Women’s rights are sliding backwards across the globe as conflicts rise, civic space shrinks and organised resistance to gender equality grows stronger, United Nations (UN) warned in a new report released ahead of International Women’s Day. The report, Ensuring and Strengthening Access to Justice for All Women and Girls, reveals that women currently hold just 64% of the legal rights of men, and that 54% of countries still lack consent-based legal definitions of rape.
The findings are stark. Women face greater barriers to justice than men in nearly 70% of the countries surveyed, blocked by discriminatory laws, entrenched social norms, weak implementation of existing protections and conflict environments where abuse goes unpunished. In 2024, 676 million women and girls — the highest number since the 1990s — lived within 50 kilometres of an active conflict, contributing to an 87% spike in reported conflict-related sexual violence violations.
“Where power remains unequal, justice rarely operates neutrally,” said Sarah Hendriks, UN Women Director for Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Affairs, speaking at a briefing in New York. “When justice fails women and girls, the damage goes far beyond any single story — communities lose faith, public trust erodes and justice institutions lose legitimacy.” She noted that justice systems do not sit apart from broader political pressures; they reflect them.
The picture is not without hope. Since 1970, family law reforms have opened economic opportunities for more than 600 million women worldwide, showing that change is possible when the political will exists. But nearly 90% of organisations working to end violence against women are now reporting reductions in essential services, and only 5% believe they can sustain current operations for more than two years.
UN Women is calling on governments to act on eight concrete recommendations by 2030, with Hendriks insisting that judicial reform must be “shaped by women and shaped for women” — and backed by serious, sustained investment.
