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A woman in Kabul is weaving a carpet: women and girls have been banned from public life since the radical Islamic Taliban took power in Afghanistan
Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned of massive regression in the rights of women and girls worldwide.
Equality between women and men is becoming "more and more distant," Guterres said on Monday before the UN General Assembly in New York.
According to the United Nations Women's Rights Commission, equality is currently "300 years away," Guterres said.
"The advances made over decades are disappearing before our eyes."
Women's rights are "abused, threatened and violated" all over the world, Guterres said in his speech at the opening of a two-week session of the UN Commission on Women's Rights to mark the upcoming International Women's Day on March 8th.
He cited maternal mortality, the displacement of girls from educational institutions and child marriages as examples.
The situation in Afghanistan is particularly bad, where the radical Islamic Taliban have banned women and girls from public life.
The UN Secretary-General did not name other countries such as Iran.
The country was excluded from the UN Women's Rights Commission at the end of last year because of its violent suppression of the protests.
The protests in Iran, which have been going on for months, were sparked by the death of the young Kurd Jina Mahsa Amini.
The 22-year-old died after being arrested by the vice squad because of an improperly worn headscarf.
"Centuries of patriarchy, discrimination and harmful stereotypes" have also created a huge gap between women and men in science and technology, Guterres said.
He called on governments, civil society and the private sector worldwide to “act collectively” to enable gender-responsive education, improve the training of professionals and invest more in “bridging the digital gender divide”.
aar/AFP