UN Women has warned that, at the current rate of progress, it will take 286 years for women to have the same rights and legal protections as men.
“It may take up to 286 years, almost three centuries, for women to have the same legal rights and protections as men,” UN Women Deputy Director-General Anita Bhatia said during a press conference to launch the report. about the topic.
During his speech, Bhatia insisted that “at the current rate of progress, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of goal 5 [focado na igualdade de género] it may take decades, even centuries, to materialize.
Furthermore, he underlined that “workforce parity will not be achieved for the next 140 years” and that “it is likely to take 40 years to achieve equal representation in parliaments around the world” if there is no improvement. .
The report shows that women lost around $800 billion in income in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and that, despite “an increase in some parts of the world, their participation in labor markets will be lower in 2022 than before the pandemic.” .
The study also estimates that by the end of this year there will be 383 million women and girls living below the poverty line and 386 million men and boys living below the poverty line.
Anita Bhatia also warned of the existence of several factors “that aggravate an already bleak scenario for gender equality”, such as the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic or the current food, financial and fuel crisis.
“The ongoing war in Ukraine is worsening food insecurity, limiting the supply of wheat, fertilizer and fuel and increasing inflation. Some 36 countries depend on Russia and Ukraine for more than half of their wheat imports, including those affected by conflicts such as Sudan, Syria and Yemen,” reads the UN Women report.
Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, deputy to the UN Secretary-General for policy coordination, stressed at the press conference that “gender equality is the basis for achieving all the Sustainable Development Goals.”
Katie Tobin, program director of the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), said the report recognizes that women and girls, especially across the global south, are significantly and disproportionately affected by the climate crisis and environmental destruction”.
For Tobin, the situation “is rooted in systemic discrimination and structural inequalities” suffered by women.
Source: TSF
