UN Women Urges Global Action to Achieve Gender Equality

A woman carries humanitarian aid items back to her village in Baluchistan province, Pakistan.

More than 351 million women and girls could still be living in extreme poverty by the end of the decade if current trends continue. The world is retreating from gender equality, with the cost measured in lives, rights, and opportunities. Five years from the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deadline, none of the gender equality targets are on track.

This year’s SDG Gender Snapshot report, launched Monday by UN Women and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, draws on over 100 data sources to track progress across all 17 Goals.

2025 marks three major milestones for women and girls: the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, and the 80th anniversary of the United Nations.

The report warns that urgent action and investment are needed. Female poverty has barely shifted in the past five years, remaining around 10 per cent, with most affected living in sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia.

In 2024 alone, 676 million women and girls lived within reach of deadly conflict—the highest number since the 1990s. War zones increase risks of food insecurity, health crises, and violence. Violence against women and girls remains pervasive, with over one in eight experiencing physical or sexual violence by a partner, nearly one in five young women married before 18, and an estimated four million girls undergoing female genital mutilation annually.

Yet, the report also highlights progress where gender equality is prioritised. Maternal mortality has dropped nearly 40 per cent since 2000, and more girls are completing school than ever before. Sarah Hendriks, Director of Policy at UN Women, noted that childbirth in Zimbabwe in 1997 “was a matter of life and death,” but today the situation has drastically improved.

Technology offers further opportunities. Currently, 70 per cent of men are online versus 65 per cent of women. Bridging this gap could benefit 343.5 million women and girls by 2050, lifting 30 million out of poverty and adding $1.5 trillion to the global economy by 2030.

Sima Bahous, UN Women’s Executive Director, emphasised that targeted investments in gender equality “can transform societies and economies.” Yet backlash against women’s rights, shrinking civic space, and cuts in gender-focused funding threaten these gains.

Without action, women remain underrepresented in data and policymaking, with 25 per cent less gender data available due to funding cuts. Li Junhua, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, warned that accelerated interventions in education, care, the green economy, labour markets, and social protection could lift 110 million women and girls out of extreme poverty by 2050, generating $342 trillion in cumulative economic returns.

Progress remains uneven. Women hold just 27.2 per cent of parliamentary seats, 35.5 per cent in local governments, and only 30 per cent in management roles. At this pace, full parity is nearly a century away.

The report frames 2025 as a moment of reckoning. “Gender equality is not an ideology,” it says. “It is foundational for peace, development, and human rights.”

Ahead of the UN high-level week, UN Women urges governments to invest decisively in women and girls. “Change is absolutely possible, but it requires political will and determined resolve,” Hendriks said.

The report identifies six priority areas for urgent action: digital inclusion, freedom from poverty, zero violence, full decision-making power, peace and security, and climate justice.