The UN’s SDG 5 gender equality: decolonizing gender, a case study of the Inuit people in Canada

Abstract

This dissertation provides a critical analysis of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 concerning gender equality. Using the Inuit peoples of Canada as a case study, it explores how traditional Inuit worldviews conceptualize gender as being fluid, relational, and culturally embedded. The work employs an interdisciplinary framework rooted in decolonial approaches, Indigenous studies, and critical gender theory to analyze how colonial systems disrupted Inuit gender frameworks and imposed rigid hierarchies that continue to shape contemporary social and economic structures. The imposition of these rigid gender norms has not only erased diverse Indigenous gender identities, but has also contributed to the contemporary crisis of gender-based violence. This crisis is marked by disproportionately high rates of femicide and domestic abuse against Indigenous women and gender-diverse individuals. While SDG 5 aims to eliminate gender-based inequalities, its implementation often reflects a Western, binary conception of gender that fails to engage with Indigenous epistemologies and lived realities. This study explores the potential of SDG 5, in its present state, to perpetuate colonial paradigms through the promotion of a universal and Western-centric concept of gender equality, masked by the guise of sustainable development.