City2City
Podcast: Ocean Plastic Solutions from Cities, Brands & Waste Collectors
09 July 2024 - In our latest episode of  NothingWasted!, we chat with Susan Ruffo, executive director of The Circulate Initiative, which aims to incubate, measure, and amplify inclusive solutions that stop plastic waste from flowing into the ocean. 
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It provides entrepreneurs, policymakers, and investors with the knowledge and skills they need to incentivize, create, support, and operate waste-reducing circular economies.

We spoke with Susan about the circular economy, the effects of COVID-19 on the plastics problem, innovation abroad, and more!

Here’s a glimpse into what we discussed:

Waste360: Can you talk about the Urban Ocean program and how your group is working with cities to improve their waste management practices?

Ruffo: Urban Ocean is a new program that The Circulate Initiative, Ocean Conservancy, and the Global Resilient Cities Network has just launched with five cities primarily in South- and Southeast Asia but also in Latin America. Our goal is to get all of our partners working together on the issue of ocean plastics but also on related issues touching on waste management, circularity, public health, and other sustainability and economic issues. Our theory is that none of us can do any of these things alone, but we can advance all of our priorities if we’re working together.

Waste360: How key are cities in addressing the marine plastic waste problem?

Ruffo: To me they’re absolutely key. I take inspiration from the leadership cities have shown on the climate issue. If you look at cities around the world and see what they are doing on reducing emissions, changing transportation, changing buildings, and really leading the discussion on what can be done on climate… I think cities can do the same on ocean plastics. They have a lot of the authority to do what needs to be done in thinking about waste management and recycling; they also have direct access to their citizens and can do public awareness campaigns and education; and they can pass regulations and incentives that really can help move things forward. So I think they’re an absolutely key actor that hasn’t been engaged as much as they should be on the ocean plastic issue—so we’re trying to change that.

Waste360: You have said that part of the problem is that ocean waste is not a priority concern for developing nations. How do we make it more of a priority for these governments?

Ruffo: It’s just a hard issue to put at the top of the agenda when these governments are dealing with things like poverty, feeding people, public health. But the key is that it’s not a standalone issue. Ocean plastic is not just about the ocean—and as soon as we start thinking of it in that way, it becomes much more interesting to city governments. I wouldn’t expect any mayor to tell me that his or her top priority was keeping plastic out of the ocean. But I’d be really surprised if a mayor said they weren’t interested in public sanitation, picking up trash, the jobs they could create, safety and dignified work. So when you start thinking of it as a broader issue, it comes much higher up on a priority list. 

Waste360: Can you give us an overview of your panel at the recent Virtual Ocean Dialogues hosted by the World Economic Forum and Friends of Ocean Action?

Ruffo: We had a great panel bringing together representatives from around the world and across sectors. For me the most interesting thing was how the panelists talked about how they can start working with each other. For instance, there was a whole discussion about how city policies could recognize workers in the informal sector and help them be more efficient while also improving their livelihood.

#NothingWastedPodcast

Listen to the Podcast here: https://www.waste360.com/nothingwasted-podcast/episode-65-ocean-plastic-solutions-cities-brands-waste-collectors

Image by bilyjan from Pixabay 

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Cities on the Frontline Speaker Series #18: Gender Inclusive Cities
09 July 2024 - Please join us for the 18th Session of Cities on the Frontline, jointly organized by Global Resilient Cities Network & the World Bank, which will focus on 'Gender Inclusive Cities: How can cities embed gender inclusivity in recovery planning and beyond?' 
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We will be joined by Daniela Guarieiro, Deputy Chief Resilience Officer of the City of Salvador, Brazil, Dr. Kealoha Fox, Aloha Care, Honolulu, and Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, Vice-Chair, Maui County Council.

The event will be held on Thursday, 9 July 2024, at 8.30 PM EST| Friday, 10 July 2024, 08.30 AM Singapore/Kuala Lumpur Time. The event duration is 1 hour.

Please register here: https://bit.ly/genderinclusivecities. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing log-in info and a calendar detail that can be added to your system.

Missed a session? For access to the previous sessions' materials, visit our Speaker Series webpage for full access to the presentations & recordings: https://bit.ly/citiesonthefrontline

For questions about the Speaker's Series or additional registration requests, please send an email to our team at 

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HLPF 2024 Side-Event: Imagine a post-COVID-19 city—with women's human rights
08 July 2024 - This panel discussion will challenge us to imagine the post COVID-19 city that respects women’s human rights, builds resilience and prevents crises, and puts feminist and women’s movements’ aspirations into local action. Panelists will include representatives from the feminist and women’s movement, UN agencies and mayors. The event will open up to a Town Hall meeting using Zoom and will have simultaneous interpretation.
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08 July 2024 - This panel discussion will challenge us to imagine the post-COVID-19 city that respects women’s human rights, builds resilience and prevents crises, and puts feminist and women’s movements’ aspirations into local action. Panelists will include representatives from the feminist and women’s movement, UN agencies, and mayors. The event will open up to a Town Hall meeting using Zoom and will have simultaneous interpretation.

This side-event to the High-Level Political Forum 2024 is being organized by the International Alliance of Women, Feminist and Women's Movement Action Plan, NGO CSW/NY, Habitat (To Be Confirmed) and UN Women (To Be Confirmed).

Event Details:

  • Date: Thursday, 9 July 2024
  • Time: 12:00 PM - 01:30 PM EST
  • Registration Link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VMQq2MCtQjmmKcZxZ1e2aA
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UCLG and UN Habitat: Voluntary Local Review (VLR) Series Launch (HLPF 2024)
07 July 2024 - This launch event session will be presenting the first volume of Guidelines for VLRs of the VLR Series jointly developed by UCLG and UN-Habitat and will showcase the importance that VLRs play not only in monitoring and evaluating progress towards the SDGs but also in contributing towards multilevel governance and the transformation necessary to achieve just, resilient, and sustainable cities, territories, and societies that guarantee protection to all citizens during and beyond times of crisis
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07 July 2024 - Local and regional governments, as the closest level of government to the people, are well aware of the unique characteristics, expectations, and needs of citizens and territories and can effectively support the development of policies which directly respond to the risks and vulnerabilities that society face on a daily basis. Furthermore, public service delivery is indispensable as a means to support citizens, especially during crises, and is the basis upon which structural inequalities will be mitigated and the achievement of the global goals will happen.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic which has quickly and deeply affected our world, it is clear that our towns, cities, regions, and territories will never be the same in the aftermath and that no sole level of government can overcome this crisis alone. The efforts shared among local and regional governments, supported by their associations and networks, through decentralized cooperation will prove to be key to solve the interconnected challenges we face today caused by the most pressing global trends such as climate change and biodiversity loss, changing demographics and rising inequality, among others.

In this sense, local and regional governments, and their associations and networks, are working towards providing comprehensive systems-based strategies to the implementation of the universal agendas via the effective localization of the global goals and the development of Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs). This with the aim to foster the transformative diplomacy necessary to achieve sustainable development, help take stock of progress made, and contribute towards transparency and accountability towards citizens. This global ‘localization’ movement of the universal agendas is a testimony of support towards territorial cohesion, multilevel governance, and leaving no one and no place behind.

United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), as the world organization of local and regional governments, and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) are committed to supporting the development of VLRs and will be launching a VLR Series which aims to provide guidance, definitions and technical support to any local and regional government aiming to engage in the VLR process. This VLR Series will act as an integral part of the work that will be undertaken by the UCLG Community of Practice on VLRs which reflects the advocacy movement of UCLG and the members of the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments with regard to increasing awareness of local and regional governments’ co-ownership of the 2030 Agenda and providing them with an institutional harbor to share knowledge, experiences and learn mutually.

This launch event session will be presenting the first volume of Guidelines for VLRs of the VLR Series jointly developed by UCLG and UN-Habitat and will showcase the importance that VLRs play not only in monitoring and evaluating progress towards the SDGs but also in contributing towards multilevel governance and the transformation necessary to achieve just, resilient, and sustainable cities, territories, and societies that guarantee protection to all citizens during and beyond times of crisis.

It will aim at bringing out the intrinsic value of VLRs as a political process that can enhance coordination between different spheres of government. The localization of the universal development agendas that are being driven by our communities offer the only viable way of ensuring that no-one and no place is left behind in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis.

Speakers: 

  • Emilia Saiz, UCLG Secretary General
  • Maimunah Mohd Sharif, UN-Habitat Executive Director
  • Penny Abeywardena, Commissioner of NYC for International Affairs
  • Santiago Saura, Councillor of Madrid for International Affairs
  • Nikita Rumyantsev, Head of Moscow Urban Forum Research Centre
  • Miquel Rodriguez, Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda of Barcelona
  • Yolanda Martínez, Secretary of Social Development of Oaxaca
  • Luiz Alvaro Salles, Secretary of International Affairs of Sao Paulo
  • Francisco Resnicoff, Under-Secretary for International Affairs of Buenos Aires
  • Marilia Sorrini Peres Ortiz, Deputy Secretary of Planning of Niteroi
  • Amson Sibanda, Chief, Division for Sustainable Development Goals of UN DESA

Session Details:

  • Date: Wednesday 8 July, 2024
  • Time: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM EST
  • The session will be in zoom. No advance registration is required.
  • Session Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81803089876?pwd=VGJVOUpGamsyUEE0aTNIS2dPb UJGUT09
  • ID: 818 0308 9876
  • Password: 766543
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Viet Nam is creating its first zero plastic waste city: Here's how
03 July 2024 - Only 10-15 % of collected waste in Viet Nam is reused or recycled. A new Zero Plastic Waste City project will model local solutions. The project is centred on a social business-driven approach. The chosen pilot city will be announced later in 2024.
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03 July 2024 - Five South-East Asian countries are responsible for more marine plastic waste leakage than the rest of the world combined - and Viet Nam is one of them. While the Mekong River plays a crucial role in the socio-economic development of the region, it also ranks among the 10-most impactful sources of global marine litter.

The main causes behind Vietnamese land-based marine litter can be attributed to a combination of rising consumption and poor national waste management. Alongside Viet Nam's rapid economic development over the past decades, the country's solid waste generation has also increased consistently at annual rates of around 10%. Only about 10-15% of collected waste in Viet Nam is reused or recycled; much of the remainder is sent to dump sites and incineration facilities, underlining the necessity of more sustainable approaches to solid waste management in the country.

With currently more than 2,000 small-scale enterprises and high industrial growth rates, plastic recycling constitutes a very promising industry in Viet Nam. However, until recently, most of the plastic material recycled in Viet Nam was imported from other countries such as China. In an effort to avoid a dramatic increase of global waste streams to the country, the Vietnamese government banned the import of material for recycling in 2018, an act that has boosted demand for recyclable domestic plastic waste. Accordingly, the most severe barriers that hinder an improvement in Vietnamese plastic waste management are found in the inadequate or non-existent disposal, collection and segregation of waste at household and provincial level. Due to insufficient investments in waste recycling technologies and resources, most Vietnamese provinces are not adequately equipped for the separated collection of waste at source.

On-the-ground studies show that neighbourhoods that enjoy regular waste collection benefit from an effective and cost-efficient service. However, many communities remain unreached by regular collection services. In response, local households dispose of their municipal waste independently via measures such as incineration or dumping. While these informal and uncoordinated activities not only cause harmful direct effects such as air pollution and the spread of mosquitoes, they also indirectly foster marine litter along the entire Mekong Delta.

It is precisely against this backdrop of much-needed capacity building in strategic municipal waste segregation, collection and recycling that the Zero Plastic Waste City project was initiated as a collaboration between The Grameen Creative Lab and The Alliance to End Plastic Waste. Consisting of a modular social business approach, the programme aims to increase the waste collection rates of currently unconsidered waste types and increase the amount of waste being reused for new purposes, while simultaneously empowering local waste pickers. The modular approach allows for the development of a social business based on the needs of local communities as well as the gaps in the waste value chain, and which is integrated into the existing ecosystem of local waste management stakeholders. Social businesses - a concept developed by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and co-founder of The Grameen Creative Lab, Muhammad Yunus - base their business activities not on the maximization of profits but on solving their customers' specific social or environmental problems. They combine the best of two worlds: the social mission of a charitable organization with the business acumen of traditional for-profit businesses, ensuring long-term financial self-sustainability.

To ensure the successful implementation of the Zero Plastic Waste City approach in terms of both a long-lasting socio-environmental impact within the project region as well as a contribution to the global effort to reduce marine plastic litter, the project’s specific locations will be identified according to a variety of factors such as their proximity to rivers or the sea, and a current high volume of solid waste leakage. Furthermore, in order to specifically target municipal waste collection schemes, the project will be primarily implemented in small and medium-sized urban areas. In Viet Nam, these criteria should ensure a high probability of success for the Zero Plastic Waste City programme. Furthermore, the project is potentially scalable along the entire Mekong Delta as well as through an extensive local network of partner organizations.

In the Mekong Delta particularly, the price sensitivity of existing informal schemes of waste collection and recycling constitutes a remarkable finding by our on-site investigations and a particular challenge of local waste management schemes. In many municipalities, informal waste pickers collect and recycle household waste in addition to governmental waste management services or as full substitution of them. However, interviews with local waste pickers indicate that their informal collection and recycling services highly depend on local market prices for recyclable materials. If revenues on secondary materials are low, informal collection and recycling rates drop. These findings not only stress the importance of market mechanisms in understanding informal sector value creation; more importantly, they underline the need for formal employment opportunities and stable wages for waste collectors from the informal sector – one of the major contributions of the Zero Plastic Waste City project.

Grameen Creative Lab is currently identifying local partners for implementation, aligning other stakeholders in the areas and initiating pilot assessments. The city will be announced in early 2024 and Grameen Creative Lab will also explore approaches to scale these social businesses to additional cities in 2021. We look forward to working with platforms like the Global Plastic Action Partnership, which launched its first pilot in Indonesia and will soon partner with the Government of Viet Nam, to drive effective action against plastic pollution in Viet Nam and its neighbouring countries, paving the way towards a more sustainable and pollution-free ASEAN region.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE LINK: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/01/viet-nam-is-building-its-first-zero-plastic-waste-city-heres-how

Image: Grameen Creative Lab

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Chairman of Indonesia's Waste Pickers Union (IPI) on COVID-19
03 July 2024 - This video message was created by IPI and shared during the NPAP Indonesia Digital Conference on 22 April 2024.
UN Women Webinar: Is this time different? COVID-19, inequalities and the prospects for structural transformation
02 July 2024 - Join UN Women for a webinar that will set the stage for a series of in-depth conversations and consultations to produce a Feminist Plan for Sustainability and Social Justice to influence policy debates on how to shape a more equal and sustainable post-COVID world.
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Speakers will include:

  • Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, India
  • Ruth Nyambura, Founding member and the convener of the African Ecofeminists Collective
  • Corina Rodriguez, Centro Interdisciplinario para Estudio de Politicas Publicas and Executive Committee Member of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)

Moderator:

  • Hakima Abbas, Co-Executive Director of the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID).

Event Date:

  • Thursday, 9 July 2024 

Event Time:

  • San José: 6.30 – 8.00 am
  • New York: 8.30 – 10.00 am
  • Buenos Aires: 9.30 – 11.00 am
  • Accra: 12.30-2.00 pm
  • London: 1.30 – 3.00 pm
  • Nairobi: 3.30 – 5.00 pm
  • Delhi: 6.00 – 7.30 pm
  • Sydney: 10.30 pm – 12:00 am

Registration deadline: 8 July, 12.00pm EDT. Zoom details for event will follow RSVP.

Registration Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1St0dORTyrrj5k8B0iUfYXq71L3qdPxso_Icrl8dO6DE/viewform?edit_requested=true

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COVID-19 and Human Development: Assessing the Crisis, Envisioning the Recovery
02 July 2024 - This note takes a capabilities approach to document the severity of the unfolding human development crisis. Such an approach implies an evaluative framework to assess the crisis and shape the policy response that emphasizes the potential for people to be and do what they aspire in life as opposed to material resources or economic activity.
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02 July 2024 - The COVID-19 pandemic is unleashing a human development crisis. On some dimensions of human development, conditions today are equivalent to levels of deprivation last seen in the mid-1980s.

But the crisis is hitting hard on all of human development’s constitutive elements: income (with the largest contraction in economic activity since the Great Depression), health (directly causing a death toll over 300,000 and indirectly leading potentially to an additional 6,000 child deaths every day from preventable causes over the next 6 months) and education (with effective out-of-school rates – meaning, accounting for the inability to access the internet – in primary education expected to drop to the levels of actual rates of the mid-1980s levels). This, not counting less visible indirect effects, including increased domestic violence, yet to be fully documented.

The pandemic was superimposed on unresolved tensions between people and technology, between people and the planet, between the haves and the have-nots. These tensions were already shaping a new generation of inequalities—pertaining to enhanced capabilities, the new necessities of the 21st century, as defined in the 2019 Human Development Report. But the response to the crisis can shape how those tensions are addressed and whether inequalities in human development are reduced.

This note takes a capabilities approach to document the severity of the unfolding human development crisis. Such an approach implies an evaluative framework to assess the crisis and shape the policy response that emphasizes the potential for people to be and do what they aspire in life as opposed to material resources or economic activity. To assess the crisis, the note draws from original simulations that are based on an adjusted Human Development Index—with the education dimension modified to reflect the effects of school closures and mitigation measures—and that incorporate current projections of gross national income (GNI) per capita for 2024.

The simulations suggest conditions today would correspond to a steep and unprecedented decline in human development. With almost 9 in 10 students out of school and deep recessions in most economies (including a 4 percent drop in GNI per capita worldwide), the decline in the index –reflecting a narrowing in capabilities-- would be equivalent to erasing all the progress in human development of the past six years. Importantly, if conditions in school access are restored, capabilities related to education would immediately bounce back – while the income dimension would follow the path of the economic recovery post-crisis. The simulations also show the importance of promoting equity in capabilities. In a scenario with more equitable internet access—where each country closes the gap with the leaders in its human development category—the decline in human development would be more than halved. This would be eminently affordable. In 2018 it was estimated that $100 billion would be needed to close the gap in internet access in low- and middle-income countries—or about 1 percent of the extraordinary fiscal programmes announced around the world so far.

The note suggests three principles to shape the response to the crisis:

  • Look at the response through an equity lens.i Countries, communities and groups already lagging in enhanced capabilities will be particularly affected, and leaving them further behind will have long-term impacts on human development.
  • Focus on people’s enhanced capabilities. This could reconcile apparent tradeoffs between public health and economic activity (a means to the end of expanding capabilities) but would also help build resilience for future shocks.
  • Follow a coherent multidimensional approach. Since the crisis has multiple interconnected dimensions (health, economic, and several social aspects, decisions on the allocation of fiscal resources that can either further lock-in or break free from carbon-intensive production and consumption), a systemic approach—rather than a sector-by-sector sequential approach—is essential. A recent survey conducted in 14 countries found that 71 percent of adults globally consider that climate change is as serious a crisis as COVID-19, with two-thirds supporting government actions to prioritise climate change during the recovery. ii

The United Nations has proposed a framework for the immediate socioeconomic response,iii with which this note is fully consistent and meant to inform and further flesh out both the analysis of the crisis and possible responses.

Finally, the note also highlights the importance of collective action—at the community, country, and global levels. And the response to this crisis is showing how people around the world are responding collectively. The adoption of social distancing behaviour—which in some cases started before formal policies were put in place—could not possibly be fully enforced. It depended on the voluntary cooperation of billions of people. And it was done in response to a shared global risk that brought to the fore as a priority something other than having economies grow more rapidly. If we needed proof of concept that humanity can respond collectively to a shared global challenge, we are now living through it.

Read the full report here or download the attached PDF of the report.

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COVID-19 and Human Development: Assessing the Crisis, Envisioning the Recovery
02 July 2024 - This note takes a capabilities approach to document the severity of the unfolding human development crisis. Such an approach implies an evaluative framework to assess the crisis and shape the policy response that emphasizes the potential for people to be and do what they aspire in life as opposed to material resources or economic activity. 
…

02 July 2024 - The COVID-19 pandemic is unleashing a human development crisis. On some dimensions of human development, conditions today are equivalent to levels of deprivation last seen in the mid-1980s.

But the crisis is hitting hard on all of human development’s constitutive elements: income (with the largest contraction in economic activity since the Great Depression), health (directly causing a death toll over 300,000 and indirectly leading potentially to an additional 6,000 child deaths every day from preventable causes over the next 6 months) and education (with effective out-of-school rates – meaning, accounting for the inability to access the internet – in primary education expected to drop to the levels of actual rates of the mid-1980s levels). This, not counting less visible indirect effects, including increased domestic violence, yet to be fully documented.

The pandemic was superimposed on unresolved tensions between people and technology, between people and the planet, between the haves and the have-nots. These tensions were already shaping a new generation of inequalities—pertaining to enhanced capabilities, the new necessities of the 21st century, as defined in the 2019 Human Development Report. But the response to the crisis can shape how those tensions are addressed and whether inequalities in human development are reduced.

This note takes a capabilities approach to document the severity of the unfolding human development crisis. Such an approach implies an evaluative framework to assess the crisis and shape the policy response that emphasizes the potential for people to be and do what they aspire in life as opposed to material resources or economic activity. To assess the crisis, the note draws from original simulations that are based on an adjusted Human Development Index—with the education dimension modified to reflect the effects of school closures and mitigation measures—and that incorporate current projections of gross national income (GNI) per capita for 2024.

The simulations suggest conditions today would correspond to a steep and unprecedented decline in human development. With almost 9 in 10 students out of school and deep recessions in most economies (including a 4 percent drop in GNI per capita worldwide), the decline in the index –reflecting a narrowing in capabilities-- would be equivalent to erasing all the progress in human development of the past six years. Importantly, if conditions in school access are restored, capabilities related to education would immediately bounce back – while the income dimension would follow the path of the economic recovery post-crisis. The simulations also show the importance of promoting equity in capabilities. In a scenario with more equitable internet access—where each country closes the gap with the leaders in its human development category—the decline in human development would be more than halved. This would be eminently affordable. In 2018 it was estimated that $100 billion would be needed to close the gap in internet access in low- and middle-income countries—or about 1 percent of the extraordinary fiscal programmes announced around the world so far.

The note suggests three principles to shape the response to the crisis:

  • Look at the response through an equity lens.i Countries, communities and groups already lagging in enhanced capabilities will be particularly affected, and leaving them further behind will have long-term impacts on human development.
  • Focus on people’s enhanced capabilities. This could reconcile apparent tradeoffs between public health and economic activity (a means to the end of expanding capabilities) but would also help build resilience for future shocks.
  • Follow a coherent multidimensional approach. Since the crisis has multiple interconnected dimensions (health, economic, and several social aspects, decisions on the allocation of fiscal resources that can either further lock-in or break free from carbon-intensive production and consumption), a systemic approach—rather than a sector-by-sector sequential approach—is essential. A recent survey conducted in 14 countries found that 71 percent of adults globally consider that climate change is as serious a crisis as COVID-19, with two-thirds supporting government actions to prioritise climate change during the recovery. ii

The United Nations has proposed a framework for the immediate socioeconomic response,iii with which this note is fully consistent and meant to inform and further flesh out both the analysis of the crisis and possible responses.

Finally, the note also highlights the importance of collective action—at the community, country, and global levels. And the response to this crisis is showing how people around the world are responding collectively. The adoption of social distancing behaviour—which in some cases started before formal policies were put in place—could not possibly be fully enforced. It depended on the voluntary cooperation of billions of people. And it was done in response to a shared global risk that brought to the fore as a priority something other than having economies grow more rapidly. If we needed proof of concept that humanity can respond collectively to a shared global challenge, we are now living through it.

Read the full report here or download the attached PDF of the report.

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Tackling Social Norms: A game changer for gender inequalities
02 July 2024 - The Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI) measures how social beliefs obstruct gender equality in areas like politics, work, and education, and contains data from 75 countries, covering over 80 percent of the world’s population. The analysis reveals that despite decades of progress closing the equality gap between men and women, close to 90 percent of men and women hold some sort of bias against women, providing new clues to the invisible barriers women face in achieving equality. The publication also includes the GSNI trends for 31 countries, representing 59 percent of the global population. The trends show that while in some countries there have been improvements, in others, attitudes appear to have worsened in recent years, signaling that progress cannot be taken for granted.
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02 July 2024 - Gender disparities are a persistent form of inequality in every country. Despite remarkable progress in some areas, no country in the world—rich or poor—has achieved gender equality. All too often, women and girls are discriminated against in health, in education, at home, and in the labour market with negative repercussions for their freedoms.

This is the time for a reality check. The commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing+25) provides an opportunity to reassess the path to gender equality and adjust actions to close gender gaps.

The Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI) measures how social beliefs obstruct gender equality in areas like politics, work, and education, and contains data from 75 countries, covering over 80 percent of the world’s population.

The analysis reveals that, despite decades of progress closing the equality gap between men and women, close to 90 percent of men and women hold some sort of bias against women, providing new clues to the invisible barriers women face in achieving equality.

According to the index, about half of the world’s men and women feel that men make better political leaders, and over 40 percent feel that men make better business executives and that men have more right to a job when jobs are scarce. 28 percent think it is justified for a man to beat his wife.

The publication also includes the GSNI trends for 31 countries, representing 59 percent of the global population. The trends show that while in some countries there have been improvements, in others, attitudes appear to have worsened in recent years, signaling that progress cannot be taken for granted.

Read the full report here or download the attached PDF of the report.

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