Women's Rights Under Threat, Gender Equality Not Possible For 300 Years At Current Pace: UN Chief Antonio Guterres

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday warned that women's rights are "abused, threatened and violated" around the world and gender equality will not be achieved for 300 years at the current pace.

Guterres told the opening session of the Commission on the Status of Women —the UN's premiere global body fighting for gender equality— that the progress won over decades is vanishing because "the patriarchy is fighting back".

Guterres pointed to Afghanistan where "women and girls have been erased from public life", and said that in many countries, women's sexual and reproductive rights are being rolled back. Notably, federal constitutional protection to abortion was rolled back in the United States last year after a Supreme Court ruling. Several states quickly restricted abortion and other reproductive health measures.

Guterres also said girls going to school risk kidnapping and assault in many places, and complained that there are police preying on vulnerable women they are supposed to be protecting.

"From Ukraine to the Sahel, crisis and conflict affect women and girls first and worst," Guterres said.

In other setbacks, said Guterres, maternal mortality is rising and Covid-19's impact is forcing girls into marriage and keeping them out of school, while keeping mothers and caregivers out of paid work.

During its two-week session, the Commission on the Status of Women is focusing on closing gender gaps in technology and innovation. Guterres said the topic could not be more timely because women and girls are being left behind as technology races ahead.

"Three billion (300 crore) people are still unconnected to the internet, the majority of them women and girls in developing countries, (and) in least developed countries, just 19 per cent of women are online. Globally, girls and women make up just one-third of students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics," said Guterres.

Men outnumber women two to one in the tech industry and in the growing field of artificial intelligence, only about one in five workers is a woman, Guterres said. He said "big data" is the foundation of political and business decisions, "but it often ignores gender differences —or turns a blind eye to women altogether— resulting in products and services that bake in gender inequality from the start".

Guterres called for urgent action to equalise power between men and women. He said there must be increasing education, employment and income for women and girls, especially in developing countries. He called for women's full participation and leadership in science and technology to be promoted "from governments to board rooms and classrooms".

Guterres also said a safe digital environment must be created that eliminates "misogynistic disinformation and misinformation" and "gender-trolling" on social media.

Sima Bahous, executive director of UN Women, told the commission's opening meeting that "the digital divide has become the new face of gender inequality". She said that last year, there were 259 million (25.9 crore) more men than women online.

She also cited a survey of women journalists from 125 countries that found three-quarters had experienced online harassment in the course of their work and a third had engaged in self-censorship in response.

In Afghanistan, Bahous said, women who spoke out through YouTube and blogging had their doors marked by the Taliban and many fled the country to ensure their safety. In Iran, many women continue to be targeted for participating in online campaigns, she said.

She said the challenge is "to fix the institutions and harmful gender stereotypes surrounding technology and innovation that fail women and girls" and ensure that online spaces are free of abuse and perpetrators are held accountable.

"If we do not leave this session having said collectively, unambiguously, 'Enough, no more,' then we will have failed," Bahous said.

(With PTI inputs)