- The past 25 years show that architecture of gender equality is real and resilient, says UN Women’s Sarah Hendriks
- ‘Progress is possible, but it is uneven, fragile and at risk of being erased,’ Hendriks adds
ISTANBUL
The first quarter of the 21st century has brought tangible gains for women’s rights worldwide, marked by sweeping legal reforms and a growing recognition that gender equality is a public responsibility – even as deep inequalities persist and new risks threaten progress.
Since 1995, governments have implemented 1,531 legal reforms aimed at advancing gender equality, addressing issues ranging from violence against women and workplace discrimination to family law and political participation, a 2025 UN Women report shows.
Today, women around the world are more likely to be elected to parliament, hold high-ranking government and leadership positions, obtain quality education and build successful careers than before.
“We can certainly speak to progress on women’s rights globally since 2000,” UN Women's Director of the Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Support Division Sarah Hendriks told Anadolu.
But she cautioned against the idea that progress has been inevitable or self-sustaining.
“Every right gained reflects political choice and sustained pressure,” she said. “When governments act, change happens. When women’s movements are resourced, change happens. When they are not, progress stalls – or reverses.”
Violence no longer ‘private’
One of the clearest transformations has been the legal response to violence against women.
By 2024, 84% of countries with available data had enacted laws addressing domestic or intimate partner violence, according to UN Women. Sixty-six percent had adopted national action plans, and 78% reported allocating budgetary resources for related services.
“This is a clear shift away from treating violence in the home as a private matter beyond the reach of the law,” Hendriks said.
The impact has been measurable. Countries with domestic violence legislation report significantly lower rates of intimate partner violence – 9.5%, compared to 16.1% in countries without such laws.
Still, Hendriks stressed that laws alone are not enough.
“Across decades of evidence, we know that the presence of a strong and autonomous women’s rights movement, able to organize, advocate, and hold institutions to account, is the single most critical factor in driving progress to end violence against women,” she said.
Despite legal advances, violence remains pervasive. Globally, one woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes by an intimate partner or family member.
Education gains, uneven power
Education has been another area of significant progress.
Nearly half of adolescent girls and young women were out of school in 2000. By 2023, that figure had fallen to 30%, according to a joint report by UN Women, UNICEF and Plan International.
Globally, the number of illiterate young women aged 15 to 24 declined from about 97 million in 1995 to nearly 50 million in 2023. The steepest gains were recorded in South Asia, where illiteracy among young women fell from more than four in ten in 1995 to about one in ten today.
“Today, more girls than boys are enrolling and completing school,” Hendriks said.
Political representation has also expanded, though more slowly.
Women now hold around 27.2% of parliamentary seats worldwide, up from 11.3% in 1995, according to a 2025 Inter-Parliamentary Union study. Six parliaments have reached or exceeded gender parity – a milestone no country had achieved three decades ago.
The most significant progress in women’s representation has been achieved in Rwanda, where women now outnumber men in parliament. The United Arab Emirates and Andorra have also reached near gender parity.
In the workplace, the number of countries with laws prohibiting gender-based discrimination in employment has increased from 58 to 162 since 1995, according to UN Women.
Yet gaps persist. Women hold only about 30% of managerial positions globally.
“At the current pace, parity is still a century away,” Hendriks said.
Progress under pressure
Despite legal and political gains, women continue to face mounting pressures.
Today, women still have only 64% of the legal rights men have, according to the UN Women. For instance, in more than half of all countries, there is at least one restriction preventing women from doing the same jobs as men.
Hendriks explained that the rate of extreme poverty among women has remained virtually unchanged since 2020, with 351 million women and girls expected to live in extreme poverty by 2030 under current trends.
Conflict has also taken a growing toll. In 2024, an estimated 676 million women and girls lived within 50 kilometers of active conflict – the highest number since the 1990s.
“Progress is possible, but it is uneven, fragile, and at risk of being erased,” Hendriks said. “The choice before us is not whether gender equality is achievable, it is whether we are willing to fight for it.”
She warned against the assumption that gender equality will advance automatically.
“There is a dangerous myth that progress is self-sustaining,” she said. “We can speak of collective global advancement only if we understand that it must be actively protected and renewed.”
A resilient, contested foundation
Looking ahead, Hendriks said the next decade will be defined by whether governments choose to reinforce – or hollow out – the foundations that enabled past gains.
“The past 25 years have shown that the architecture of gender equality is real and resilient,” she said. “Shared norms, laws and institutions have been built – and they are holding.”
But those foundations are under strain. Financing for gender equality and women’s rights organizations is shrinking, backlash against women’s rights is increasingly organized and transnational, and gender data systems that underpin accountability are weakening.
“When women disappear from the data, their rights disappear from decisions,” Hendriks said.
She said the priority for the next decade must be political will, sustained financing and robust data.
“This is a moment to reimagine, rebuild and resource,” she said. “So that gender equality is not deferred for another generation, but delivered in ours.”
