The United Nations considers this Friday that the world is “failing women and girls” in issues such as the fight against poverty, access to education, political representation or economic opportunities.
In a report on gender inequality published this Friday, which analyzes the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) until 2030 adopted by States in 2015, the UN is concerned about persistent problems.
“When we look at the data, we see that the world is failing to move forward and achieve gender equality. It is becoming an increasingly distant goal,” Sarah Hendriks, deputy executive director of the UN Women agency, told the French agency AFP.
One of the MDGs, specifically dedicated to gender equality, aims to end discrimination, eliminate violence against women, forced marriages and genital mutilation, share domestic work, guarantee access to sexual health and ensure effective participation in political and economic life.
But “halfway to 2030 (the SDG target date), the world is failing women and girls” and most targets for this specific goal are not on track, the report states.
Every year, 245 million women over 15 years of age are victims of physical violence by their partner, one in five women gets married before the age of 18, women do 2.8 more hours of unpaid domestic work every day than men and represent only 26.7% of members of democratic parliaments.
To change this situation, the agency estimates that additional investments of 335 billion euros per year would be needed in around fifty developing countries, which represent 70% of the world’s population.
Sarah Hendriks highlighted that this amount “would be enough to promote all” the SDG indicators.
“We know what needs to be done and the world has to pay for it. If we make gender equality a specific development goal, the trajectory can change,” she insisted, calling for “women and girls to be placed at the center.” “of public policies. policies.
In July, the UN declared that the MDGs were “in danger” and called for a “rescue plan” just weeks before a summit dedicated to the issue on September 18-19.
According to the UN, at the current rate, 575 million people will continue to live in extreme poverty in 2030, a long way from the desired eradication. Of them, 342 million (60%) will be women, that is, around one in twelve women in the world.
Source: TSF
