Five years after the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan remains the only country barring girls from secondary school. Its crisis is extreme, but no society has finished the job. UNICEF estimates that one in five girls worldwide is married before 18, and that more than 12 million are married every year, roughly one every three seconds. That…
India has reduced child marriage substantially, but the latest NFHS data show that one in five young women were still married before 18. A new UN observance puts the issue back on the global agenda. It also gives India a significant annual marker for measuring progress. India has made decent progress on child marriage. The…
The UN Children’s Fund has adopted a new four-year Gender Equality Action Plan, 2026-2029. The Executive Board of the UN Children’s Fund has approved UNICEF’s fourth four-year Gender Equality Action Plan, 2026-2029, which complements the 2026-2029 UNICEF Integrated Budget of $26 billion and UNICEF’s Global Strategy 2026-2029. The global plan also focuses on the world’s…
A new UN report warns that women worldwide have only 64% of the legal rights of men, highlighting major gaps in justice systems, weak law enforcement, and rising violence against women and girls. On International Women’s Day 2026, the United Nations delivered a message that was anything but celebratory. UN Women issued a global alert…
Photo Credit: Antara Mrinal Clear Cut Gender DeskNew Delhi, UPDATED: Oct 13, 2025 05:32 ISTWritten By: Antara Mrinal Across the planet, a quiet emergency is taking root. UNICEF estimates that 12 million girls marry every year before they turn 18. Progress is being made, but global momentum towards ending child marriage is slowing down as a result…
