The Gender Snapshot 2022

In News

• Recently, the UN report “Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): The Gender Snapshot 2022” was released.
  • It was released by United Nations Women (UN Women).

Report Highlights

• Gender equality:
  • It will take close to 300 years to achieve full gender equality at the current rate of progress, according to the report.
• Achieving SDG 5:
  • It highlighted that SDG 5, or achieving gender equality, will not be met by 2030 at the current pace of progress.
• Global issues affecting women:
  • Global challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, violent conflict, climate change and the backlash against women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights further exacerbate gender disparities.
  • In 2021, about 38 per cent of female-headed households in war-affected areas experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, compared to 20 per cent of male-headed households.  
  • Ukraine issue:
    • The invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war there is further worsening food insecurity and hunger, especially among women and children, limiting supplies of wheat, fertilizer and fuel and propelling inflation. 
• Displacement:
  • More women and girls are now forcibly displaced than ever before: some 44 million women and girls by the end of 2021.
• Poverty affecting women in Sub-Saharan Africa:
  • If current trends continue, more women and girls will live in extreme poverty by 2030 in sub-Saharan Africa than today.
• Legal systems protecting women:
  • Legal systems that do not ban violence against women, do not protect women’s rights in marriage and family, do not provide equal pay and benefits at work and do not guarantee their equal rights to own and control land may continue to exist for generations to come without swift action. 
    • Women’s rights in marriage and family include denying women their right to pass on their nationality to their children and to inherit. 
• Laws protecting women in power:
  • The report estimates that it will take up to 286 years to close gaps in legal protection and remove discriminatory laws and 140 years for women to be represented equally in positions of power and leadership in the workplace at the current rate of progress.
  • It will also take at least 40 years to achieve equal representation in national parliaments. 
• Women having access to abortion:
  • Today, over 1.2 billion women and girls of reproductive age (15-49) live in countries and areas with some restrictions on access to safe abortion.
• Way forward suggested by the report:
  • Progress must be 17 times faster than last decade’s progress of the last decade, to eradicate child marriage by 2030. 
    • Girls from the poorest rural households and in conflict-affected areas are expected to suffer the most.
  • The report showcases that cooperation, partnerships and investments in the gender equality agenda, including through increased global and national funding, are essential to correct the course and place gender equality back on track. 

Source: TH