Gender equality is not merely a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable earth.

At that place has been progress over the last decades: More girls are going to school, fewer girls are forced into early marriage, more than women are serving in parliament and positions of leadership, and laws are being reformed to advance gender equality.

Despite these gains, many challenges remain: discriminatory laws and social norms remain pervasive, women continue to exist underrepresented at all levels of political leadership, and 1 in five women and girls betwixt the ages of fifteen and 49 report experiencing physical or sexual violence past an intimate partner within a 12-month flow.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could reverse the limited progress that has been made on gender equality and women's rights. The coronavirus outbreak exacerbates existing inequalities for women and girls a cross every sphere – from health and the economic system, to security and social protection.

Women play a disproportionate role in responding to the virus, including as frontline healthcare workers and carers at home. Women's unpaid care work has increased significantly as a effect of school closures and the increased needs of older people. Women are also harder striking past the economic impacts of COVID-19, as they disproportionately work in insecure labour markets. Nearly 60 per cent of women work in the informal economy, which puts them at greater run a risk of falling into poverty.

The pandemic has also led to a steep increase in violence against women and girls . With lockdown measures in place, many women are trapped at home with their abusers, struggling to access services that are suffering from cuts and restrictions. Emerging data shows that, since the outbreak of the pandemic, violence confronting women and girls – and specially domestic violence – has intensified.

COVID-19 response

"Limited gains in gender equality and women's rights made over the decades are in danger of being rolled back due to the COVID-nineteen pandemic," the UN Secretarial assistant-General said in Apr 2020, urging  governments to put women and girls at the center of their recovery efforts.

Women are not simply the hardest hit by this pandemic, they are also the backbone of recovery in communities. Putting women and girls at the eye of economies will fundamentally drive better and more than sustainable development outcomes for all, support a more than rapid recovery, and place the world back on a footing to attain the Sustainable Development Goals.

Every COVID-nineteen response plans, and every recovery package and budgeting of resource, needs to address the gender impacts of this pandemic . This means: (1) including women and women'south organizations in COVID-19 response planning and determination-making; (2) transforming the inequities of unpaid care piece of work into a new, inclusive intendance economic system that works for anybody; and (three) designing socio-economic plans with an intentional focus on the lives and futures of women and girls.

UN Women has developed a rapid and targeted response to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on women and girls and to ensure that the long-term recovery benefits them, focused on v priorities:

  1. Gender-based violence, including domestic violence, is mitigated and reduced
  2. Social protection and economical stimulus packages serve women and girls
  3. People support and practise equal sharing of care work
  4. Women and girls atomic number 82 and participate in COVID-xix response planning and decision-making
  5. Information and coordination mechanisms include gender perspectives

The COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity for radical, positive action to redress long-standing inequalities in multiple areas of women's lives, and build a more just and resilient world.

  • Goal five targets

  • Links

  • Globally, 750 million women and girls were married before the age of 18 and at least 200 million women and girls in thirty countries take undergone FGM.
  • The rates of girls between fifteen-19 who are subjected to FGM (female person genital mutilation) in the 30 countries where the practice is concentrated take dropped from 1 in 2 girls in 2000 to one in 3 girls by 2017.
  • In xviii countries , husbands can legally preclude their wives from working; in 39 countries, daughters and sons do not accept equal inheritance rights; and 49 countries lack laws protecting women from domestic violence.
  • One in v women and girls , including xix per cent of women and girls aged 15 to 49, take experienced physical and/or sexual violence past an intimate partner within the last 12 months. Still, 49 countries accept no laws that specifically protect women from such violence.
  • While women take made of import inroads into political role across the world, their representation in national parliaments at 23.7 per cent is withal far from parity.
  • In 46 countries , women at present agree more than xxx per cent of seats in national parliament in at to the lowest degree one chamber.
  • Merely 52 per cent of women married or in a union freely make their own decisions about sexual relations, contraceptive use and wellness care.
  • Globally, women are merely 13 per cent of agronomical state holders.
  • Women in Northern Africa hold less than one in five paid jobs in the non-agronomical sector. The proportion of women in paid employment outside the agriculture sector has increased from 35 per cent in 1990 to 41 per cent in 2015.
  • More than 100 countries accept taken activity to track budget allocations for gender equality.
  • In Southern Asia, a girl's risk of marrying in childhood has dropped past over 40per cent since 2000.

  • Goal 5 targets

5.1 Stop all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere

5.2 Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and individual spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation

v.3 Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced spousal relationship and female genital mutilation

5.4 Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate

v.5 Ensure women's full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decisionmaking in political, economical and public life

5.6 Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights equally agreed in accordance with the Programme of Activity of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Activity and the outcome documents of their review conferences

v.A Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resource, every bit well as admission to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, fiscal services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws

five.B Enhance the utilize of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women

v.C Prefer and strengthen audio policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels

  • Links

spThe European Union (EU) and the Un (UN) are embarking on a new, global, multi-yr initiative focused on eliminating all forms of violence confronting women and girls (VAWG) – the Spotlight Initiative.

The Initiative is so named as it brings focused attention to this effect, moving it into the spotlight and placing information technology at the centre of efforts to achieve gender equality and women's empowerment, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

An initial investment in the social club of EUR 500 meg will exist fabricated, with the EU as the main correspondent. Other donors and partners will exist invited to bring together the Initiative to broaden its reach and scope. The modality for the commitment will exist a UN multi- stakeholder trust fund, administered by the Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office, with the support of core agencies UNDP, UNFPA and UN Women, and overseen by the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General.

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