Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world. While progress has been made over the last few decades, the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030.
Women and girls represent half of the world’s population, which means they also represent half of its potential. Yet gender inequality persists everywhere, stalling social progress. Sexual violence, exploitation, the unequal division of unpaid care and domestic work, and discrimination in public office all remain massive barriers. On average, women spend about two and a half times as many hours on unpaid domestic and care work as men.
Furthermore, while women’s leadership is advancing, true parity remains decades away. As of January 2026, women hold 27.4% of seats in national parliaments—an increase of just 5.1 percentage points since 2015. Globally, women held 35.6% of local government positions and 30.5% of managerial jobs in 2025. At this current pace, it will take more than 50 years to achieve equal representation in management. Overcoming these systemic barriers requires strong political leadership, targeted investments, and comprehensive policy reforms that place gender equality at the core of national budgets and institutions.
How much progress have we made?
Globally, we have seen significant strides in women’s rights, with 99 positive legal reforms implemented between 2019 and 2024 to dismantle discriminatory laws. International commitments have helped reduce rates of child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM), and women’s political representation is higher than ever before. Despite these gains, the promise of a world where every woman and girl enjoys full equality and is free from all social and economic barriers remains unfulfilled.
Are there any other gender-related challenges?
Yes, and they are severe. Worldwide, nearly 44% of married women lack decision-making power over their own sexual and reproductive health. Additionally, 35% of women between the ages of 15 and 49 have experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner or non-partner. Today, over 230 million girls and women have undergone FGM, which carries a high risk of prolonged bleeding, infection, childbirth complications and death.
Furthermore, nearly one in three women experiences violence in her lifetime, almost half of married women lack full bodily autonomy, and nearly one in five girls still marries before the age of 18. This widespread violence and discrimination harms individual well-being while directly preventing women from participating fully in society.
Why should gender equality matter to me?
No matter where you live, gender equality is a fundamental human right. Empowering women and girls is critical to every aspect of a healthy society, from reducing poverty to improving the health, education, and well-being of entire communities.
What can we do?
We can all take steps to drive change. If you are a girl, you can stay in school, encourage your classmates to do the same, and advocate for your right to health services. If you are a woman, you can work to identify and address the unconscious biases that create invisible barriers to equal opportunity.
If you are a man or a boy, you can work alongside women and girls to champion equality and model healthy, respectful relationships. Together, we can support education campaigns to end harmful cultural practices like FGM and push to change laws that limit the potential of women and girls.
For those looking to get involved on a global scale, programs like the Spotlight Initiative—a partnership between the EU and the UN—represent the world’s largest targeted effort dedicated to eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls.
- In 2025, 123 countries adopted elements of gender responsive budgeting, up from 69 in 2018. But only one in four of those countries had comprehensive systems in place to track and make public allocations for gender equality – a modest improvement from 19 per cent in 2018.
- Nearly one in five young women aged 20–24 (19%) were married or in a union before turning 18. Although child marriage has declined globally, mainly due to progress in Southern Asia, it remains highest in sub-Saharan Africa (31%), where the number of child brides is projected to rise by 2030.
- Globally, over 230 million girls and women have undergone female genital mutilation, with 4 million girls undergoing the harmful practice each year. Eliminating female genital mutilation by 2030 will require accelerating progress to 27 times the pace of the past decade.
- In nearly 80 per cent of countries with data, fewer than half of women have ownership or secure rights to agricultural land, which are vital for empowering rural women and strengthening agrifood systems.
- As of 1 January 2026, women held 27.4 per cent of the seats in national parliaments; this is up 5.1 percentage points from 2015 but only 0.2 points from 2025.
- Political leadership, investments and comprehensive policy reforms are needed to dismantle systemic barriers to achieving Goal 5. Gender equality is a cross-cutting objective and must be a key focus of national policies, budgets and institutions.
5.1 End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere
5.2 Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation
5.3 Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation
5.4 Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate
5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decisionmaking in political, economic and public life
5.6 Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences
5.A Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws
5.B Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women
5.C Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels
The European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) are embarking on a new, global, multi-year initiative focused on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) – the Spotlight Initiative.
The Initiative is so named as it brings focused attention to this issue, moving it into the spotlight and placing it at the centre of efforts to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
An initial investment in the order of EUR 500 million will be made, with the EU as the main contributor. Other donors and partners will be invited to join the Initiative to broaden its reach and scope. The modality for the delivery will be a UN multi- stakeholder trust fund, administered by the Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office, with the support of core agencies UNDP, UNFPA and UN Women, and overseen by the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General.
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