March 05, 2025 01:41 am (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
9 civilians die as suicide bombers crash 2 explosive-laden cars into Pakistani army compound | Hyderabad techie dies by suicide after 6 months of wedding, family alleges dowry harrasment by husband | India defeat Australia by 4 wickets to book a spot in Champions Trophy finals | Maharashtra minister resigns amid outrage over sarpanch's brutal murder in Beed | Haryana Congress worker murder: Video emerges showing accused dragging suitcase with Himani Narwal's body inside it | Supreme Court slams 'oversmart' Samay Raina for making fun of proceedings in Canada, asks him to 'behave' | Indian woman facing death row in UAE for killing a child has been executed: Foreign ministry tells court | Crucial to have Trump’s support, says Zelenskyy a day after fiery White House exchange | 'We're looking for peace, Zelenskyy wants Russia-Ukraine war to continue': Donald Trump after White House public spat | Volodymyr Zelenskyy refuses to apologise to Donald Trump after public spat over Russia-Ukraine war
Gender Gap
Image: WFP/Alessandro Abbonizio

Gender gap persists on road to the SDGs: UN Women

| @indiablooms | Sep 08, 2023, at 11:15 pm

The world is falling worryingly short in terms of closing the gender gap as part of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) warned UN Women on Thursday.

The new Gender Snapshot report from the UN’s gender equality agency at this midway point towards the SDGs warns that if current trends continue, over 340 million women and girls will be living in poverty by 2030.

That represents eight per cent of the female population worldwide.

Close to one in four will experience moderate or severe food insecurity and at the current rate of progress, the next generation of women will still be spending 2.3 more hours per day on unpaid care and domestic work than men.

UN Women’s report also notes that the gender gap in power and leadership positions “remains entrenched”.

Tweet URL

‘Call to action’

Sarah Hendriks, the agency’s acting Deputy Executive Director described it as “a resounding call to action.

“We must collectively and intentionally act now to course-correct for a world where every woman and girl has equal rights, opportunities, and representation. To achieve this, we need unwavering commitment, innovative solutions, and collaboration across all sectors and stakeholders.”

The report provides comprehensive analysis on gender factors across all 17 SDGs, in light of the ambitious goal of achieving true equality.

It includes sex-disaggregated data on the intersections of gender and climate change for the first time. It projects that by mid-century, under a worst-case climate scenario, climate change may push up to 158.3 million more women and girls into poverty.

That’s 16 million more than the figure for men and boys.

Unequal struggle

The report also finds that older women face higher rates of poverty and violence than older men.

In 28 of the 116 countries with data, fewer than half of older women have a pension.

Halfway to 2030, progress on SDG 5 - gender equality - is clearly way off track. The report shows that the world is simply failing women and girls with only two Goal 5 indicators “close to target” and no indicator at the “target met or almost met” level.

In money terms, it suggests that an extra $360 billion per year in needed to achieve equality and women’s empowerment across key goals.

‘Foundation of a fair society’

“Gender equality is not just a goal within the 2030 Agenda,” said Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, who heads up Policy Coordination at the UN’s economic and social affairs department, DESA.

“It is the very foundation of a fair society, and a goal upon which all other goals must stand.

“By breaking down the barriers that have hindered the full participation of women and girls in every aspect of society, we unleash the untapped potential that can drive progress and prosperity for all.”

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.