By Roberto Morejon
The fact that Israel's strafing of Gaza has claimed more than 33,000 lives, mainly children and women, underscores the danger to which they are exposed in a world where violence continues unabated.
Just as Tel Aviv refuses to cease its attacks on civilians in the enclave, other states, groups, organizations and individuals are refusing to stop annihilating women's rights.
It is not only, the UN admits, a matter of negative circumstances in the countries of the global South, as some would have us believe, because they also manifest themselves in the industrialized North.
In many parts of the world, women earn lower salaries than men in similar positions, suffer more from poverty and are denied access to political power.
At an annual meeting of world leaders held in September 2023 at the UN General Assembly, only 12 percent of the speakers were women.
The world body admits that the fight for gender equality is hard-won in the rejection of widespread discrimination, hence the strengthening of its specialized entity on women's issues.
UN-Women, focused on gender equality and its empowerment, is unfortunately aware of many examples of women and girls deprived of access to education and health care.
It also notes how they are victims in many societies of violence and discrimination, an outrage considered one of the most widespread and pervasive human rights violations.
Experts estimate that 736 million women, almost one in three, have been subjected to physical and/or sexual harassment at least once in their lives.
Considered a stain from which workplaces, homes and social networks do not escape, intimidation against women was accentuated by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and armed conflicts.
UN-Women channels resources, advises and stands in solidarity with women's rights advocates and feminist movements, but only 5 percent of global government aid goes to gender-based violence and less than 0.2 percent is invested in its prevention.
As the UN recommends, we must fight against outrage and attempts to silence it, because as long as this does not happen, the longed-for equality, peace and development on the planet will be delayed.
