Course 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
- Globally, 26 per cent of ever-partnered women aged 15 and older (641 million) have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence by a husband or intimate partner at least once in their lifetime.
- In a 2021 survey in 13 countries, 45 per cent of women reported that they or a woman they know has experienced some form of violence since COVID-19.
- In 2021, nearly one in five young women were married before the age of 18.
- 35 per cent and 28 per cent of young women were married in childhood, respectively in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia,
- The global prevalence of child marriage has declined by about 10 per cent in the past five years.
- Up to 10 million more girls are likely to become child brides by 2030 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the 100 million girls projected to be at risk before the pandemic.
- At least 200 million girls and women today have been subjected to female genital mutilation, mainly in 31 countries.
- As of 1 January 2022, the global share of women in lower and single houses of national parliaments reached 26.2 per cent, up from 22.4 per cent in 2015.
- At this pace, it would take another 40 years for women and men to be represented equally in national parliaments.
- Women’s share is slightly over one third in local governments.
- In 2019, before the pandemic, women accounted for 39.4 per cent of total employment. In 2020, women represented nearly 45 per cent of global employment losses.
- The share of women in managerial positions worldwide increased from 27.2 to 28.3 per cent from 2015 to 2019, but remained unchanged from 2019 to 2020, the first year without an increase since 2013.
- Between 2007 and 2021, 57 per cent of women aged 15 to 49 who are married or in a union made their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care.
- In the first year of the pandemic, an estimated 1.4 million additional unintended pregnancies occurred in lower- and middle-income countries.
- Only 15 out of 52 reporting countries included sufficient provisions in their legal frameworks to protect women’s rights to land.
- Between 2018 and 2021, only 26 per cent of countries have comprehensive systems in place to track public allocations for gender equality, 59 per cent have some features of such a system, and 15 per cent do not have the minimum elements of such a system.
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
United Secretary-General Campaign UNiTE to End Violence Against Women
Every Woman Every Child Initiative
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
UN Population Fund: Gender equality
UN Population Fund: Female genital mutilation
UN Population Fund: Child marriage
UN Population Fund: Engaging men & boys
UN Population Fund: Gender-based violence
World Health Organization (WHO)
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Gender Statistics
