While extreme poverty has declined dramatically across regions, poverty remains gendered. Globally, women aged 25-34 are 25 per cent more likely than men to live in extreme poverty.
The coronavirus pandemic will widen the poverty gap between women and men, pushing 47 million more women and girls into impoverished lives by next year, and undoing progress made in recent decades, the United Nations said.
Worldwide more women than men will be made poor by the economic fallout and massive job losses caused by COVID-19, with informal workers worst hit in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, according to new U.N. estimates.
During the pandemic, women have lost their jobs at a faster rate than men have, as they are more likely to be employed in the sectors hardest hit by long lockdowns such as retail, restaurants and hotels, it said.Women are also more likely to work in the informal economy, typically in jobs as domestic workers and cleaners that often come with little or no health care, unemployment benefits or other protections.
Power and decision-making
Power and decision-making remain overwhelmingly dominated by men. Women’s representation in parliaments has more than doubled from 11 per cent in 1995, but men still hold three quarters of seats. Men also hold 73 per cent of management positions and are 70 per cent of climate negotiators. In peace negotiations, the numbers are even more dismal. In spite of conclusive evidence that where women are engaged in formal peace processes, agreements are more inclusive and durable, women make up just 13 per cent of peace negotiators and 4 per cent of signatories.
Gender Gap in Employment
One in three women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence, mostly by an intimate partner. Violence against women and girls is a human rights violation, and the immediate and long-term physical, sexual, and mental consequences for women and girls can be devastating, including death.
- Globally, 35 per cent of women have ever experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, or sexual violence by a non-partner.
- 137 women are killed by a member of their family every day.
- Less than 40 per cent of the women who experience violence seek help of any sort.
- 15 million adolescent girls worldwide, aged 15–19 years, have experienced forced sex-
- One in 10 women in the European Union report having experienced cyber-harassment since the age of 15.
Sources: UNWomen / World Economic Forum
