World needs $360 billion in investment per year to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment by 2030: UN

The world needs an additional $ 360 billion in investment per year to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment by 2030, according to new UN report

Launched by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), in Abu Dhabi Friday, the "Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The gender snapshot 2023”, provides a comprehensive analysis of the current state of gender equality across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and highlights prevailing trends, gaps, and recent setbacks on the journey towards achieving gender equality by 2030.

"The gender snapshot 2023” underscores the urgent need for concrete efforts to accelerate progress towards gender equality by 2030, revealing that an additional US$ 360 billion per year is needed to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment across key global goals. The report also includes calls for an integrated and holistic approach, greater collaboration among stakeholders, sustained funding, and policy actions to address gender disparities and empower women and girls worldwide, concluding that failure to prioritize gender equality now could jeopardize the entire 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.''

This year’s report includes sex-disaggregated data on the intersections of gender and climate change for the first time, and projects that by mid-century, under a worst-case climate scenario, climate change may push up to 158.3 million more women and girls into poverty (16 million more than the total number of men and boys).

Further facts and figures highlighted in the report include:

Under a worst-case climate scenario, food insecurity is projected to affect as many as 236 million more women and girls, compared to 131 million more men and boys, due to climate change. No country is within reach of eradicating intimate partner violence, and only 27 countries have comprehensive systems to track and make budgetary allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The number of women and girls in conflict-affected contexts has risen significantly, with catastrophic consequences. In 2022, the number of women and girls living in such contexts reached 614 million, 50 per cent higher than the number in 2017.

Globally, at current rates of progress, an estimated 110 million girls and young women will be out of school in 2030.

The labour and earnings gap remains persistently high. For each dollar men earn in labour income globally, women earn only 51 cents. Only 61.4 per cent of prime working age women are in the labour force, compared to 90 per cent of prime working age men.

WAM