UN Women report: Gender equality in the 2030 Agenda

UN Women launched a report entitled “Turning promises into action: Gender equality in the 2030 Agenda”, which based on robust data and expert analysis, the report takes stock of where we stand on key aspects of gender equality globally and provides wide-ranging recommendations for change – including calls for dramatic advances in statistics, financing and policies for gender equality.  

Here are some Facts and Figures from the report:

Goal 1: No Poverty

• Globally, there are 122 women aged 25 to 34 living in extreme poverty for every 100 men of the same age group.

Goal 2: Zero Hunger

• Women are up to 11 percentage points more likely than men to report food insecurity.

Goal 3: Good Health

• Globally, 303,000 women died from pregnancy-related causes in 2015. The rate of death is declining much too slowly to achieve Target 3.1.

Goal 4: Quality Education

• 15 million girls of primary-school age will never get the chance to learn to read or write in primary school compared 10 million boys.

Goal 5: Gender Equality

• In 18 countries, husbands can legally prevent their wives from working; in 39 countries, daughters and sons do not have equal inheritance rights; and 49 countries lack laws protecting women from domestic violence.
• One in five women and girls, including 19 per cent of women and girls aged 15 to 49, have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner with the last 12 months. Yet, 49 countries have no laws that specifically protect women from such violence. Globally, 750 million women and girls were married before the age of 18 and at least 200 million women and girls in 30 countries have undergone FGM.

• While women have made important inroads into political office across the world, their representation in national parliaments at 23.7 per cent is still far from parity.
• Only 52 per cent of women married or in a union freely make their own decisions about sexual relations, contraceptive use and health care.
• Globally, women are just 13 per cent of agricultural land holders.
• Women are less likely than men to own a mobile phone, and their internet usage is 5.9 percentage points lower than that of men.
• More than 100 countries have taken action to track budget allocations for gender equality.

Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

• Women and girls are responsible for water collection in 80 per cent of households without access to water on premises.

Goal 7: Clean Energy

• Indoor air pollution from using combustible fuels for household energy caused 4.3 million deaths in 2012, with women and girls accounting for 6 out of every 10 of these.

Goal 8: Decent Work

• The global gender pay gab stands at 23 per cent globally and without decisive action, it will take another 68 years to achieve equal pay. Women’s labour force participation rate is 63 per cent while that of men is 94 per cent.
• Despite their increasing presence in public life, women continue to do 2.6 times the unpaid care and domestic work that men do.

Goal 9: Innovation

• Women represent 28.8 per cent of researchers worldwide. Only about 1 in 5 countries have achieved gender parity in this area.

Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities

• Up to 30 per cent of income inequality is due to inequality within households, including between women and men. Women are also more likely than men to live below 50 per cent of the median income.

Goal 11: Sustainable Cities

• Women living in urban slums endure many hardships, with basic needs such as access to clean water and improved sanitation facilities often going unmet.

Goal 12: Responsible Consumption

• Investment in public transportation yields large benefits for women, who tend to rely on public transport more than men do.

Goal 13: Climate Action

• Climate change has a disproportionate impact on women and children, who are 14 times as likely as men to die during a disaster.

Goal 14: Life Below Water

• The contamination of freshwater and marine ecosystems negatively impacts women’s and men’s livelihoods, their health and that of their children.

Goal 15: Life on Land

• Between 2010 and 2015, the world lost 3.3 million hectares of forest areas. Poor rural women depend on common pool resources and are especially affected by their depletion.

Goal 16: Peace and Justice

• In times of conflict, rates of homicide and other forms of violent crime increase significantly. While men are more likely to be killed on the battlefield, women are subjected during conflict to sexual violence and abducted, tortured and forced to leave their homes.
• Legislation: 49 counties have no legislation on domestic violence; 45 counties have no legislation that specifically addresses sexual harassment; and 37 countries exempt rape perpetrators from prosecution if they are married to or subsequently marry the victim.

Goal 17: Partnerships

• In 2012, finances flowing out of developing countries were 2.5 times the amount of aid flowing in, and gender allocations paled in comparison.

Source: UN in Armenia