Ahead of the 50th official UN International Women’s Day this year, UN Women reports that one in four countries face backlash on women’s rights. Gender equality and the rights of women and girls are facing growing threats at unprecedented levels.
In a world where we’re seeing the rise of authoritarianism, the power of big tech and AI, we’re also witnessing the simultaneous rise of threats against women’s and girls’ rights.
These threats include higher levels of discrimination, weaker legal protections, less funding for programs and institutions that support and protect women. Global crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate emergency, conflicts and soaring prices, make the urgency to respond to these threats even greater.
A woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes by a parter or member of her own family. Over the past decade, the number of women and girls living in conflict has increased by fifty percent. And those who defend women’s rights are met by harassment and sometimes deadly attacks.
“When women and girls can rise, we all thrive. Yet, globally, women’s human rights are under attack. Instead of mainstreaming equal rights, we’re seeing the mainstreaming of misogyny. Together, we must stand firm in making human rights, equality and empowerment a reality for all women and girls, for everyone, everywhere.”
– António Guterres, UN Secretary-General
This year, 2025, marks 30 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the most comprehensive roadmap on women’s rights. There has been progress since then, which cannot be ignored. The “Women’s Rights in Review 30 Years After Beijing” report shows this progress, including that parity in girls’ education has been achieved, maternal mortality has dropped by a third and women’s representation in parliaments more than doubled.
We’re up for a major challenge to achieve gender equality and reach the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The new UN Women report includes the new Beijing+30 Action Agenda, a bold roadmap to complete the unfinished business by focusing on:
- A digital revolution for all women and girls.
- Freedom from poverty.
- Zero violence.
- Full and equal decision-making power.
- Peace and security.
- Climate justice.
This is necessary for women’s and girls’ rights to be fulfilled and gender equality achieved. And it can only be reached through access to resources, investments in social protection, health and education, legislation, gender-responsive policies and more support for community-based and women-led organizations. The UN Women report also emphasizes the importance and effectiveness of temporary measures like gender quotas.
When we’re witnessing a pushback on women’s rights like no other, we must continue to center the voices and stories of those driving change for equality, rights, justice, peace and freedom.
It is through those stories we will find hope and a motivation to take action. And as many voices are being silenced, and traditional media facing its own backlash, the work of platforms like Girls’ Globe becomes essential to mobilize people for change.
As a way to hold on to hope, consider supporting Girls’ Globe today through a monthly donation. This support will make it possible for us to keep building our community of voices and growing our audience, ready to take action.
UN Women ended their press release with this hopeful note: “we can be the first generation that can live in an equal world”. That message feels so farfetched right now, but we must keep drawing from that hope. And it is my hope that the changemakers we feature here on Girls’ Globe will inspire you to envision a more beautiful future and to keep taking action towards that vision.
Read UN Women’s new report here.
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