The role of strategic communication in gender equality activism and collective action: illustrating the need for SDG18

Civil society organizations are recognized as contributing to the efficiency and stability of democratic governments. Strategic communication is also a determining factor for social mobilization in the achievement of legitimacy and participatory and democratic adhesion. What unites activists is the common goal of achieving social and political change for the societies of the future. However, several areas of strategic communication, namely public relations, have long failed to recognize activism-related activities as an integral part of discipline and practice. The ability of public relations to influence human behavior through communication is recognized. That is why this area has a role to play in the communication strategies of activists defending human rights and sustainable development. In the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, this role would be better understood and debated if SDG18 (Communication for All) were included in the 2030 Agenda itself. In this chapter I resort to a case study built on an ethnographic approach (between January and June 2021) to UMAR, a feminist NGO based in Portugal, and the consultation of 12 communication experts to illustrate the areas where public relations and activism intersect and to show how these intersections could be better understood and debated if SDG18 were included in the 2030 Agenda.