Gender equality 300 years away: UN chief on Women's Day
Gender equality is becoming an increasingly distant goal and could still be 300 years away, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday while addressing the General Assembly. He said the progress on women's rights is "vanishing before our eyes" as he launched two weeks of talks led by the Commission on the Status of Women to mark International Women's Day on Wednesday.
Why does this story matter?
- At the Monday event, Guterres emphasized the grim situation in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, where "women and girls have been erased from public life."
- While not mentioning nations' names, he emphasized that "women's sexual and reproductive rights are being rolled back" and that "in some countries, girls attending school risk kidnapping and assault."
- The United States Supreme Court overturned abortion rights in June 2022.
Gender equality has even greater significance now: Guterres
From maternal mortality and child marriage to caregivers being denied work, Guterres listed the contemporary crises plaguing women. Stressing the importance of gender equality, he said, "It takes on even greater significance when women's rights are being abused, threatened, and violated around the world." "Progress won over decades is vanishing before our eyes," Guterres said.
A woman dies every two minutes during pregnancy or childbirth
He claimed that maternal mortality had risen to the point where a woman died every two minutes during pregnancy or childbirth, despite the vast majority of these deaths being avoidable. He went on to say that COVID-19 has forced millions of girls to quit school, while mothers and caregivers have been forced out of work and children have been forced into early marriage.
Patriarchy is fighting back, but so are we: Guterres
"Centuries of patriarchy, discrimination, and harmful stereotypes have created a huge gender gap in science and technology," he said, citing that women constitute less than 3% of Nobel Prize winners. "The patriarchy is fighting back. But so are we," and called for global collective action by governments, civil society, and the private sector to bridge the digital gender divide by sensitization," he added.
Iran was removed from Commission on the Status of Women
Guterres, however, made no mention of Iran, which was expelled from the Commission on the Status of Women last December following the government's repression of a women-led revolt against the clerical regime. Schoolgirls have reportedly become targets of orthodox groups in recent months. Since November, up to 700 girls in over 50 schools in Iran have been poisoned by toxic gas.
