Gender equality is 300 years away, growing more distant, warns UN chief Antonio Guterres

Any progress that has been made toward gender equality is “vanishing before our eyes,” said United Nations secretary general António Guterres in a speech before the Commission on the Status of Women on Monday (March 6).

Speaking at one of the key annual events of the UN, the Commission on the Status of Women session, ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, Guterres said the way women’s rights are being abused, violated and threatened around the world, we are “300 years away” when it comes to gender equality.

Reiterating the UN organisation’s commitment to gender equality and the empowerment of women saying “the United Nations stands with women and girls everywhere”, he gave examples of why the hope of achieving gender equality is “growing more distant”.

He cited high rates of maternal mortality, girls being forced into early marriage, women and caregivers being forced out of paid employment and girls being kidnapped and assaulted for attending school as the reasons for his bleak portrayal of the status of women in the world.

Moreover, he said that from Ukraine to the Sahel, crisis and conflict affect women and girls first and worst. Criticising the fact that women’s sexual and reproductive rights are being rolled back in many countries, he particularly referred to Afghanistan. “In Afghanistan, women and girls have been erased from public life,” he said.

Also read: Make this the century of women’s equality: UN chief Antonio Guterres

On Monday, many young Afghan women had gathered outside Kabul University to protest the ruling Taliban’s ban on female education. This ban may amount to “a crime against humanity” said a UN report. In his speech, Guterres said the deputy secretary-general and the executive director of UN Women recently visited Afghanistan and conveyed to the Taliban authorities that “we will never give up fighting for” women and girls.

Guterres also praised member states for focussing this year on closing gender gaps in technology and innovation as “timely”.  “Because as technology races ahead, women and girls are being left behind,” he said. Globally, girls and women make up just one third of students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

In the technology industry, men outnumber women two to one, he said. But, in the field of artificial intelligence, only about one out of five workers is a woman, especially when artificial intelligence is shaping our future world. “Let’s hope it will not be shaped in a totally gender-biased way,” he warned.

The UN chief also highlighted the modern day malaise of the dangers women and girls face online and the misogynistic information online. He slammed “gender-trolling”, which he believed is specifically aimed at silencing women and forcing them out of public life. “The stories may be fake, but the damage done is very real,” he said.

Referring to big data as the “new gold”, and the foundation of today’s political and business decisions, he said that it often ignores gender differences — or turns a blind eye to women all together. This resulted in products and services that “bake in gender inequality” from the start. “We see gender bias algorithms proliferate everywhere,” he stressed.

Also read: Woman or girl killed every 11 minutes by partner or kin: UN chief Guterres

“We cannot let the Silicon Valleys of our world become Death Valleys for women’s rights,” added Guterres.

To achieve gender equality, Guterres called for “collective” and “urgent” action. Education had to be increased, and so should income and employment for women and girls, he said, especially in developing nations in the Global South. There should be promotion of participation of women and girls in science and technology and a safe digital environment should be built for all.

Guterres said that centuries of patriarchy, discrimination and harmful stereotypes have created a huge gender gap in science and technology. “Let’s be clear: global frameworks are not working for the world’s women and girls. They need to change,” he said.