Report calls on governments to commit to renewed action at general assembly in New York, saying ‘a different path is still possible’
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.
A woman’s chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth is more than a third lower than it was 25 years ago, UN Women said in its annual report, while girls are more likely to complete school than ever before. It also found that rates of intimate partner violence were 2.5 times lower in countries that had introduced comprehensive measures on violence.
But 676 million women and girls lived within 30 miles (50km) of a deadly conflict event in 2024 – the highest number recorded since the 1990s. Women are also more likely than men to be affected by a global increase in food insecurity.
By 2050, under a worst-case climate scenario, up to 158.3 million more women and girls globally may live in extreme poverty (subsisting on less than $2.15 a day) as a result of climate change. Nearly half could be in sub-Saharan Africa.
