Financial Mail Women

WOMEN DRIVING THE UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Each year, this magazine offers a moment to pause, reflect and reimagine the future through the eyes and experiences of women. This year, we turn our attention to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ask: how should women play a part in reaching these global ambitions in ways that ensure consistent, deliberate action to deliver real, lasting change?

The SDGs aim to address some of the world’s most urgent challenges – poverty, inequality, education, climate action – but progress will remain patchy unless women are not only included, but also empowered to lead. Research and lived experience show that when women are active decision-makers and equal partners in policy, business and community, development outcomes improve. Yet, too often, women are invited to the table merely to ‑fill a quota, not to shape the agenda. In South Africa, we have seen gains: more women in boardrooms, parliament, science and entrepreneurship. However, we must push beyond representation. True transformation demands that we value what women bring because of their difference, not despite it. It’s encouraging to witness a growing wave of women defining success on their terms. This edition is ‑ filled with stories of leaders who prioritise empathy alongside efficiency, those who are swapping traditional corporate roles for running their own businesses that speak to their values and retirees stepping up instead of stepping back. This shift signals something powerful: a rejection of outdated expectations and a new confidence in womanhood itself that is multidimensional, self-assured and collaborative. What we need now is greater momentum. Collaboration across sectors, genders and generations. More women in leadership, yes, but also more inclusive systems that support them to thrive. We must build economies and policies that reflect the realities of women’s lives, not just the metrics of progress.

This edition of FM Women profiles South Africans who are not only making their mark, but also lifting others as they rise. Their stories are proof that applying a gender lens is not an add-on, but the lens through which a more equitable, sustainable world can be built. Let us continue to champion real change – not performative gestures, but purposeful action. Women aren’t just part of the solution. We are the drivers of it.

Lindi Botha, Editor