Progress fades on women's rights as the world grow more militaristic

Hundreds of millions of women and girls around the world are seeing their hopes and rights dim as wars and civil conflicts spread, governments grow more autocratic, and spending on humanitarian aid takes a backseat to building armies and buying military equipment.

A new report from the United Nations on Wednesday finds that more than 600 million women and girls lived in conflict-affected countries in 2022, an increase of 50% over five years. With civilians needing more aid than ever, spending on militaries exceeded US$2.2 trillion last year alone.

"It shares a picture of decline in several countries in the political space for women to participate in decision-making on peace and security, a decline at the very moment when women’s leadership is needed most," U.N. Women's Executive Director Sima Bahous told the U.N. Security Council.

Nearly a quarter century after the council adopted resolution 1325 reaffirming a critical role for women in preventing wars and negotiating peace, the U.N. finds that in many instances the reverse is the norm.

“In peace processes, negotiating parties continue to regularly exclude women, and impunity for atrocities against women and girls is still prevalent,” the report finds.

Women still face “entrenched barriers” to direct participation in peace and political processes and their organizations struggle to find money, while military spending grows.

That's a shame, the report points out, because there's ample evidence women's participation contributes to “more robust democracies and longer-lasting peace."

Misogyny gains as democracy backslides

Against a backdrop of armed conflicts, the climate crisis and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a growing share of the world is seeing democracy backslide as autocratic rule thrives. Misogyny, the study said, is a “common thread in the rise of authoritarianism” and in the spread of conflict and violent extremism.

Meanwhile, the number of people needing humanitarian aid grew by 25% last year while the world saw the largest global food crisis in history.

“As these negative trends turn back the clock on women’s rights, they also turn back the clock of history, setting back both gender equality and global peace,” the report said.

Women and girls in Sudan's Darfur region were terrorized by widespread sexual violence after fighting broke out last April. In Afghanistan, the Taliban have issued some 50 edicts to suppress the rights of women and girls, in a return to the oppression of the 1990s.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres pointed to similarly disturbing trends in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians are caught up in the Israel-Hamas war.

“Women and girls are among the many victims of Hamas’ brutal atrocities. And women and children are more than half the victims of the relentless bombing of Gaza,” he said. “This grim backdrop gives renewed urgency to efforts to ensure women’s full and meaningful participation in peace and security."

A call for more investment

The U.N. secretary-general's report on women, peace, and security recommends at least one-third of all participants in mediation and peace processes be women. In reality, women are largely sidelined.

While women participated in most peace processes led or co-led by the U.N., their actual numbers remained low _ only about 16% of total participants, a proportion that has actually fallen for two straight years.

The report, issued annually to coincide with the Security Council's annual open debate on resolution 1325, includes additional recommendations:

• Investing $300 million in new funding pledges for women’s organizations in crisis settings over the next three years;
• Setting ambitious targets for women’s direct participation on delegations and negotiating teams, and appointing women as lead mediators in peace processes;
• Reducing military expenditures and increasing funding to women’s peace-building efforts which have repeatedly shown to be effective and sustainable;
• Ensuring women human rights defenders can work safely in their home countries or relocate as necessary.