UN Report Reveals Global Regression in Women’s Rights

A recent UN Women report indicates that women’s rights have weakened in a quarter of all countries, driven by factors like climate change and democratic backsliding.

The report, released on March 6, highlights that while female representation in parliaments has more than doubled since the 1995 World Conference on Women, men still make up approximately 75% of parliamentarians. The number of women receiving social protection benefits rose by a third from 2010 to 2023; however, two billion women and girls still lack such protections.

Gender employment gaps remain stagnant, with only 63% of women aged 25 to 54 in paid employment compared to 92% of men in the same age group. The report also points to the COVID-19 pandemic, global conflicts, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence as new threats to gender equality.

Conflict-related sexual violence has surged by 50% over the past decade, with 95% of victims being children or young women. In 2023, 612 million women lived within 50 kilometers of armed conflict, a 54% increase since 2010. Additionally, over half of women in 12 countries in Europe and Central Asia reported experiencing online gender-based violence.

To combat these issues, the report proposes a multi-part roadmap that includes equitable access to technology, climate justice measures, poverty reduction investments, increased public participation, and efforts to combat gendered violence.