2 billion women and girls are without access to any form of social protection by UN Women, OHCHR, World Vision, agencies 10:31am 14th Oct, 2024   Oct. 2024    The growing gender gap between men and women is reflected not only in the world’s highest political hierarchies but also in the daily social and economic lives—with most women fighting a losing battle against poverty.    The latest flagship report from UN Women reveals a widening gender gap in social protection -– the raft of policies, including cash benefits, unemployment protection, pensions and healthcare – which leaves women and girls more vulnerable to poverty.    Released ahead of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on October 17, the report shows that a staggering two billion women and girls are without access to any form of social protection.    While levels of social protection have increased since 2015, gender gaps in such coverage have widened in most developing regions, suggesting that the recent gains have benefited men more than women.    In a world of turmoil, the report calls on governments to provide women and girls with sustainable pathways out of poverty, by prioritizing the needs of women and girls in their social protection measures and crisis responses.    Sandra Ramirez, a Legal and Advocacy Advisor at Equality Now, told IPS women around the world continue to be denied their economic rights– and their economic participation is hindered by a range of sex-discriminatory laws, including those that govern labor and prevent women from having equal access to property ownership, inheritance, and retirement rights.    In numerous countries, she pointed out, women face barriers to accessing credit and bank accounts and are barred from certain professions. Financial inequality prevents many women from accruing wealth, attaining economic stability, and investing in essentials such as housing, healthcare, and retirement.    “Legal and social restrictions on women’s access to education and economic participation limit their earning potential, widen the gender pay gap, and curtail their decision-making power. This combines to keep women disproportionately represented in low-wage, insecure, and unregulated jobs, with limited access to career advancement opportunities,” she said.    UN Women’s new report highlights how globally, in 2023, just 36.4% of women with newborns were covered by maternity benefits. Without adequate paid maternity leave, new mothers are often forced to return to work shortly after childbirth, potentially jeopardizing their physical and mental health as they juggle the demands of childcare and work.    The lack of paid paternity leave in many countries perpetuates traditional gender roles, placing the burden of caregiving on women and forcing mothers to choose between their careers and family responsibilities.    The unequal distribution of unpaid care work and the undervaluation of women’s unpaid care and domestic labor compounds the obstacles women face, said Ramirez, who is based in Colombia.    Ben Phillips, author of ‘How to Fight Inequality’ and a former advisor to governments on social policy, told IPS the numbers revealed in UN Women’s powerful new report should shock policymakers into action.    “The widening chasm in social protection is pushing millions into misery, driving deprivation across generations, holding back growth, and undermining the social contract. The data in this report expose no mere set of unfortunate policy mistakes but instead structural, systemic and spiraling inequality that is the backdrop for a moment in which development, prosperity and stability are all in danger”.    The cause for hope, he pointed out, is that there are policy solutions proven to work. The challenge, however, is to overcome elite political obstruction to any equalizing policy proposals. The only safe approach for the world now is for leaders to be bold, and for citizens to organise to ensure that they are,” he declared.    Meanwhile, the report shows the dismal state of maternity protection across the globe. Despite advancements, more than 63 per cent of women worldwide still give birth without access to maternity benefits, with the figure soaring to 94 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa.    The lack of financial support during maternity leave not only places women at an economic disadvantage, it also compromises their health and well-being and that of their children, perpetuating poverty across generations.    The report also paints a stark picture of the gendered nature of poverty. Women and girls are overrepresented among the poor at every stage of life, with the largest gaps during their childbearing years. Women aged 25-34 are 25 per cent more likely to live in extremely poor households than men in the same age group.    Conflict and climate change exacerbate this inequality. Women in fragile contexts are 7.7 times more likely to live in extreme poverty compared to those in non-fragile environments.    Gender-specific risks and vulnerabilities are often neglected in the aftermath of shocks. For example, very high rates of inflation since 2022, which have led to spiraling food and energy prices, hit women particularly hard.    Yet, out of nearly 1,000 social protection measures adopted by governments across 171 countries in the months that followed, only 18 per cent targeted women’s economic security.    Ramirez of Equality Now said the gender gap in social protection leaves women bearing the brunt of economic instability and undermines their ability to recover and thrive. Climate change and conflicts around the world are deepening economic inequality for women, as resources are diverted away from social protections that they desperately need.    With two billion women and girls lacking access to basic social safety nets, they are being pushed further into poverty, particularly in regions devastated by environmental disasters, war, and unrest.    “The push for higher military spending under the guise of national security has, in various cases, resulted in cuts to budgets that support women, depriving them of critical services like shelters and legal resources. Moreover, tax regimes, trade policies, and international agreements are often skewed against the interests of women and girls, further entrenching gender inequality.”    Addressing the gender pay gap, argued Ramirez, requires governments to actively strengthen legal protections for women in the workforce. This includes preventing them from being confined to low-paid or unregulated roles. It also requires addressing the issue of women being forced to leave work for unpaid caregiving and subsequently denied equal pension access.    “The adoption of progressive laws, like equal pay for equal work by governments, is important, and the robust implementation of these laws is vital for meaningful change. Women’s participation in the economy should not be seen as a trade-off among competing development priorities—it must be embedded at the core of all developmental processes”.    It’s time to shift the narrative, she said. “Boosting women’s economic involvement, acknowledging and valuing their contributions and expertise, and redefining how we measure and promote economic activity should be recognized as urgent imperatives”.    Presenting the report, at a joint event with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), Sarah Hendriks, Director of the Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division at UN Women, said the potential of social protection for gender equality, resilience and transformation is enormous.    “To harness this, we need to centre the dignity, agency and empowerment of women and girls at every stage of the process – from policy and programme design to delivery and financing.”    With contributions from academia, civil society and the UN system, notably the International Labour Organization (ILO), the report spotlights examples of progress. Countries such as Mongolia have extended maternity leave benefits to informal workers, including herders and the self-employed, while also strengthening paternity leave to support gender equality in caregiving responsibilities.    In countries like Mexico and Tunisia, steps have been taken to include domestic workers in social security systems. In Senegal, the National Health Insurance scheme has extended and adapted its services to cater to rural women, with support from UN Women.    These initiatives demonstrate the transformative potential of social protection systems, policies and programmes that are gender-responsive, that pay special attention to the unique challenges that women and girls face.    http://www.ipsnews.net/2024/10/staggering-2-0-billion-women-live-poverty-no-access-social-protection/ http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2024/10/two-billion-women-and-girls-worldwide-lack-access-to-any-form-of-social-protection-un-women-report-shows http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/world-survey-on-the-role-of-women-in-development http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/10/half-power-un-womens-rights-committee-issues-guidance-womens-equal-and http://equalitynow.org/news_and_insights/    Oct. 2024    Breaking the Cycle: Malnutrition’s Toll on Women and Girls. (World Vision)    Breaking the Cycle: Malnutrition’s Toll on Women and Girls highlights the huge impact malnutrition has on girls’ lives, education, future earnings, and likelihood to experience violence and stress.    More than 3 million baby girls are unlikely to make it to their fifth birthday, solely due to Vitamin A deficiency and low birthweight.    Almost 16 million of those who survive to adolescence are unlikely to complete secondary school. Food insecurity, and a preference for male children in some countries, means that in many countries girls are more likely to be hungry or malnourished than boys, even in their own families.    When their health, school or job performance is impacted by malnutrition, traditional gender norms amplify the impact and girls become more likely to lose their lives, not complete school, earn less, marry earlier, and have more children sooner.    “Often when we talk about hunger, people picture the famines of the 1980s,” Dana Buzducea, lead for advocacy at World Vision International. “Since COVID-19, the impact of the economic crisis, climate change and conflict has spurred an alarming increase in the number of children and families living in famine-like conditions or being severely malnourished. Our new report highlights the enormous costs of malnutrition to girls in every country on the globe, as no country has eliminated malnutrition.” added Buzducea.    Today, more than one billion adolescent girls and women suffer from different forms of malnutrition. Women and girls make up 60% of the world’s chronically malnourished and suffer most due to climate, economic, and conflict related shocks; during the COVID-19 pandemic, the gender gap in food insecurity (difference between the number of women affected by malnutrition, compared to men) more than doubled from 49 million to 126 million, as the pandemic exacerbated inequalities and wreaked havoc on women and girls’ ability to work, support themselves and access nutritious food.    “The number of people going to bed hungry and living with the long-term effects of malnutrition shot up during the pandemic and have not gone down. This is after years of success in reducing hunger. People who cannot feed their children are left with little choice but to leave their countries and seek survival elsewhere.” said Buzducea.    “If we do not act now, every year more people will be forced into migration, millions of girls will miss out on their education, trillions of dollars will be lost in economic potential, and young mothers and their children will be at increased risk of death.    Those that survive will pay lifelong costs for malnutrition, that if not addressed, will be passed on to their own children in a vicious cycle.”    http://reliefweb.int/report/world/breaking-cycle-malnutritions-toll-women-and-girls http://www.wvi.org/world-food-day/report/cost-malnutrition-girls http://www.unicef.org/reports/undernourished-overlooked-nutrition-crisis    June 2024    The world is failing to deliver on the promise of gender equality    Women and girls are enduring a gender backlash aimed at curtailing the equal enjoyment of their rights and action to realise substantive equality cannot be delayed, the United Nations Working Group on discrimination against women and girls said.    Despite some advancements, no country has achieved gender equality and women and girls continue to face discrimination in all spheres of their lives, frequently starting within their families and communities, the Group said in a report to the Human Rights Council.    “Retrogressive movements are jeopardising women’s and girls’ human rights, as well as the progress achieved in advancing gender equality in all regions of the world,” it said.    As a result, the world is witnessing an escalating backlash against sexual and reproductive health rights, ever-present misogynistic statements in the media and the rise of public anti-gender discourse, as well as attacks on women and girl human rights defenders.    The backlash has reached extreme proportions in certain countries, the report said. Afghanistan is a concerning example. The pattern of large-scale systematic violations of Afghan women’s and girls’ fundamental rights by the discriminatory and misogynistic edicts, policies and harsh enforcement methods of the Taliban, constitutes an institutionalised framework of apartheid based on gender, and merits an unequivocal response.    The status quo that fails to fulfil the human rights and fundamental freedoms of half of the world’s population is unacceptable, the Group said.    The Working Group called on States to work together to build substantive gender equality, as required under international human rights law. Other actors, such as those in the private sector, should support these efforts and respect and protect women’s and girls’ rights.    “Substantive equality requires not only ensuring de facto equality between women and men and girls and boys, but also committing to a conception of transformative equality, in other words, the transformation of elements of society, culture, politics and the economy that create barriers to equality.”    The Group applauded the transformative force of millions of women and girls worldwide and of their movements and allies that strive to advance women’s and girls’ rights, resist pushbacks and build just, inclusive, peaceful and sustainable societies for all. “They are an inspiration to everyone and the main reason for hope and optimism for the future.    June 2024    Overhaul discriminatory laws and practices enabling economic violence against women: UN Human Rights Council Interactive Dialogue with Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls.    Economic violence as a form of gender-based violence against women and girls, by Volker Turk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:    "We owe the women’s rights movement some of the most extraordinary progress in human rights of our generation. And it is important to honour and celebrate this progress.    Yet the persistent scourge of gender-based violence in one of its insidious forms, shows that progress is both hard won, and fragile.    At its simplest, violence against women and girls is an egregious expression of power domination and patriarchy indeed. It is a blunt roadblock to gender equality and the ultimate benefits that this can bring everyone, including greater development and peace.    Gender-based violence persists because of pervasive cultures of toxic masculinity and misogyny. It is not specific to cultures, or regions, or religions. It is widespread, fuelled by centuries-old mindsets and practices that are still dangerously prevalent, almost everywhere.    Any form of gender-based violence is a form of overt control over women and girls. To perpetuate their subordination. To stereotype, degrade, coerce, and humiliate. To deny them freedom, and strip them of agency to make decisions.    Today, regardless of income or background, all women and girls live with the threat of gender-based violence. Almost one in three women have been subjected to some form of it at least once in their life, be that physical, sexual, psychological or economic.    One in three. If one in three men globally were subject to such devastating and pervasive harm, we would be convening an emergency summit.    Economic violence against women and girls is one of the forms of gender-based violence that even today too often goes unseen, and unregulated. But while it may not manifest in bruises and wounds, it can be just as harmful as physical violence, trapping women and girls in cycles of denigration and inequality.    Economic control. Economic sabotage. Economic exploitation. These are the three forms of economic violence playing out all around the world.    Restricting a woman’s access to money and assets. Tracking her spending. Ensuring she cannot open a bank account, or make financial decisions. Preventing her from seeking employment, or going to school. Taking her wages, or her pension. Accruing debt under her name.    In all its forms, economic violence is facilitated by archaic gender norms that consider men the financial decision makers. In all its forms, women are stifled, and blocked from living a life of autonomy.    We know that economic violence most commonly occurs in the home, and often interconnects with physical or sexual violence. But it can also be enabled, even perpetrated by the State through discriminatory legal frameworks which restrict women’s access to credit, employment, social protection, or property and land rights.    The world is failing to deliver on the promise of gender equality. Failing to put in place the measures needed to ensure half of humanity enjoy their fundamental rights and freedoms.    The numbers paint a startling picture. Some 3.9 billion women worldwide face legal barriers affecting their economic participation. Women earn just 77 cents for every dollar paid to men. Ninety-two countries lack provisions mandating equal pay for work of equal value. The wealth gap between women and men globally stands at a staggering 100 trillion USD.    Women’s equality lies at the core of all human rights, of human dignity and of our collective future.    To put a stop to economic violence, and proactively to ensure economic equity, we need a complete overhaul of discriminatory laws and practices. Gender equality needs to be positively fostered through laws governing all areas of life – economic, public and political. And we need policy measures to ensure that these laws are actually applied in practice.    Policy measures that protect and empower women’s economic, social and cultural rights. Access to decent work, including equal pay for work of equal value. Quality education that promotes human rights, gender equality and respect. The full realization of sexual and reproductive health and rights. Equal property ownership. Equal access to and control over financial resources. Shared childcare responsibilities and adequate childcare options. And above all, choice and opportunity to define one’s own life.    Where economic violence occurs, we must make stronger efforts to ensure survivors can seek justice and remedy. We need better complaint mechanisms. Better economic and social support systems. Better and more widely available assistance. And, importantly, perpetrators must be brought to justice.    Violence against women and girls – in all its forms – is abhorrent and inexcusable. It prevents their full and equal participation in society, suffocating their potential, and stealing choice and opportunity. We must take tangible actions to put a stop to it.    Nada Al-Nashif, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, said global inequality and poverty were growing. Around 4.8 billion people, more likely to be women, were poorer than they were pre-COVID19 pandemic. Currently, more than 10 per cent of women globally were trapped in a cycle of extreme poverty, and as many as 342 million women (8 per cent) would still be living in extreme poverty by 2030. Current economic, legal and policy frameworks hindered the achievement of gender equality.    The existence of gender discriminatory laws and practices had a severe impact on women’s and girls’ enjoyment of economic rights, including the right to work and the right to social protection. A study showed that in 102 countries, women’s rights to inherit their husband’s property were denied under customary, religious, or traditional laws and practices. Even when laws granted women equal economic rights as men, these were often not implemented.    Women and girls were still perceived as the primary caregivers, meaning globally on average, they spent 2.4 hours a day more on such work than men. The lack of the recognition and the unequal distribution of care and support work deprived women and girls of equal opportunities to education, work, and participation in public life.    Furthermore, unsustainable and unprecedented levels of global public debt, combined with conditionalities of foreign financial assistance, were constraining the fiscal space of States and leading to drastic cuts in public services and denials of economic, social and cultural rights. Women would likely disproportionately face the brunt of such cuts, as they were over-represented in the public services’ workforce.    It was time to re-evaluate the concepts of unlimited economic growth, based on deeply embedded gender and other inequalities within and across countries, unsustainable exploitation of the environment, and the disregard for States’ obligations to realise economic, social, and cultural rights. There needed to be an economic paradigm shift towards a human rights economy which dismantled structural barriers and prioritised investments in human rights.    Hyshyama Hamin, Campaign Manager of the Global Campaign for Equality in Family Law, said no country worldwide had achieved full legal equality between women and men, according to the World Bank.    Inequality often started in the family. Women and girls globally were affected by discriminatory family laws and practices, which consequently had multiple intersecting impacts in all other areas of their lives. Inequality in family law limited women’s and girls’ right to education, employment, economic independence, and full participation in society.    It further increased their risk of facing gender-based violence and harmful traditional practices, such as child and forced marriage. The Global Campaign had noted from multiple contexts that unequal family laws and practices impacted the financial rights of women.    According to the World Bank, Women, Business and the Law 2024 report, of 190 economies, 76 countries restricted women's property rights; 19 countries had laws that allowed husbands to legally prevent their wives from working; 43 countries did not grant widows the same inheritance rights as widowers, and 41 countries prevented daughters from inheriting the same proportion of assets as sons. Women performed 2.5 times more unpaid care work than men, which was largely invisible and unaccounted for in national economies.    The positive impacts of equal family laws and practices on women’s economic rights were far-reaching. Accelerated progress toward gender equality could result in huge economic gains for a country.    To accelerate progress, the international community needed to prioritise and promote egalitarian family laws and practices; and all States needed to ensure their family laws and practices were aligned with article 16 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. All actors needed to support family law reform as a priority.    Emanuela Pozzan, Senior Gender Specialist at the International Labour Organization, said care needed to be part of a just transition. The recently concluded International Labour Conference in Geneva adopted a resolution which focused on decent work and the care economy, and affirmed that care work was fundamental to human, social, economic and environmental well-being, as well as to sustainable development. This care work, paid and unpaid, was essential to all other work.    For the first time, the international community shared a common understanding of the care economy and acknowledged that a well-functioning and robust care economy was critical for building resilience to crises, and for achieving gender equality and inclusion while addressing other inequalities.    The current social organization of care placed a disproportionate share of unpaid care work on women, which hindered women’s economic inclusion and effective labour market participation, widening gender gaps in the world of work, and leaving many without adequate access to social protection.    The distribution of unpaid care work was highly feminised. Women performed 76.2 per cent of the total amount of unpaid care work: 16 billion hours per day – 3.2 times more than men. While such care could be rewarding, its excessive intensity and arduousness could undermine the economic opportunities, well-being, and enjoyment of rights for unpaid care providers.    Over 600 million women remained outside the labour force because of family responsibilities. Over 380 million care workers, two thirds of whom were women, made up the global paid care workforce, where they were less well paid and less protected.    Recent years had brought a worldwide improvement in maternity protection policies, leave and care services, thanks to social dialogue. However, the existing challenges and gaps in care leave policies and services could not be ignored. The resolution was clear: action needed to be taken. Investing in the care economy was an added value for all countries, societies and people.    Savitri Bisnath, Senior Director of Global Policy, the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School, said that the role of the economy was in part to facilitate human flourishing. The material realities of women and girls were linked to many sectors and policies: from health care, education, employment, sovereign debt burdens, taxation, and climate change.    Economic policies could help ensure that the root causes of, and structural barriers to, poverty and inequalities experienced by women and girls were intentionally addressed and redressed for equitable and inclusive economies and societies.    There was consensus that the current economic model was failing to deliver economic prosperity for all. For example, it was common knowledge that women were often paid less than men for the same work and that within countries women were also discriminated against based on race, age and geographic location.    The United Nations Secretary-General had pointed to the many challenges facing the world community, including geopolitical and economic fragmentation with growing inequalities mostly affecting women and girls, the cost-of-living crisis, and the poorest countries on debt row facing insolvency and default, all of which led down the path of deepening instability.    There was an urgent need for reform of the global debt architecture. The ideal of free human beings enjoying freedom from fear and want could only be achieved if conditions were created whereby everyone could enjoy their economic, social and cultural rights, as well as their civil and political rights.    Economic policies needed to be aligned with human rights and environmental justice goals. An economy grounded in human rights principles and standards would facilitate transparency and accountability, as well as space for social dialogue, scrutiny and participation. It was essential for increasing trust, cohesion and inclusion within societies.    http://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/meeting-summary/2024/06/le-conseil-des-droits-de-lhomme-se-penche-sur-le-probleme-de-la http://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/meeting-summary/2024/06/le-conseil-des-droits-de-lhomme-entend-une-mise-en-garde-contre http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2024/06/high-commissioner-economic-violence-against-women-gender-based http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/06/1151616 http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc5651-escalating-backlash-against-gender-equality-and-urgency http://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/wg-women-and-girls http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/09/progress-on-the-sustainable-development-goals-the-gender-snapshot-2024    http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/facts-and-figures http://www.unwomen.org/en/get-involved/16-days-of-activism http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/unite/theme http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/11/femicides-in-2023-global-estimates-of-intimate-partner-family-member-femicides http://www.unhcr.org/us/news/briefing-notes/unhcr-warns-devastating-spike-risk-gender-based-violence-women-and-girls-forced http://www.hrw.org/news/2024/11/19/overlooked-crisis-domestic-violence-workforce    http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2024/10/war-on-women-women-killed-in-armed-conflicts-double-in-2023 http://www.unwomen.org/en/articles/explainer/8-actions-to-advance-womens-role-in-peace-and-security http://reliefweb.int/report/world/report-secretary-general-women-and-peace-and-security-s2023725-enarruzh http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/10/1142797 http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/speech/2023/10/speech-a-call-for-urgent-transformative-action-executive-director-briefing-to-un-security-council-open-debate-on-women-peace-and-security http://www.passblue.com/2023/10/26/why-are-women-experts-still-excluded-from-peace-talks-across-the-globe/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2023/10/world-mostly-dominated-men-turmoil/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2023/10/violent-conflict-sudan-impacted-nearly-every-aspect-womens-lives/    http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/statement/remarks-of-srsg-pramila-patten-at-the-security-council-open-debate-on-preventing-conflict-related-sexual-violence-through-demilitarization-and-gender-responsive-arms-control-new-yor/ http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/statement/srsg-pattens-opening-remarks-at-the-international-conference-of-prosecutors-on-accountability-for-conflict-related-sexual-violence-the-hague-26-march-2024/ http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/in-their-own-words-voices-of-survivors-of-conflict-related-sexual-violence-and-service-providers/ http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/speech/2024/04/speech-until-we-make-it-clear-there-are-consequences-for-rape-real-dire-consequences-we-will-never-turn-the-tide-of-it http://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule93    http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2023/11/international-community-must-walk-talk-safety-and-security-women-and-girls-times http://www.prio.org/news/3476 http://www.globalsurvivorsfund.org/latest/articles/ http://www.mukwegefoundation.org/news/ http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/in-focus/2023/10/in-focus-the-women-peace-and-security-debate http://wphfund.org/2023/11/08/global-new-wphf-study-highlights-central-role-of-local-womens-organizations-in-conflict-prevention-provides-key-recommendations-to-scale-up-support-for-their-impact-on-the-front-lines/ http://wps.unwomen.org/index.html http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/a78131-report-special-rapporteur-situation-human-rights-defenders Visit the related web page
	Next (more recent) news item
	Next (older) news item