UN Women’s 15th Anniversary: A Call for Bold Action on Gender Equality Aligned with Sustainable Development Goals

In 2025, UN Women commemorates its 15th anniversary, reflecting on significant progress made in gender equality worldwide. Despite advancements, recent data indicates a concerning regression, threatening the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to gender equality and inclusive development.

Current Challenges in Gender Equality

• A 60% increase in global concern over stalled gender equality progress (SDG 5: Gender Equality).
• Nearly 25% of countries report backlash against women’s rights, with rising gender-based violence and an expanding gender digital divide (SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions; SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).
• Over 600 million women and girls live near conflict zones, exacerbating vulnerabilities (SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being; SDG 16).

This critical juncture coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, underscoring the urgent need for renewed leadership and commitment to the 2030 Agenda and SDGs.

UN Women’s 15 Actions to Accelerate Gender Equality and Sustainable Development

1. Address the Backlash Against Women’s Rights

   • Fact: Nearly one in four countries reported setbacks in women’s rights in 2024.
   • Action: Strengthen legal, political, and financial frameworks to uphold gender equality as outlined in the Beijing Declaration (SDG 5).

2. End Conflict

   • Fact: 612 million women and girls lived near conflict zones in 2023, a 50% increase over the past decade.
   • Action: Invest in conflict prevention, mediation, and peacebuilding to protect women’s safety and well-being (SDG 16).

3. Promote Women in Peacemaking

   • Fact: 80% of peace talks and 70% of mediation efforts between 2020-2023 excluded women.
   • Action: Ensure women’s full, equal, and meaningful participation in peace processes (SDG 5, SDG 16).

4. Eradicate Poverty

   • Fact: One in ten women and girls live in extreme poverty, with projections indicating 137 years to end it at current rates.
   • Action: Implement robust social protection policies, including cash assistance and paid maternity leave (SDG 1: No Poverty; SDG 5).

5. End Food Insecurity

   Addressing food insecurity is critical to improving women’s health and economic participation (SDG 2: Zero Hunger).

6. End Violence Against Women

   • Fact: Every 10 minutes, one woman or girl is killed by an intimate partner or family member; 85,000 deaths occurred in 2023.
   • Action: Strengthen laws, data collection, and funding for organizations supporting survivors (SDG 5; SDG 16).

7. Promote Women’s Access to the Economy

   • Fact: Women perform 2.5 times more unpaid care work than men, limiting formal labor market participation.
   • Action: Invest in care systems and decent care jobs to create nearly 300 million jobs by 2035 (SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth; SDG 5).

8. Eradicate the Gender Pay Gap

   • Fact: Women earn 20% less than men globally for equal work.
   • Action: Promote equal pay, pay transparency, equitable parental leave, and anti-discrimination laws (SDG 5; SDG 8).

9. Protect the Planet

   Integrate gender perspectives in environmental policies to achieve climate justice and sustainability (SDG 13: Climate Action; SDG 5).

10. Increase Women’s Leadership and Political Participation

    • Fact: 75% of lawmakers are men; 103 countries have never had a woman Head of State.
    • Action: Implement quotas, combat social norms and violence against women leaders (SDG 5; SDG 16).

11. Dismantle Discriminatory Legal Frameworks

    Reform laws that perpetuate gender inequality to ensure equal rights and opportunities (SDG 5).

12. Close the Gender Digital Gap

    • Fact: 277 million more men than women used the Internet in 2024; persistent gaps risk USD 500 billion income loss in low- and middle-income countries.
    • Action: Address digital divide and technology-facilitated violence; promote women’s participation in STEM fields (SDG 9; SDG 5).

13. Ensure Gender Parity in Education

    • Fact: Over 119 million girls are out of school; 39% of young women do not complete upper secondary education.
    • Action: Reduce schooling costs, provide cash transfers, and ensure safe, inclusive education environments (SDG 4: Quality Education; SDG 5).

14. End Maternal Mortality

    • Fact: Nearly 800 women die daily from preventable pregnancy-related causes; 61% occur in 35 conflict-affected countries.
    • Action: Invest in sexual and reproductive health services and strengthen health systems (SDG 3; SDG 5).

15. Increase Gender Financing

    • Fact: Only 4% of official development assistance targeted gender equality programs in 2021-2022.
    • Action: Significantly increase investments in gender equality as a foundation for sustainable development (SDG 5; SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals).

Conclusion

UN Women’s 15th anniversary highlights the critical intersection of gender equality and the Sustainable Development Goals. Achieving these 15 priority actions requires bold leadership, increased financing, and global solidarity to ensure no woman or girl is left behind in the pursuit of a just, peaceful, and sustainable world.

1. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Addressed or Connected

1. SDG 1: No Poverty – Addressing extreme poverty among women and girls.
2. SDG 2: Zero Hunger – Ending food insecurity.
3. SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being – Reducing maternal mortality and improving health services.
4. SDG 4: Quality Education – Ensuring gender parity in education and reducing girls out of school.
5. SDG 5: Gender Equality – Central focus on ending violence against women, closing gender pay gap, increasing women’s leadership, dismantling discriminatory laws, and closing the gender digital divide.
6. SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities – Addressing inequalities in political participation and economic access.
7. SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions – Promoting women in peacemaking and ending conflict.
8. SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals – Increasing gender financing and investments in gender equality.
9. SDG 13: Climate Action – Protecting the planet (implied in the call to protect the planet).

2. Specific Targets Under Identified SDGs

1. SDG 1
   • Target 1.2: Reduce poverty by implementing social protection policies such as cash assistance, paid maternity leave, and pensions.
2. SDG 2
   • Target 2.1: End hunger and ensure access to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food.
3. SDG 3
   • Target 3.1: Reduce maternal mortality to less than 70 per 100,000 live births.
   • Target 3.7: Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services.
4. SDG 4
   • Target 4.1: Ensure all girls complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education.
   • Target 4.5: Eliminate gender disparities in education.
5. SDG 5
   • Target 5.1: End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls.
   • Target 5.2: Eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls.
   • Target 5.4: Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work.
   • Target 5.5: Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership.
   • Target 5.b: Enhance use of enabling technology, in particular ICT, to promote empowerment.
6. SDG 10
   • Target 10.2: Empower and promote social, economic and political inclusion of all.
7. SDG 16
   • Target 16.7: Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making.
   • Target 16.1: Significantly reduce all forms of violence.
8. SDG 17
   • Target 17.3: Mobilize additional financial resources for developing countries.
9. SDG 13
   • Target 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards.

3. Indicators Mentioned or Implied to Measure Progress

1. Backlash against women’s rights: Number or proportion of countries reporting backlash against women’s rights.
2. Women living near conflict zones: Number of women and girls living within 50 kilometers of conflict zones.
3. Women’s participation in peace talks: Proportion of peace talks and mediation efforts with women’s involvement.
4. Extreme poverty among women: Proportion of women living on less than $2.15 per day.
5. Violence against women: Number of women and girls killed by intimate partners or family members; prevalence of violence against women.
6. Unpaid care work: Hours spent by women on unpaid care work compared to men.
7. Gender pay gap: Difference in average earnings between women and men for work of equal value.
8. Women’s leadership: Proportion of women lawmakers and women heads of state.
9. Gender digital divide: Difference in internet usage between men and women.
10. Education parity: Number of girls out of school; proportion of young women completing upper secondary education.
11. Maternal mortality: Number of maternal deaths per day; maternal mortality ratio.
12. Gender financing: Percentage of official development assistance allocated to gender equality programs.

4. Table: SDGs, Targets and Indicators

Source: reliefweb.int