Under the UN Sustainable Development Goal 5, gender equality is not only a fundamental human right but an essential foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. While progress has been made over the past decades, the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030. The social and economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic has made the situation even more dismal. Progress is lagging in many areas, including time spent on unpaid care and domestic work, decision-making regarding sexual and reproductive health, and gender-responsive budgeting. Already poorly funded women’s health services have faced major disruptions. Violence against women remains endemic and despite women’s leadership in responding to COVID-19, they still lag behind men in achieving the decision-making positions they deserve. Accelerating women’s progress requires commitment and bold action, including promoting laws, policies, budgets and institutions that advance gender equality. Greater investment in gender statistics is crucial, as less than half of the data needed to monitor Goal 5 is currently available.
#Facts and figures on achieving gender equality.
With only seven years remaining, only 15.4 percent of Goal 5 indicators with data are “on track”, 61.5 percent are medium distance and 23.1 percent are far or very far from the 2030 target. Progress in many areas has been too slow. At the current rate, it will take an estimated 300 years to end child marriage, 286 years to close gaps in legal protection and remove discriminatory laws, 140 years to ensure equal representation of women in positions of power and leadership in the workplace, and 47 years to achieve equal representation in national parliaments.
Political leadership, investment and comprehensive policy reforms are needed to address systemic barriers to achieving Goal 5. Gender equality is a cross-cutting objective and should be a key focus of national policies, budgets and institutions. At the same time, about 2.4 billion women of working age do not have equal economic opportunities. Globally, about 2.4 billion women do not have the same economic rights as men. 178 countries have legal barriers that prevent women’s full economic participation. Globally, about 2.4 billion women do not have the same economic rights as men. In the year 2019, one in five women aged 20-24 years was married before the age of 18. Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Violence against Children