海外ボランティア募集！大学生・高校生・社会人にオススメ。春休み夏休みも通年開催。

I remember my first year of junior high school when the SDGs goals were introduced to me in class. At the time, I didn’t think much of it. The whiteboard filled itself with an array of colours and as I nodded along with what the teacher was saying. It only hit me a couple of days later how relevant these goals were to society and to me as a part of society. As a class activity, we were asked to focus on and research two goals that appealed to us. Through this research activity I was able to actively see the importance of such goals and how I am inextricably connected to them.

As a young girl, I learnt about an equal rights activist and feminist Emmeline Pankhurst. Pankhurst was a British feminist who founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) and helped women win the right to vote. From this learning experience, a part of me that supported and firmly believed in gender inequality became stronger and stronger. Goal 5, Gender Equality was the first goal I decided to research, in which I found the harsh reality of the prevalent gender inequalities that existed in our society. I seemed to have been content with Emmeline Pankhurst's movement that gave women the right to vote but had been ignorant of the dominant gender stereotypes and discrepancies that still existed. I started to question certain aspects of my life, like ‘Why am I not allowed to raise my voice at the table but my brother is?’ or ‘Why did my dad tell me that being a businessman is a job made for men?’. I started to notice how as a girl, I was treated differently from my peers just because I was a girl. In 2022, Japan ranked 116th out of 146th countries for the Gender Gap Report as the “lowest ranking, by far, among G-7 nations”. Not just in Japan, but in countries, especially developing countries, women face extreme discrimination simply for being a woman and I want to be the one that can speak up for these women. I think it is so significant for society how gender equality is an SDGs goal because it sheds light upon the realities of our society and social constructions that we have created. I like to think that being a woman is a powerful and beautiful image and it hurts to see that in other places, being a woman is a weakness. I wish to see a society where all women are respected not BECAUSE they are women but because they are human just like everyone.

Goal 2, zero hunger is the second goal I researched. I am so grateful and proud to say that I have been privileged enough to receive a healthy diet from my parents in which food has become an easily attainable entity in my daily life. However for 783 million people across the globe, food isn’t as easily attainable. When I heard that 1 in 10 people face chronic hunger I was shocked. In the technologically advanced and modernized world we live in, the least that you could expect is the right to have three meals a day. I started looking for things that I could do as an individual and I found a children’s canteen that provided handmade food for children who aren’t fortunate enough to receive a healthy diet. I realized how important it is for children to maintain a proper diet as the future generation of this society. It made me happy knowing that I had been able to make an impact on children by putting a smile on their faces simply by providing them with a meal. I think that everyone in Japan can agree that food is something that we all need and cannot survive without. Despite this unanimous belief it shocks me to see that there are still millions of people who aren’t allowed access to such entities. Donations of food, money and time can do so much for an impact that I believe everyone ought to do.

At first glance, these SDGs goals look like something that is supposed to be controlled by the government and can only be accomplished by large scale movements but these goals are such goals that can only be achieved by all citizens working together. The 2 goals that I’ve discussed aren’t the only goals that exist but I found that I have a deep connection to them because of who I am. Quality education, sustainable cities and communities are all incredibly important goals that create the prosperous and healthy livelihood that surrounds us as individuals. I hope that in the future, I am able to make a bigger impact and contribution to the accomplishment of the SDGs goals not for just me but all of those in my community.