The UN Statistics Division has launched a report of gender equality trends and statistics. The report is presented as an interactive portal and features 100 “data stories” from around the world.

The report titled, ‘The World’s Women 2020: Trends and Statistics,’ was launched on 20 October 2020 – World Statistics Day, which is marked once every five years. The report seeks to answer the question, “What do data tell us about progress towards the commitments made in the Beijing Platform for Action” 25 years after its adoption?

The report uses statistics to analyze the state of gender equality around the world in six areas. On economic empowerment, the report finds that unpaid domestic and care work has intensified for both men and women during the COVID-19 pandemic, but women globally still spend about three times as many hours on unpaid domestic and care work as men (4.2 hours compared to 1.7).

This restricts women’s participation in the labor market; in 2020, only 47% of women of working age participated in the labor market, compared to 74% of men, and the authors report that this gender gap that has remained relatively constant since 1995. The pandemic is “expected to exacerbate these gender disparities, as many women work in the subsectors hardest hit by COVID-19 and lockdown measures, including in paid domestic work, accommodation and food services, and the retail trade,” the report suggests.

On power and decision making, the data show that women held only 28% of managerial positions globally in 2019, which is almost the same proportion as in 1995. In addition, only 18% of enterprises surveyed had a female Chief Executive Officer in 2020, and that percentage drops to 7.4% for Fortune 500 corporations.

On education, the report finds that girls and boys are participating equally in primary education in most regions of the world. In tertiary education, women outnumber men, and enrollment is increasing faster for women than for men.

On violence against women and girls, an estimated 137 women are killed by their intimate partner or a family member every day. In the past 12 months, 18% of women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a partner.

The other two areas for analysis in the report are population and families, and health. The authors also consider impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report is presented on an online portal, including an interactive map to find stories by region, and datasets organized by the six thematic areas. [Publication: The World’s Women 2020: Trends and Statistics] [DESA News]