Hard-won gains for gender equality across education, health, safety and leadership are at risk as the backlash against women’s rights grows internationally, a new report from the UN shows. However, more targeted investments in gender equality initiatives can make a difference.
The latest Gender Snapshot 2025 report by UN Women and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) highlights notable progress, including that girls are now more likely than ever to complete school, and women’s leadership in climate talks has doubled.
Rates of intimate partner violence are 2.5 times lower in countries with comprehensive measures on violence, and maternal mortality has declined by nearly 40 per cent since 2000 and 2023.
In the past five years, 99 new or reformed laws have helped to remove discriminatory laws and establish gender equality legislative frameworks across the world.
And yet, there’s still work to be done to protect these hard-won gains, as the world is seeing an unprecedented backlash on women’s rights, shrinking civic space and more defunding of gender equality initiatives.
The report shows the world will reach 2030 with 351 million women and girls still living in extreme poverty. There are also 676 million women and girls living within reach of deadly conflict, which is the highest number recorded since the 1990s.
Only 38 countries have established 18 years as the minimum marriage age without exceptions, and just 63 countries have rape laws based on the lack of consent.
Each year, 4 million girls undergo female genital mutilation, and over one in every eight women aged 15-49 has been subject to physical and/or sexual violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months globally (12.5 per cent).
As of 1 January 2025, women held 27.2 per cent of seats in national parliaments, which is up 4.9 percentage points from 2015. Looking at heads of state or government, an astonishing 102 countries have never had a woman in such a position.
“Where gender equality has been prioritised, it has propelled societies and economies forward,” said Sima Bahous, UN Women’s Executive Director.
“Targeted investments in gender equality have the power to transform societies and economies.”
“Just closing the gender digital divide alone could benefit 343.5 million women and girls worldwide, lift 30 million out of poverty by 2050, and generate an estimated $1.5 trillion to boost global GDP by 2030,” says Bahous, as the report shows that, globally, 70 per cent of men use the internet compared to 65 per cent of women.
Global imperative to achieve gender equality
Drawing from more than 100 data sources, the report tracks progress for women and girls across 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, the 2025 edition shows that with only five years left to achieve the SDG’s timeline goal of reaching gender equality by 2030, the current trajectory will miss every indicator.
World leaders are planning to gather in New York for UNGA80, and to commemorate 30 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on 22 September, says Bahous, adding that the Beijing +30 Action Agenda provides a clear path forwards.
“It outlines six priority areas for accelerated implementation: freedom from poverty, zero violence, equal power and leadership, climate justice, peace and security, and full participation in the digital revolution,” she says, encouraging leaders to make investments in these key areas “to choose a world where women’s rights are delivered at scale, and the returns are shared by all.”
Pointing to what the world could gain from faster progress, Li Junhua, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, said that “accelerated action and interventions focused on care, education, the green economy, labour markets and social protection could reduce the number of women and girls in extreme poverty by 110 million by 2050, unlocking an estimated $342 trillion in cumulative economic returns.”