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Gender equality still '300 years away,' UN chief warns

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Agence France-Presse 

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt=" A Taliban fighter walks past a beauty salon with images of women defaced using spray paint in Shar-e-Naw in Kabul on Aug. 18, 2021. Wakil Kohsar, AFP/File" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/afp/08/19/20210818-taliban-defaced-salon-afp-s.jpg"/><figcaption>A Taliban fighter walks past a beauty salon with images of women defaced using spray paint in Shar-e-Naw in Kabul on Aug. 18, 2021. <em>Wakil Kohsar, AFP/File</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>UNITED NATIONS, United States — Global progress on women&#x27;s rights is &quot;vanishing before our eyes,&quot; UN boss Antonio Guterres warned Monday, saying the increasingly distant goal of gender equality will take another three centuries to achieve.</p><p>&quot;Gender equality is growing more distant. On the current track, UN Women puts it 300 years away,&quot; the United Nations secretary-general said in a General Assembly speech ahead of International <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/02/28/23/philippines-hails-women-this-march">Women&#x27;s Day o</a>n March 8, as he launched two weeks of discussions led by the Commission on the Status of Women. </p><p>&quot;Women&#x27;s rights are being abused, threatened, and violated around the world,&quot; he added, as he ticked off a litany of crises: maternal mortality, girls ousted from school, caregivers denied work and children forced into early marriage.</p><p>&quot;Progress won over decades is vanishing before our eyes,&quot; Guterres said.</p><p>He highlighted the particularly dire conditions in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, where &quot;women and girls have been erased from public life.&quot; </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/12/21/22/the-crackdown-on-afghan-womens-education-rights">Taliban timeline: The crackdown on Afghan women&#x27;s education and rights</a></li></ul><p>He did not name other specific countries, but Guterres stressed that &quot;in many places, women&#x27;s sexual and reproductive rights are being rolled back (and) in some countries, girls going to school risk kidnapping and assault.&quot;</p><p>Also left unmentioned was Iran, which was expelled late last year from the Commission on the Status of Women due to the country&#x27;s repression of a female-led revolt since last September.</p><p>The Islamic Republic was ousted from the commission on December 14 by a US-led vote of the UN Economic and Social Council, or ECOSOC.</p><p>&quot;Centuries of patriarchy, discrimination and harmful stereotypes have created a huge gender gap in science and technology,&quot; Guterres said, citing as an example how women represent only three percent of Nobel prize winners in the sectors.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/10/11/22/nobel-prizes-are-growing-more-diverse-academy-insists">Nobel prizes are growing more diverse, academy insists</a></li></ul><p>He called for &quot;collective action&quot; worldwide by governments, civil society and the private sector to provide gender-responsive education, improve skills training and invest more in &quot;bridging the digital gender divide.&quot;</p><p>&quot;The patriarchy is fighting back. But so are we,&quot; Guterres added. </p><p>&quot;The United Nations stands with women and girls everywhere.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/03/02/23/womens-rights-the-decline-and-the-fight-back">Women&#x27;s rights: the decline and the fight back</a></li></ul><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse </strong></div><div><strong> FROM THE ARCHIVES: </strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1730063" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Global progress on women's rights is 'vanishing before our eyes,' UN boss Antonio Guterres warned. 