The episode opens with an overview of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and how they have been ambitiously built to create a universal and performative plan of action under the framework of the five Ps (people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership). The core concept of “leave no one behind” is what drives the 2030 Agenda, and, as Laura Rahm clearly explains throughout the discussion, it is also what ties the SDGs with gender mainstreaming, the strategic approach of integrating gender perspectives into all levels of policy making and implementation. Unfortunately, even with gender equality as a stand-alone goal and gender mainstreaming as a cross-cutting approach throughout all the goals, measurable progress in this sense still remains elusive.
This aspect brought the discussion towards another pressing issue: the framework on which the SDGs are founded, namely international human rights, is under attack. As Equity, Diversity and Inclusion programmes are increasingly being weaponised globally and, given the many complex nuances at play, Rahm reflects on whether this framework still exists or makes sense as it is. “The International human rights pantheon is still very much there, but the picture in it is either fading or being deliberately redrawn”. She walks us through the heart of this contestation, explaining how the language of human rights, once a synonym for progress, is now being challenged, with the instrumentalisation of gender at its core serving as a cunning political strategy reshaping the international human rights frame.
However, she does not leave us hopeless; instead, she highlights alternative sources we could and should turn to in order to reclaim and, more importantly, reshape the narrative and critically reimagine the broader picture.
Below is a list of our guests’ recommendations to further delve into the themes of feminist resistance and strategies to reclaim the narrative:
- 'On Freedom', book by Timothy D. Snyder (2024)
- 'Papicha', film by Mounia Meddour (2019)
- 'Terracotta Daughters', artworks by Prune Nourry (2012-2030)
Listen to the episode on:
YouTube or MixCloud.
Episode details:
Host: Giuseppe Zago, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the EUI
Guest: Laura Rahm, Jean Monnet Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies and an Associate Researcher at the Centre for Population and Development in Paris.
This initiative was produced in collaboration with the EUI's researcher-led web radio, Radio Cavolo. Do you have a question about the podcast? Drop a line to [email protected].