'Full legal equality for women remains a dream'
New York, US (PANA) - Whether it is protections against gender-based violence or equal pay, women and girls continue to face inequalities before the law, while impunity for violations of their rights persists worldwide, UN Women warned in a report published Wednesday.
Ahead of International Women's Day, celebrated on 8 March, UN Women is issuing a global warning: around the world, judicial systems that are supposed to uphold rights and the rule of law are failing in their obligations to women and girls.
Globally, women enjoy only 64% of the legal rights that men enjoy, exposing women to discrimination, violence, and exclusion at every stage of their lives.
This is one of the conclusions of the UN Secretary-General's report, entitled “Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls.”
Definition of rape
This report also reveals that in more than half of the countries worldwide (54%), rape is still not defined on the basis of consent, meaning that a woman can be raped without the law recognizing it as a crime. In nearly three out of four countries, national law permits forced marriage of girls.
Furthermore, 44% of countries have no laws mandating equal pay for work of equal value, meaning that it is still legal in these countries to pay women less for the same work.
“When women and girls are denied justice, the scale of the harm goes far beyond an isolated case. Public trust erodes, institutions lose their legitimacy and the rule of law itself is weakened. A justice system that fails to deliver on its obligations to half the population cannot claim to be working for justice at all,” said UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous.
Acceleration of rights violations
As hostile reactions against longstanding commitments to gender equality intensify, violations of the rights of women and girls accelerate, fueled by a global culture of impunity in courts, online spaces, and conflict contexts.
Laws are being rewritten to restrict the freedoms of women and girls, silence them, and allow abuse to go unpunished. As technology overtakes regulations, women and girls face increasing cyber violence in a climate of impunity where perpetrators are rarely held accountable. In conflicts, rape continues to be used as a weapon of war, and reports of sexual violence have increased by 87% in just two years.
The report also indicates that progress is possible: 87% of countries have adopted laws against domestic violence and more than 40 countries have strengthened constitutional protections for women and girls over the past ten years.
However, laws are not enough. Discriminatory social norms such as stigmatization, victim-blaming, fear, and community pressure continue to silence survivors, obstruct justice, and allow violence, even in its most extreme forms such as femicide, to go unpunished.
Women's access to justice is also hampered by everyday realities such as cost, time, language, and a deep lack of trust in the very institutions that are supposed to protect them.
-0- PANA MA 6March2026
