Summary

In the present report, the Working Group takes stock of its past work, focusing on the past six years, and presents its vision for the future. It warns about the escalating gender backlash, which has reached extreme proportions in certain countries, including gender apartheid, and reaffirms its commitment to countering it, while charting a path towards the equal enjoyment of all human rights for women and girls. It presents the overarching framework that will guide its work for the next six years, one that is centred on developing an understanding of substantive equality for women and girls and the concrete implications that it holds for States and other actors in the face of contemporary challenges.

In its recommendations, the Working Group calls for a commitment to substantive gender equality and for coordinated efforts to counter the gender backlash.