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Women's rights are under attack 30 years after leaders adopted a blueprint for equality, UN says

Published: 07 Mar. 2025, 11:19

People take part in a rally to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Nov. 25, 2024. [Xinhua/YONHAP]

Thirty years after world leaders adopted a historic blueprint to achieve gender equality, a new United Nations report says women’s and girls’ rights are under attack and gender discrimination remains deeply embedded in economies and societies.

The report released Thursday by the UN agency focused on women’s rights and gender equality found that nearly one-quarter of governments worldwide reported a backlash to women’s rights last year.

The number of countries reporting a backlash is likely underreported and reflects “an increasingly hostile environment,” UN Women’s policy and program director Sarah Hendriks said at a news conference.

“It is not a new phenomenon,” she said. “What is new is that it’s gaining in greater speed and scale and velocity,” especially in very patriarchal and traditional nations where men play a dominant role.

The 35 countries reporting a backlash on gender equality came from across the globe and include Spain, Germany, Canada, Netherlands, Philippines, Brazil, Peru, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Australia, Mongolia, South Africa, Mali and Zimbabwe.

Despite some progress, including on girls’ education and access to family planning, UN Women said a woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes by a partner or family member and that cases of conflict-related sexual violence have increased by 50 percent since 2022. The report, released ahead of International Women’s Day on Saturday, also noted that only 87 countries have ever been led by a woman.

“Globally, women’s human rights are under attack,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement. “Instead of mainstreaming equal rights, we’re seeing the mainstreaming of misogyny.”

He said the world must stand firm “in making human rights, equality and empowerment a reality for all women and girls, for everyone, everywhere.”

The 189 countries that attended a 1995 Beijing women’s conference adopted a landmark declaration and 150-page platform for action to achieve gender equality, calling for bold action in 12 areas, including combating poverty and gender-based violence and putting women at top levels in business, government and at peacemaking tables.

It also said for the first time in a UN document that human rights include the right of women to control and decide “on matters relating to their sexuality, including their sexual and reproductive health, free of discrimination, coercion and violence.”

In the new review, which includes contributions from 159 countries, UN Women said countries have taken many steps forward on gender equality and women’s rights in the past five years but that such rights still are facing growing threats worldwide.

On the positive side, the report said some 88 percent of countries have passed laws to combat violence against women and established services to help victims in the past five years. Most countries have banned workplace discrimination, and 44 percent are improving the quality of education and training for girls and women, it said.

Yet gender discrimination is deeply embedded, with wide gaps in power and resources that restrain women’s rights, the report said.

“The weakening of democratic institutions has gone hand in hand with backlash on gender equality,” UN Women said.

It warned that “antirights actors are actively undermining longstanding consensus on key women’s rights issues” and seeking to block or slow legal and policy gains they can’t roll back.

Women flash the victory sign on Dec. 8, 2024 in Berlin, Germany, as members of the Syrian community celebrate the end of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad's rule after rebel fighters took control of the Syrian capital Damascus overnight. [AFP/YONHAP]

UN Women said almost 25 percent of countries reported that backlash on gender equality is hampering the implementation of the Beijing platform.

According to the report, women have only 64 percent of the legal rights of men, and while the proportion of female lawmakers has more than doubled since 1995, three-quarters of lawmakers are still men.

UN Women also said women aged 15 to 24 lag behind other age groups in access to modern family planning; maternal mortality ratios have remained almost unchanged since 2015, and 10 percent of women and girls live in extremely poor households.

The UN agency said cases of conflict-related sexual violence have increased 50 percent since 2022 — and women and girls are victims of 95 percent of these crimes.

UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous said that based on the report’s findings, the agency has adopted a road map to bring the world closer to the UN goal of achieving gender equality by 2030.

It calls for a digital revolution ensuring equal access to technology for all women and girls; investments in social protections, including universal health care and quality education to lift them out of poverty; and zero violence against girls and women. The road map also includes equal decision-making power for women and financing for “gender-responsive humanitarian aid” in conflicts and crises.

AP