Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but also a vital foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. Despite progress over the past few decades, the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030.
Women and girls represent half of the world’s population and therefore half of its potential, yet gender inequality persists everywhere, stalling social progress.
On average, women still earn 23% less than men in the labour market globally, and women spend almost three times as much time as men on unpaid domestic and care work.
Sexual violence and exploitation, the unequal division of unpaid care and domestic work, and discrimination in public employment all remain major barriers. All of these areas of inequality have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic: reports of sexual violence have skyrocketed, school closures have led women to take on more caregiving roles, and 70% of health and social workers worldwide are women.
At the current pace, it will take an estimated 300 years to end child marriage, 286 years to close gaps in legal protections and repeal discriminatory laws, 140 years to achieve equal representation of women in positions of power and leadership in the workplace, and 47 years to achieve equal representation in parliaments.
Political leadership, investment and comprehensive policy reforms are needed to remove the structural barriers to achieving Goal 5. Gender equality is a cross-cutting goal and must become a primary focus of national policies, budgets and institutions.
International efforts to advance gender equality have led to improvements in some areas. Child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) have declined in recent years, and women are more represented in political arenas than ever before. But the promise of a world in which all women and girls enjoy full gender equality and in which all legal, social and economic barriers to their empowerment have been removed remains unfulfilled. Indeed, with women and girls hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic, that goal is perhaps even more distant than before.
Yes. Globally, nearly half of married women have no control over decisions about their sexual and reproductive health and rights. 35% of women aged 15-49 have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner or non-partner sexual violence. In 30 countries in Africa and the Middle East, one in three girls aged 15-19 has experienced some form of female genital mutilation/circumcision. In these countries, the harmful practice is the most common, increasing the risk of prolonged bleeding, infections (including HIV), childbirth complications, infertility and death.
This type of violence not only harms individual women and girls, but it also undermines their overall quality of life and prevents them from actively participating in society.
Gender equality is a fundamental human right wherever we live. Promoting gender equality is important in all areas of a healthy society, from reducing poverty to promoting the health, education, protection and well-being of girls and boys.
Girls can stay in school, empower their female classmates to do the same, and fight for their right to sexual and reproductive health services. Women can address the unconscious biases and implicit associations that serve as unintended and often invisible barriers to equal opportunity.
If you are a man or boy, you can work with women and girls to achieve gender equality and build healthy, respectful relationships.
We can fund education campaigns to curb cultural practices like female genital mutilation and change harmful laws that limit the rights of women and girls and prevent them from reaching their full potential.
The Spotlight Initiative is an EU-UN partnership, a multi-year global initiative focused on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls. It is the world’s largest targeted effort to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls.
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