As the world prepares to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October, UN Women released a report highlighting the widening gender gap in social protection.

The report reveals that an alarming two billion women and girls are without access to any form of social protection.

Despite some progress since 2015, gender disparities in social protection coverage have widened in most developing regions, suggesting that recent gains have disproportionately benefitted men. This is putting at risk progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5)

Growing burden of gendered poverty

The report paints a stark picture of gendered poverty, showing that women and girls are overrepresented among the poor at every stage of life, with the largest disparities seen during their childbearing years.

Women aged 25 to 34 are 25 per cent more likely than men in the same age group to live in extreme poverty. Conflict and climate change continue to exacerbate this inequality, with women in fragile environments being 7.7 times more likely to live in extreme poverty compared to those in stable regions.

Furthermore, the high rates of inflation since 2022 have driven up food and energy prices, hitting women particularly hard. Yet, out of nearly 1,000 social protection measures adopted by governments across 171 countries in the months that followed, only 18 per cent targeted women’s economic security, the report reveals.

This highlights how gender-specific risks and vulnerabilities are often neglected in the aftermath of shocks.

Dismal state of maternity protection

Globally, over 63 per cent of women still give birth without access to maternity benefits, with the figure reaching 94 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa.

This lack of financial support during maternity leave, not only places women at an economic disadvantage, but also compromises their health and well-being as well as that of their children, perpetuating poverty across generations.

Examples of progress

Nevertheless, there are promising examples of progress. In Mongolia, maternity leave benefits have been extended to informal workers, such as herders and the self-employed. Paternity leave has also been strengthened to support gender equality in caregiving responsibilities.

In Senegal, the National Health Insurance scheme has expanded its services to better meet the needs of rural women, with support from UN Women.

“The potential of social protection for gender equality, resilience and transformation is enormous. To harness this, we need to centre the dignity, agency and empowerment of women and girls at every stage of the process – from policy and programme design to delivery and financing,” emphasised Sarah Hendriks, Director of the Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division at UN Women.