The fifth United Nations Sustainable Development Goal is to achieve gender equality and empower
all women and girls.
Women's equal participation in decision-making is critical for COVID-19 response and recovery,
but gender partiality remains far off.
Women represent only 26.6% in national parliaments, 36.3% in local government, and 28.2% in managerial
positions.
Violence against women persists at unacceptably high levels and has been intensified by the
pandemic.
One in three women, or 736 million, have been subjected to physical and or sexual violence
at least once in their lifetime since the age of 15.
Up to 10 million girls will be at risk of child marriage over the next decade as a result
of COVID-19, in addition to the 100 million who were projected to become child brides
before the pandemic.
Pandemic is adding to the burden of unpaid domestic and care work and squeezing women
out of the labor force.
Women already spend about 2.5 times as many hours as men on unpaid domestic and care work.