UNIVERSITY TEACHERS' DIFFICULTIES IN ADVANCING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS: LEVEL 5 GENDER EQUALITY AT THE UNIVERSITY LEVEL

Abstract

Even though Pakistan has ratified the UN's 2030 Agenda, it is still impossible to apply Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality) to higher education. The current study examined the structural, sociocultural, and pedagogical obstacles that higher education instructors must overcome in order to attain gender equality in educational settings. A sample of 160 faculty members (N=160) from both public and private universities in Lahore participated in the quantitative, cross-sectional survey. The results also revealed a negative correlation: teachers reported higher levels of professional self-efficacy and pedagogical competence in gender issues because families had high levels of knowledge and experience with these issues (M=4.10), but the biggest obstacles were the families' fear of retaliation (M=4.39). Although there was no rigorous guidance adhering to the gender protection policy, it was generally observed that institutional support was beneficial in terms of professional development. Although the outcome was not statistically significant enough (p=.023), the comparison analysis revealed a statistically significant difference between pedagogical problems. The findings demonstrated that private sector educators experienced fewer operational difficulties than public sector educators. The study suggests that the greatest obstacle to achieving SDG 5 is not a lack of teacher competency but rather a lack of strong institutional security structures to overcome sociocultural resistance. The recommendations include modernizing the pedagogical support mechanisms in public universities and developing apparent teacher protection processes by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).