What the data tell us about equality between women and men

The newly released Gender Snapshot 2025 paints a nuanced picture of progress towards gender equality. On one hand, there have been historic gains: girls are more likely to complete school than ever before, and maternal mortality fell by nearly 40 per cent between 2000 and 2023. Women’s participation in climate negotiations has doubled. In the past five years alone, 99 positive legal reforms have been enacted to dismantle discrimination.

Yet significant setbacks persist. If current trends continue, 351 million women and girls could still be living in extreme poverty by 2030. In 2024, nearly 64 million more women than men faced moderate or severe food insecurity, with anaemia among women aged 19-45 years projected to rise from 31 per cent today to 33 per cent in 2030. Women spend on average 2.5 times as many hours on unpaid care and domestic work as men. Only 30 per cent of managerial roles globally are held by women – a pace of change so slow that parity remains nearly a century away.

At the same time, targeted investment can be transformational. Closing the gender digital divide alone could add $1.5 trillion to global GDP by 2030. Accelerated action and interventions focused on care, education, the green economy, labour markets and social protection could unlock an estimated $342 trillion in cumulative economic returns by 2050.

The report’s main message is clear: gender equality is more than a moral imperative; it is an economic and social necessity. The 2030 deadline to meet the Sustainable Development Goals is fast approaching, and the next five years will determine whether the world seizes this opportunity – or allows hard-won gains to slip away.

Read the complete report, published by UN DESA and UN Women, here: The Gender Snapshot 2025

Source: UN DESA Voice