UNECE, in close collaboration with the UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, will convene the interministerial Beijing+30 Regional Review Meeting - “Reviewing 30 years of Beijing Commitments to Accelerate Gender Equality in the UNECE Region” - on 21-22 October 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Held every five years since 2000, the interministerial meeting aims to reinvigorate political commitment to promote gender equality and empower women and girls in the UNECE region. Ahead of next year’s 30th commemoration of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the meeting also seeks to build regional agreement on priority actions to speed up the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and fast-track the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
During high-level roundtables, ministers, senior officials, and representatives from relevant ministries, UN entities, regional institutions and organizations, civil society organizations, youth organizations, academia, independent experts, and other stakeholders from 56 countries in the UNECE region will deliberate on priorities related to gender equality and women’s empowerment, including:
- Accelerating women’s economic empowerment: the path to peaceful, just and inclusive societies;
- Women in leadership and their full and equal participation in decision-making;
- Ending violence against women and girls;
- Leveraging financing for gender equality;
- Closing the gender gap: effective policies to deliver on SDGs in the UNECE region.
Trends and data
In the last five years, repeated shocks have rocked the world, from the COVID-19 pandemic to energy and financial crises, from the escalating climate emergency to eruptions of armed conflict and geopolitical tensions. These crises disproportionately affect women and girls, exacerbating existing inequalities. At the same time, the rise in authoritarian regimes and anti-rights movements is threatening the progress made and endangering women's rights activists.
Although gender equality is improving across the UNECE region, most targets are likely to fall short by 2030 at the current pace. Progress can be measured for less than half of the targets, one of them being the share of women participating in political and economic life (Target 5.5), which is increasing in nearly every country in the region.
The proportion of elected seats held by women in parliaments and local governments has seen significant growth and, if sustained, could exceed one-third by 2030, though still short of parity. Today, women make up an average of 31.6% of parliamentarians in single or lower houses of 56 UNECE countries, in comparison to 27.8% at the last review in 2019 and 11% in 1995. Progress was also observed in terms of women rising to ministerial posts. As of 1 January 2024, an average of 28.8% of women serve as Cabinet ministers in the 56 UNECE countries.
Nevertheless, the “glass ceiling” in political spheres is still very present in many countries of the UNECE region, with women being underrepresented in the highest echelons of political power, with minimal progress observed since the last regional Beijing review in 2019. For example, in total, women currently serve as Heads of States and/or Government in 14 UNECE countries, which is the same figure as in the previous review of August 2019.
Other areas that countries need to prioritize to accelerate progress include violence against women and girls, and economic rights and empowerment of women.
Eliminating gender-based violence remains a challenge and it has not declined significantly across the region. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many women and children faced domestic violence during lockdowns. Moreover, military conflicts have led to a rise of conflict-related sexual violence. According to the most recent data, the proportion of women aged 18-74 who have experienced gender-based violence by any perpetrator since the age of 15, ranges from 10.3% to 57.1%. Technology-facilitated violence is on the rise, with the highest prevalence found in Ukraine (76.8%) and the lowest in Tajikistan (30.7%).
When it comes to the economic rights and empowerment of women, they continue to be overrepresented in insecure, precarious, or informal employment, which is characterized by low remuneration, poor working conditions, and limited access to social protection. This situation was intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. The gender pay gap ranges from less than 10% in some Western Balkans countries to over 60% in some countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus. The gender wage gap translates into a wider gender pension gap, exceeding 40% on average in the region.
Progress in terms of women’s participation in the corporate sector is very modest. The proportion of women in managerial positions in the corporate sector stands at 34.7% as of 2022 in 36 reporting countries, having only slightly risen from 33.2% in 2018 for 37 reporting countries.
Learn more about the Beijing+30 Regional Review Meeting and register here.