Plan International wants to show that the advances achieved in terms of equality in recent years have been slow, fragile and on a limited scale. If the current level of progress is maintained, the organization warns that it would take almost 300 years to achieve full gender equality.
None of the 144 countries analyzed in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Gender Index, where 98% of the world’s girls and women live, has achieved gender equality. Not even the countries with the highest scores, such as Spain, ranked number 12 in the ranking according to data from Equal Measures 2030, are on track to achieve all the targets for 2030. Factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic , the climate crisis, conflicts, and the economic and social crises have profoundly set back the progress achieved, according to the NGO.
For this reason, they consider it necessary to focus on girls and adolescents because they are the ones who suffer the most violations of their rights. Plan International believes in the power and potential of girls and adolescents, but “this is often repressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and double discrimination based on age and gender.”
“All girls should grow up without being discriminated against because of their gender”
Together with its partners and collaborators, the organization works to respond to the specific needs of girls and adolescents, addressing the root causes and risks that girls face.
“All girls should grow up free from gender and age discrimination, but today, they still face inequality and exclusion every day, especially those in crisis or emergency situations. Although there have been some victories significant in areas such as primary education, as they grow, their rights are violated.
The progress made on girls’ rights in the last 10 years has been too slow, fragile and uneven. As a result, countless girls and adolescents around the world face the same inequalities as their mothers did years ago,” said Concha López, General Director of Plan International Spain.
According to Plan International’s ‘Realising Every Girl’s Right to Flourish’ report, which analyzes progress in equality over the last 10 years, rights are not being realized throughout girls’ lives.
Ban on child marriage
The development of girls and equality has improved: there are more legal protections to certain forms of abuse and harmful cultural practices, such as the ban on child marriage in the Dominican Republic in November 2020, in general, infant mortality has been reduced and has largely achieved gender parity in primary school enrollment.
Although the development of girls has improved in the early years, inequalities, however, grow in adolescence, slowing down progress, widening the gender gap and perpetuating intergenerational patterns of poverty, especially for girls in situations of vulnerability or crisis, according to the NGO.
In 2021, only 55% of women between the ages of 25 and 54, compared to 94% of men, were participating in the labor market. And they only represent 27% of management and leadership positions. At current rates, it would take 267.6 years to close this employment gap, while achieving gender parity in politics would take 145.5 years.
Women hold just over a quarter of parliamentary seats in 156 countries and represent just 22.6% of ministerial posts worldwide. In 81 countries there has never been a female head of state.
recommendations
The organization urges to ensure that international legal and policy frameworks, agreements and standards address the double burden of discrimination based on the gender and age of girls. The objective is to guarantee the right to equality and non-discrimination. In his opinion, governments must work with civil society, donors, international actors and the private sector to ensure that a multisectoral and coordinated response is adopted.
They consider it important to ensure legal guarantees for girls’ participation in decision-making and accountability processes at the national and subnational levels and to meaningfully involve girls and their groups in all phases of the processes.
Girls’ collective action and organizing must be supported, funded and valued, recognizing and strengthening their vital and distinctive role as civil society actors and powerful advocates for gender equality and girls’ rights.