SDG 5 – Gender equality
Goal 5 supports the creation of a world in which gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls is achieved and in which all legal, social and economic obstacles are removed. It seeks to end all forms of discrimination and violence in public and private against women and girls around the world.
What we’re doing
We’re all unique. That’s what unites us. What can we really say? We find it truly sad that we still need to have this discussion and say again that in our eyes, all people are equal and we make no differentiation between our male and female employees. Everyone is treated the same—to us it’s only right. Our owner Michaela Reitterer’s eyes light up every time she tells us about how her parents were shining examples for what still are often hollow words: true equality in their relationship, their profession and with their children. Regarding pay, there is no difference whatsoever—we only know about the gender pay gap from stories in the media. We accommodate the wide range of needs that our team has on an individual basis. For some, the regular work hours are important, for others it’s flexibility.
SDG 5 does not say anything explicitly about one particular aspect of equality, which is why we want to take the opportunity to say that every person deserves the same equal rights. Not only among men and women, but also with regard to age, gender, nationality and religion. People of all religious faiths and all sexual orientations are welcome here. That applies to both our team and our guests. If we all looked the same, thought the same, loved and lived the same, that would be pretty boring.
Implementation
SDG 5 comes to life in room 111. Here, we hope to give you pause and make you think about a variety of things we tend to take for granted when it comes to gender roles. When you enter the room, one of the first things you notice is a standing lamp and two mannequins—she lights up the room and he is the clothes valet. The wardrobe has the same amount of compartments for each gender and the couch can be adjusted so that everyone can sit how they’d like. The SDG sign to the rear was made with ceramic hearts to show you how dearly we hold this goal. The coffee table is made from legal textbooks because we feel that equality for women should be embedded into the law in every country around the world. Atop the console table, you’ll find an old pharmacy scale and a bowl with all sorts of knickknacks—male, female and unisex. Use the scale to balance things you find important and try to find a balance between male and female. The images above the pharmacy scale show several couples who embody gender equality for hotel owner Michaela Reitterer, including her parents and her daughter—in her family it was never an issue and as the next generation shows it never will be. The vestibule has a ceiling light made out of a football because in Austria the women’s football team is just as successful as the men’s team. The wardrobe proves that women can be excellent tradespeople and the hamper below proves men are in fact able to do the laundry. In the bathroom, you’ll find a special vanity mirror and an important message across from the toilet, which you can only read if you pee sitting down.
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If you’d like to see what we’ve done for SDG 6 – Clean water and sanitation, click here!
