Those of you interested in statistics and data will love this new UN report released this week in New York on the state of play for women around the globe.  It’s not a quick read - at 284 pages!!!! - but includes a comprehensive review of that women and employment, health, education and all things in between, along with a fantastic array of graphs and tables that illustrate perfectly why we must remain focused on gender equality, all over the word.  A snapshot of some of the report highlights include data showing:

• In today’s world there are 57 million more men than women - largely due to longer life expectancies of women: in all regions women live longer than men
• Women still comprise 52% of the labour market and over the past two decades women have entered various traditionally male-dominated occupations, however they are still rarely employed in jobs with status, power and authority. On average only 17% of parliamentary seats around the world are held by women, and remain significantly underrepresented on corporate boards and executive roles: of the 500 largest corporations in the world only 13 have a female CEO.
• There is a persistent pay gap everywhere and while the gender pay gap is closing slowing in some countries, it has remained unchanged in others.
• There is progress “albeit slow and uneven” in the literary status of women and men however women still make up two-thirds of the world’s 774 million adult illiterates - a proportion which is unchanged over the past 2 decades.  The good news is that there have been positive global trends in primary enrollment particularly in developing nations.  Secondary enrollments while on the increase, continue to lag behind primary education.
• In Europe the average at which women marry is 30, although in developing countries this is still below 20 years - and globally the fertility rate has declined to 2.5 births per woman
• In spite of labour force changes, women continue to bear most of the responsibilities for the home, in caring for children and other dependents, preparing meals and completion of housework. When unpaid work is taken into account, women’s total work hours are longer than men’s in all regions - and this begins in childhood with girls more likely than boys to perform unpaid work in the household, and to perform more than boys.
• In some parts of the world, women and girls are often more burdened by the poverty of their household and their than men and boys.