By Lee Hall
Part 5 of a Series
Sustainable Development Goals: They’re a major topic on social media. But if humans want to be sustainable, we’ve got to get serious. We must divest from customs and businesses that treat animal life as commodities. This blog entry is the fourth in a series, as we look at each of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The fifth goal is “Gender Equality.”
What thwarts gender equality? Obstacles to education and healthcare. Arranged marriages and segregated professions. Rules demeaning the relationships of gay or gender-expanding people. Forcing anyone to serve those perched on a higher rung of a socially constructed ladder.
And through selective breeding we force nonhuman animals to occupy a low rung on that same ladder.
A holistic understanding of respect that encompasses all living, feeling beings could help allow “gender equality” to develop.
Lee Hall is a member of the Speaker’s Bureau of the American Vegan Society. Lee’s entry on “Nonhuman Rights and Human Sustainability” appears in the Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Springer). Lee holds a Master’s degree in environmental law with a focus on climate change from Vermont Law School, and has taught environmental law at the University level.
