World 'more gender equal than ever', but progress is reversible, warns UN Women regional chief
Despite progress for women's and girls' rights around the world, these gains are fragile. In 2024, one in four countries in the world reported a setback in women's rights, according to a new report by UN Women.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/03/08/world-more-gender-equal-than-ever-but-progress-is-reversible-warns-un-women-regional-chief
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Despite progress for women's and girls' rights around the world, these gains are fragile. In 2024, one in four countries in the world reported a setback in women's rights, according to a new report by UN Women.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/03/08/world-more-gender-equal-than-ever-but-progress-is-reversible-warns-un-women-regional-chief
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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00:00The world is today more gender equal than at any point in history.
00:05Those are the words of Belen Sanz, regional director of UN Women Europe and Central Asia, in an interview with Euronews.
00:13However, according to Sanz, progress is not guaranteed and could even be reversed without sustained action.
00:20And so women really have made a real shift in the world, but we are seeing that there is an alarming rollback,
00:32that discrimination is deepening, that legal protections are weakening and that funding and financing for gender equality is also shrinking.
00:43According to a new UN Women report, parity has been achieved in girls' education, maternal mortality has dropped by a third
00:51and women's representation in parliaments has more than doubled in the past three decades.
00:58But the expert thinks that the European Union needs to remain extremely vigilant against potential setbacks
01:04as Europe is not immune to the global backlash against gender equality.
01:10We have to anchor the policies that the European Union have put in place
01:16and we have to ensure that there is a strong monitoring and resources allocated to the policies approved,
01:23because otherwise there is always a risk of rollback.
01:26Globally, one in four countries reported a backlash in women's rights in 2024.
01:31Sanz warned that the recent global crisis, including COVID-19, the climate emergency and soaring food and fuel prices,
01:38have only intensified the urgency to act.
01:412025 will be a turning point for women's rights, said Sanz.