SDG 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
Economic development builds on infrastructure — the roads, bridges and facilities that allow businesses to operate and people to obtain essential services. Infrastructure needs to be sustainable in its construction and use — including through environmentally sound technologies — and resilient to future risks.
All elements of planning, building and financing must take gender dimensions into account, so that women have facilities and services essential to their needs and rights.
For many countries, particularly those less developed, shifting from agriculture and towards industry is the route to better-paying jobs and higher standards of living. New and existing industries must pursue sustainable paths, including through innovation and upgraded technology.
Investments in research and development will be key, but most researchers are still men — women account for only 25 per cent in more advanced Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries . Similarly, the construction, manufacturing and energy businesses, with few women employees and decision-makers, fall far short of gender balance. From the factory floor to the high-tech lab, women must have equal opportunities in building a shared, sustainable future.
Supporting women to become entrepreneurs through microfinance in Central America and the Caribbean
A UN Women partnership with the Central American and Caribbean Microfinance Network aims to boost the economic empowerment of women in the region through access to credit, training and a mentoring system to help share best practices.
Women shine at Jordan’s Fifth National Technology Parade
At an annual parade celebrates women in Jordan’s Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector, many of its participants came from a UN women-supported programme to bridge the digital gender divide.
 UNIDO (2013), Sustainable Energy For All: The gender dimensions, p. 11.