Hard-won progress on women's access to healthcare, rights and employment is being put at risk from global conflict, cuts to aid spending, and a backlash against gender equality, according to a UN equality watchdog.
UN Women's annual report, released ahead of the UN general assembly, found that a woman's chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth is more than a third lower than 25 years ago, and girls are more likely to complete school than ever before. However, 676 million women and girls lived within 30 miles of a deadly conflict event in 2024, the highest number since the 1990s, and women are disproportionately affected by rising food insecurity.
The proportion of women and girls living in extreme poverty has stagnated at 10% since 2020, and on current trends more than 351 million will remain in that status by 2030. Under a worst-case climate scenario, up to 158.3 million more women and girls could fall into extreme poverty by 2050, nearly half in sub-Saharan Africa.
Sarah Hendriks, director of UN Women's policy division, said that while systems focusing on women and girls show progress, the snapshot reveals both stagnation and regression. She contrasted $2.7tn in annual military spending with the $420bn needed to advance gender equality, calling the latter 'a drop in the bucket'.
The digital gender divide sees 70% of men globally using the internet compared with 65% of women, but addressing this could lift 30 million women and girls out of poverty by 2050 and generate a $1.5tn boost to global GDP by 2030, the report calculates.
UN Women has called on governments to commit to renewed action at the UN general assembly in New York, with over 80 countries submitting ambitious pledges. 'We can choose a world where women's rights are delivered at scale,' Hendriks said.
