Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres said the advancement of women's rights globally has been lackluster, leaving gender equality seemingly unattainable for centuries to come.
"Gender equality is growing more distant," Guterres told the General Assembly on Monday, The Hill reported. "On the current track, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women puts it 300 years away."
Throughout the speech, the U.N. head drew on notes of the fading progress in the women's rights movement over the past decades. At one point, Guterres drew attention to ongoing issues such as threats to abortion rights and the women and girls living under strict Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
Guterres then called on governments, organizations, and businesses to boost women's and girls' education, income, and employment and increase women's participation and leadership in science and technology.
"It calls for gender-responsive education and skills training, algorithms that align with human rights and gender equality and investment in bridging the digital gender divide. More than ever, we need collective action by governments, civil society, the private sector and the technology community," he said.
"Women and girls will not be silenced. Their demands for their rights and freedoms echo around the globe."
"The Commission on the Status of Women is a dynamo and catalyst for the transformation we need," he continued. "Together, let us push back against the pushback on women's rights, against misogyny and forward for women, girls, and our world."
Guterres' comments came after the U.N.'s economic and social council voted Iran out from its Commission on the Status of Women in December due to its government's suppression of a women-led social movement.
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