A girl standing where her house used to be, which was washed away due to heavy floods in Chawhara, Bangladesh, illustrating goal 13 – climate action. Photograph: Josh Estey/Care International.
If you don’t know where to start with the SDGs, start with women and girls everything else will fall into place,’ said UN Women head Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka recently. These photographs of women and girls all over the world illustrate each of the 17 SDGs. The exhibition was part of last year’s European Week of Action for Girls
Goal 1 – no poverty
Eti is a domestic worker, the most common form of child labour in Bangladesh. She illustrates goal 1 – no poverty. Poverty is multidimensional and goes beyond income poverty. Girls bear the brunt of poverty in many societies: they are often the first in a household to drop out of school, or miss out on food.
Photograph: Ken Hermann/Save the Children
Goal 2 – zero hunger
Eleven-year-old schoolgirl Djeneba peels the corn harvested by her family. She illustrates goal 2 – zero hunger. Women and girls are often excluded from decision making on land and resources critical to their livelihoods and food security. Work on this goal must ensure that women and girls – who are frequently responsible for their family’s smallholdings – benefit equally from all targets, especially from access to land and financial services.
Photograph: World Vision
Goal 3 – good health and wellbeing
A midwife examines a heavily pregnant woman in Myanmar’s Chin State, illustrating goal 3 – good health and wellbeing. This goal has a wide range of areas including: reducing maternal mortality, ending preventable deaths of newborns and children under five, ending and combating diseases such as HIV and malaria, reducing non-communicable diseases, improving treatment of substance abuse, reducing deaths and injuries from traffic accidents, ensuring sexual and reproductive health and rights services and universal health coverage for all.
Photograph: Peter Biro/International Rescue Committee
Goal 4 – quality education
Girls at school in Bihar state, India, illustrating goal 4 – quality education, which recognises the transformative power of inclusive education. It aims to ensure access to free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education for girls and boys and to technical vocational and tertiary education and relevant skills for sustainable development, including literacy and numeracy, for youth and adults. Photograph: Ehtisham Husain/European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development
Goal 5 – gender equality
Photograph: Plan International
Goal 6 – clean water and sanitation
Photograph: Yasmine Sweetlove/2013 Lux-Development
Goal 7 – affordable and clean energy
Photograph: Plan International
Goal 8 – decent work and economic growth
Photograph: Hedinn Halldorsson/Save the Children
Goal 9 – industry, innovation and infrastructure
Photograph: Graeme Robertson/IPPF EN
Goal 10 – reduced inequalities
Photograph: Urjasi Rudra/UN Women
Goal 11 – sustainable cities and communities
Young volunteers at the Family Planning Association of Albania gather at their university residence in Tirana illustrating goal 11 – sustainable cities and communities. This goal is key for girls and women as many face the risk of gender-based violence in and around the cities and settlements they live in on a daily basis. This threat is exacerbated by disasters, lack of safe public transport and street lighting.
Photograph: Layla Aerts/IPPF
Goal 12 – responsible consumption and production
Photograph: Jonathan Torgovnik/Reportage by Getty Images
Goal 13 – climate action
Photograph: Josh Estey/Care International
Goal 14 – life below water
A woman fishes for tilapia in El Salvador as part of a youth economic empowerment programme, illustrating goal 14 – life below water.
Reductions in pollution and controls on overfishing will help girls and women living in the poorest small-scale fishing communities.
There is often a misconception that women do not fish, yet their livelihoods are often linked to small-scale fishing, through coastal fishing and in fish markets.
Photograph: Luis Tobar/Plan International
Goal 15 – life on land
Photograph: Graeme Robertson/IPPF
Goal 16 – peace, justice and strong institutions
Photograph: Noor Khamis/UNDP Somalia
Goal 17 – partnerships for the goals
Photograph: Leo Drumond/Plan International