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On the occasion of International Women’s Rights Day, March 8, 2024, Focus 2030 takes a closer look at the state of gender equality around the world.
The international community as a whole has committed to achieving gender equality by 2030. However, the many global crises underway are a stark reminder of the urgent need for coordinated action to promote equality worldwide : women and girls are disproportionately affected by armed conflicts, pandemics, climate change and economic crises.
In 2024, no country has achieved gender equality. One in three countries have made no progress since 2015, and the situation of women has even deteriorated in 18 countries, such as Venezuela, Afghanistan and South Africa. At the current rate of progress, it will take another 131 years to achieve gender equality worldwide.
40% of women worldwide live in countries where abortion laws are restrictive. Even after the right to abortion has been legalized, it can still be jeopardized, as evidenced by the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, which led to the banning of abortion in 14 States.
In other words, the feminist struggle will either be international or it will not be.
We need to focus on what’s at stake, because women’s rights are under threat all over the world. In this context of widespread backlash, France, by becoming the first country toinscribe in its Constitution the guaranteed freedom for women to have recourse to abortion raises the hopes of many feminist movements around the world for the preservation and expansion of sexual and reproductive rights and health.
This measure, supported by nearly 70 % of French people according to our latest survey, could influence other countries to guarantee this fundamental right. In fact, two-thirds of those surveyed believe so.
But women’s rights remain largely underfunded internationally. The 68th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 68), a regular event held in New York from March 11 to 22 this year, will be particularly scrutinized by civil society organizations. This event could represent a unique opportunity to sustainably finance the achievement of gender equality.
Focus 2030 is committed to providing a comprehensive overview of women’s rights around the world, highlighting factual data and giving a voice to the actors of change.
This international day is an opportunity to recall that gender equality is not only a fundamental right, but also a development and world peace issue, forming the cornerstone of the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Gender inequalities : 10 facts and figures to grasp the scale of the challenge
- Global overview of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR)
- Insufficient funding to promote gender equality internationally
- Exclusive interviews with leading experts on gender inequality
- Exclusive survey - Perception of gender issues in France, Germany, Italy
- Campaigns - Mobilized for women’s rights worldwide
The achievement of gender equality around the world will have to wait another 131 years at the current rate of progress.
- 10% of the world’s Heads of State today are women - UN Women, 2024.
- Today women enjoy less than two-thirds of the legal rights available to men—not three-quarters as previously estimated - World Bank, 2024.
- The gender pay gap is at 20% worldwide - ILO, 2022.
- One in three women globally have already suffered physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both - WHO, 2021.
- Every 11 minutes, a woman or girl is killed by a member of her own family - UN Women, 2022.
- 800 women die every day worldwide from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth - WHO, 2023.
- 40% of women worldwide live in countries where abortion laws are restrictive - Center for Reproductive Rights, 2024.
- 270 million women worldwide have no access to modern contraception - WHO, 2023.
- More than 12,000 girls risquent are at risk of female genital mutilation every day in 2024 - WHO, 2024.
- Only 4% of Official Development Assistance flows aim to contribute directly to the emancipation of women - OCDE, 2020-2021.
Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are crucial pillars of female emancipation and sustainable development. They refer to the set of rights guaranteeing individuals the right to control their own bodies and to freely make all decisions related to sexuality and reproduction.
Despite the progress made over the past two decades, major challenges remain, including the right to abortion, which is still illegal or restrictive in many countries, and access to contraception, which is subject to numerous challenges, particularly in the poorest countries dependent on international aid.
And yet, only 6% of official development assistance from donor countries is devoted to SRHR.
Without increased financial mobilization as well as awareness on the part of the international community, inequalities in access to these fundamental rights will persist. To meet these challenges, in 2023 France launched a new international strategy for SRHR for the period 2023-2027. France currently ranks 16th among donor countries in this area.
🔗 Find out more about the state of SRHR in the world
In 2024, while abortion on demand is legal in 77 countries, it remains illegal or subject to restrictive conditions in 112 others. 753 million women of reproductive age live in countries with restrictive abortion legislation.
Restrictions surrounding access to abortion endanger women’s lives and can even lead to their death. Some 39,000 women die every year as a result of unsafe abortions.
Even when it is legal, the right to abortion can be challenged, as illustrated by the US Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, which led to the banning of abortion in 14 states, directly threatening women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health services. Even in countries where the right to abortion is legalized, it is not fully effective due to multiple obstacles : health professionals’ conscience clauses, lack of human and financial resources, legal time limits, pressure on particular social groups...
In response to this setback to women’s rights, several French parliamentarians proposed a law to enshrine the right to abortion in the Constitution. On Monday March 4, France made history by becoming the first country in the world to enshrine in its Constitution "the freedom guaranteed to women to have recourse to a voluntary interruption of pregnancy".
A survey poll commissioned by Focus 2030 and conducted by Stack in February in France, Italy and Germany, reveals that only 8% of French people are opposed to constitutionalizing the right to abortion. 67% believe that this measure could even have a knock-on effect in other countries (60 % in Germany and 61 % in Italy).
🔗 Find out more about abortion rights around the world in 2024
While the use of contraception is essential to prevent the risks of unwanted pregnancy, its availability remains conditioned by geographical, economic and social disparities. Of the 1.9 billion women of childbearing age (between 15 and 49) in the world in 2021, 9% have unmet needs for contraception.
Each year, according to the WHO, 74 million women living in low- and middle-income countries become pregnant accidentally, 25 million abortions are performed under unsafe conditions, which are responsible for at least 39,000 deaths and the hospitalization of millions of women due to complications.
🔗 Find out more about contraception rights around the world in 2024
Although female genital mutilation (FGM) is less and less practiced and legitimized from one generation to the next, the practice persists. Most often carried out during childhood, FGM refers to all procedures involving the partial or total removal of a woman’s external genitalia, or any other injury to the female genitalia for non-medical reasons. While cases of FGM are reported all over the world, the practice is recorded in 31 countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, but also in the Middle East and certain Asian countries such as Indonesia.
According to UNFPA, more than 12,000 girls are at risk of undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM) every day in 2024, involving the total or partial removal of their external genitalia, or excision, for no medical reason. These practices represent a serious violation of the fundamental rights of women and girls, with severe consequences for their physical and mental health, and can even lead to their death.
UNFPA estimates that $275 million will be spent on combating FGM by 2030, while $2.4 billion would be needed to achieve zero genital mutilation in 31 priority countries.
🔗 Find out more about the fight against female genital mutilation in 2024
Since the introduction by the OECD in 2016 of a marker dedicated to accounting for official development assistance in favor of gender, the 30 donor countries of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) indicate the degree of gender mainstreaming in all their projects and programs.
Despite the need to increase funding to progress towards gender equality, in 2022 there was a 5% decrease in official development assistance contributing directly to gender equality worldwide, reaching $5.5 billion compared to $5.8 billion in 2021 (main objective - OECD marker 2). At the same time, commitments to projects with equality as a significant objective (OECD marker 1) rose by 21%, from $53 billion in 2021 to $64 billion in 2022.
In 2021, France pledged to allocate a proportion of its bilateral aid to gender equality, 75 % as a significant and main objective (including 20 % as a main objective only). According to the latest available data, France is still not meeting its commitments.
🔗 Find out more about ODA to support gender equality
The 68th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 68), the annual international women’s rights meeting organized by the United Nations, will be held in New York from March 11 to 22, 2024. This year, the strengthening of institutions and financing to accelerate the achievement of gender equality will mobilize all the States Parties and the many NGOs present.
A delegation of 15 French MPs will be in New York for the first time as part of the CSW. At a time when the right to abortion has just been enshrined in the French Constitution, this visit is an opportunity to raise France’s voice and offer a new direction for sexual and reproductive health and rights on the international stage.
Fifteen countries have recently committed to feminist diplomacy aimed at influencing and advancing the rights of women and gender minorities via their foreign policy.
France joined this select club in 2019, pledging via its feminist diplomacy to increase its development aid in favor of gender equality, support feminist movements in Southern countries and sustainably increase access to SRHR for as many people as possible.
From words to deeds on the occasion of the Generation Equality Forum, France has become the leading country supporting women’s rights organizations and feminist movements.
Furthermore, it allocates 400 million euros in support of DSSR.
The latest report from the Gender in Geopolitics Institute opens the focus on the commitments of Spain, France and Italy to gender equality, and highlights a number of shortcomings in the public policies pursued in this area, notably their lack of coherence between domestic measures and international actions.
While some countries, such as France and Spain, have officially adopted a feminist foreign policy, others, such as Italy, tend to promote traditionalist and conservative values.
While some countries, such as France and Spain, have officially adopted a feminist foreign policy, others, such as Italy, tend to promote traditionalist and conservative values. The report warns of the dangers of nationalism and conservatism in Europe, while calling on the European Union to play a role in harmonizing and promoting feminist foreign policies among its member states.
🔗 Discover the synthesis of the latest report from the Gender in Geopolitics Institute
In the run-up to March 8, 2024, Focus 2030 has commissioned the polling institute Stack to survey opinions and attitudes in France, Germany and Italy about the state of gender inequality in their countries and around the world, and what needs to be done about it.
Key findings :
– 70% of respondents in France, Italy and Germany consider that gender equality should be a political priority (France 74%, Germany 64%, Italy 71%).
– In all three countries covered, respondents believe that gender equality is progressing faster in their own countries than in the rest of the world.
– 71% of those surveyed in France said they were in favor of adopting feminist diplomacy to promote equality between women and men in the world (48% in Germany, 59% in Italy).
– 70% of French respondents are in favor of protecting the right to abortion in the French Constitution (50% in Germany, 61% in Italy), 66% believe that this measure could encourage other countries to further guarantee this right (60% in Germany, 61% in Italy)
🔗 Discover the full survey results
🔗 Discover the full survey results
From the Equality Generation Forum, a global conference on women’s rights to be held in 2021, six priority areas for action have emerged to advance the rights of women and girls worldwide.
Focus 2030 has surveyed existing sources of data relating to the Forum’s six action coalitions : gender-based violence, economic justice and rights, bodily self-determination and sexual and reproductive health and rights, women’s action for climate justice, technology and innovation for gender equality, and feminist movements and leadership. Two sections, on education and on financing actions in favor of equality, complete this panorama.
🔗 Discover Focus 2030’s overview of resources on gender inequality across the world
