At the 2021 Generation Equality Forum, world leaders and partners committed to eliminating gender inequalities and to financing and implementing laws, policies, and programmes to meet priority actions and targets in a Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality. Through a survey of commitment-makers, this report sheds light on the nature of the commitments made and assesses measurable progress. It highlights trends and notes where more work is needed.

The latest available Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 data show that the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030. “Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The gender snapshot 2022” presents the latest evidence on gender equality across all 17 Goals, calling out the long road ahead to achieve gender equality. It emphasizes the interlinkages among the goals, the pivotal force gender equality plays in driving progress across the SDGs and women and girls’ central role in leading the way.

The present report is focused on the urgent need to address violence against women and girls in digital contexts, as well as on broader efforts to eliminate violence against women, particularly in the context of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The report provides information on measures taken by Member States and entities of the United Nations system to address violence against women and girls, and contains conclusions and specific recommendations for future action.

Pursuant to General Assembly resolution 74/235 on women in development, in the present report, the Secretary-General considers global evidence and trends and reviews and assesses measures taken at the national level, since 2019, regarding gender-responsive poverty eradication, social protection, and labour market policies; women’s labour and human rights and ending gender-based discrimination; women’s entrepreneurship; women’s and girls’ unpaid care and domestic work and women’s paid care work; gender-based violence and sexual harassment; universal access to healthcare services, including sexual and reproductive health; and the right to education throughout the life cycle, taking into account the impacts of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in these areas.

This publication is a collaboration between the UN Women’s Independent Evaluation Service and the United Nations University International Institute for Global Health to explore the link between Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 and SDG 5 (gender equality), as part of a system of interconnected SDGs and indicators within these goals.

In this report, the UN Secretary-General provides information on the global prevalence of female genital mutilation and its impacts on women and girls, referencing recent data and evidence on what works to eliminate it. He provides an analysis of progress made to date by Member States, the UN system, and other relevant stakeholders. He also includes information on efforts to anticipate and address the impacts of global humanitarian crises and ongoing conflicts on the elimination of female genital mutilation. He draws conclusions and proposes recommendations for future actions.

The UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) launches its annual report for 2021, the first year of its new Strategic Plan (2021-2025). Despite multiple, overlapping crises, UN Trust Fund grantees continued to pivot and transform their operations to meet the increasing needs of women and girl survivors of violence, including those in marginalized communities.

Drawing on a unique global dataset of nearly 5,000 measures adopted by 226 countries and territories in response to COVID-19, this UN Women and UNDP report finds that government responses paid insufficient attention to gender dynamics, though instances of innovation hold important lessons for gender-responsive policymaking during crises. The report analyses the factors that led to a strong gender response, generating key lessons for resilience and preparedness for future shocks.

This brief analyses the extent to and ways in which countries in sub-Saharan Africa have made extensive use of social protection instruments to confront the economic and social fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on a unique data set of national social protection strategies from 30 countries in the region, it finds that while a significant number of strategies acknowledge gendered risks and vulnerabilities, few include specific actions to address them. The brief concludes with a set of recommendations.

This brief primarily focuses on providing a better understanding of the experiences of a diverse group of women with disabilities across the Asia-Pacific region during the COVID-19 crisis and provides recommendations that will be relevant for the ongoing response and recovery and promote the inclusion of women with disabilities.

This brief primarily focuses on providing a better understanding of the experiences of a diverse group of women with disabilities during the COVID-19 crisis in Nigeria. It also provides recommendations that are relevant for the ongoing response and recovery efforts and promote the inclusion of women with disabilities.

Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is central to children and young people’s health and well-being, equipping them with the knowledge and skills they need to make healthy, informed, and responsible choices in their lives, including to prevent HIV and promote gender equality. This global status review of the CSE provides an analysis of countries’ progress towards delivering good quality school-based CSE to all learners and maps some forward-looking recommendations to countries.

This working paper analyses how women leaders at the national and subnational levels of government managed COVID-19 response and recovery from January 2020 through March 2021. The paper finds that women decision-makers demonstrated effective leadership, rapid response, and implemented socially inclusive policies and provides recommendations on how to ensure women’s participation and contribution to the pandemic response and recovery.

The pandemic has tested and even reversed progress in expanding women’s rights and opportunities. “Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The gender snapshot 2021” presents the latest evidence on gender equality across all 17 Goals, highlighting the progress made since 2015 but also the continued alarm over the COVID-19 pandemic, its immediate effect on women’s well-being, and the threat it poses to future generations.

The “Feminist plan” maps the ambitious and transformative policies—on livelihoods, care, and the environment—that are needed to build a more equal and sustainable future. To get there, it calls for context-specific policy pathways, tailored political strategies, and financing. The plan identifies key levers that can create change and the actors at global, national, and local levels that need to take action to move towards this vision.

UN Women’s highlights from 2020–2021 samples our top 2020 results showing how UN Women has effectively delivered for women and girls around the world, and presents some of the people who have inspired us most over the past year.

On its 25th anniversary, the UN Trust Fund launches its annual report for 2020, which highlights the results of funded civil society and women’s rights organizations despite the challenges of COVID-19. During 2020, UN Trust Fund grantees adapted swiftly to help protect and support women and girls during the unprecedented global crisis sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This policy brief presents entry points for the application of gender-responsive budgeting to COVID-19 support and recovery packages. Drawing on country examples, the brief provides recommendations on the use of gender budgeting tools to identify gaps in policy responses and direct spending towards gender-responsive COVID-19 support and recovery packages.

This brief provides evidence of the different ways in which women’s rights organizations have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the predicament that many of them face of increased relevance and demand at the same time as civic closure, restrictive work conditions, and diminishing funding. The brief also identifies a set of recommendations to strengthen these organizations in the immediate term and to pave the way for a more equal future.

This edition of the “UN Women impact stories” series focuses on women in leadership. Women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, is crucial to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. These stories feature some of the women leaders who are paving the way.