dreams.
Please click here to see full list of global goals, as presented on the Global Goals website. This will include a full explanation and ways that you can get involved!
Photo Courtesy of Craig Dilks Photography