Gender equality remains the “unfinished business of our time”, with the private sector playing a vital role in closing the gap, according to a new UN Women report launched on Wednesday.
The report, Unfinished Business: Private Sector and Gender Equality – Transforming Corporate Commitments into Equality for All Women and Girls, was unveiled on the sidelines of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
It argues that closing gender gaps is both a moral and legal imperative, as well as beneficial for business and national economies. The report points to progress driven by laws and regulations in areas such as pay transparency, workplace diversity, and safety.
However, it found that overall gains remain modest, uneven, under-reported, and vulnerable to backlash or reversal.
Globally, women make up only 39 per cent of the workforce, remain concentrated in lower-paying roles, earn 20 per cent less on average than men, and continue to face higher rates of workplace sexual harassment.
UN Women Deputy Executive Director Kirsi Madi said: “We must all act together, now, to close the gap between commitment and actual outcomes.”
The launch came as the UN opened its high-level week with a commemoration of the Beijing Declaration, marking the 30th anniversary of the landmark international conference on women’s empowerment.
UN Women Executive Director, Sima Bahous, noted that while more girls are completing school than ever before, the number of women in parliaments has nearly doubled, and close to 100 discriminatory laws have been repealed in the past five years, progress is still too slow.
“Every step forward proves the same truth: gender equality works,” Bahous said, adding: “But progress has not been fast enough.”
A related report released earlier this month revealed that none of the gender equality Sustainable Development Goals are currently on track.
It also highlighted that 676 million women and girls now live under the shadow of deadly conflict—the highest figure recorded since the 1990s.
