"Approximately 10% of women and girls currently live in extreme poverty, defined as earning less than $2.15 per day. Projections suggest that by 2030, around 8% will still be in extreme poverty," said Yongyi Min, Chief of the SDG Monitoring Section in UN DESA¡¯s Statistics Division during UN DESA¡¯s recent Global Policy Dialogue, which explored the latest data on gender equality across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Ms. Min took the stage together with speakers from UN Women and other institutions to discuss the latest ¡°Gender Snapshot¡± findings, as well as efforts to develop and scale up partnerships to achieve global gender targets.
Moderated by Shakuntala Santhiran, an international broadcast journalist, on 21 November, the event homed in on topics including the intersection of gender and climate, recent advancements in gender equality, and various strategies countries employ to better support women and girls.
Ginette Azcona, a Research and Data Policy Specialist from UN Women, highlighted the link between gender and climate change, emphasizing the urgent need to raise awareness, especially in the context of the UN Climate Conference, known as COP28, in Dubai.
Ms. Azcona noted that women and girls, particularly in rural and impoverished communities, are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis. Without intervention, millions more will face poverty by 2050, with increases in extreme poverty and food insecurity.
During the event, speakers stressed that gender equality is fundamental to the successful realization of all 17 SDGs. They also highlighted data on pressing gender issues. For instance, they flagged that only 27% of women currently hold parliamentary positions. Projections for 2050 also indicate that only 30% will occupy managerial roles. In the next generation, women are expected to continue to bear the brunt of unpaid care and domestic work, spending 2.3 more hours every day compared to men by 2050.
However, positive trends were also highlighted, with the speakers citing examples such as women's empowerment in Rwanda, where over 60% of parliamentary seats are held by women, and in Jordan, where 57% of managerial positions are occupied by women, which is far above the global average of 28%.
In the second half of the dialogue, Yumiko Kamiya, Population Affairs Officer from UN DESA¡¯s Population Division, and Carole Ageng¡¯o, Global Initiative Lead for HelpAge International, addressed the issues of elder women abuse, inequality for women at older ages, and policy solutions that would help older women thrive. They gave examples from Kenya, Ghana, and Malawi, and indicated that addressing these problems require finding the root cause. They also stressed that the problem needs to be addressed from three aspects: legal, social, and economic.
¡°It really requires everybody working together, and we also talk about the role of men and boys and really bring them to the fold. Gender equality is not only important for women and girls but also important for all of us,¡± Ms. Azcona said.
Access the latest findings of and watch the recording of the event on Facebook .