The UN warns that women’s rights are facing significant setbacks worldwide as democratic backsliding, rising conflicts, economic pressures, and shrinking civic spaces intensify. According to a report by UN Women titled Ensuring and Strengthening Access to Justice for All Women and Girls, legal systems in many countries are failing to protect women, with laws being reshaped to restrict freedoms, silence voices, and allow abuse without consequence. Women and girls face greater barriers to justice than men in nearly 70 percent of surveyed countries, with discriminatory legal frameworks, social norms, gaps in law implementation, traditional justice systems, and conflict settings reinforcing inequality.
Globally, women hold only 64 percent of the legal rights of men, and more than half of countries lack consent-based legal definitions of rape. Rising conflicts further exacerbate the situation, with 676 million women and girls living near deadly conflicts in 2024 and an 87 percent increase in conflict-related sexual violence violations. UN Women emphasizes that when justice fails women, communities lose faith and institutions lose legitimacy.
The report highlights the need for reforms that are “by women, for women,” stressing judicial transformation, increased resources, and government spending to ensure meaningful equality. While progress has been made over decades—such as expanding women’s economic opportunities through family law reform—no country has yet achieved full legal equality, and essential services for ending violence against women are increasingly under threat.
