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FOREWORDBY PHUMZILEMLAMBO-NGCUKAUNDER-SECRETARY-GENERALAND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,UN WOMENIn 2014, an unprecedented number of countriesprovided reports on the extent to which they hadbeen able to implement the Beijing Platform forAction, adopted 20 years ago in 1995 as a globalblueprint for the achievement of gender equality.These 167 reports, and the associated regional andglobal reviews, gave us the clearest reading to dateof the status of gender equality across the world.Progress of the World’s Women: Transformingeconomies, realizing rights, provides a timely,action-oriented counterpoint to the Beijing+20findings. With a view to changing both economicand social institutions, it distils and confronts themost glaring gaps between the laws and policiesthat guarantee equal rights for women and girls,and the reality on the ground. The drive to achievesubstantive equality – making rights real forwomen – is at the heart of this Progress report, andit provides the evidence and recommendations forpublic action to achieve it.Our analysis shows that economic and social policiescan contribute to fairer and more gender-equalsocieties, as well as stronger and more prosperouseconomies, if they are designed and implementedwith women’s rights at their centre. For example,to increase women’s access to decent work, theremoval of formal legal barriers to their employmentis important, but we also need measures that free upwomen’s time, such as affordable childcare optionsand investments in basic infrastructure. We need toenable shifts both great and small in social norms, sothat men can take on care work and engage in otherareas that foster and demonstrate altered attitudesof responsibility.As Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said, ours isthe first generation with the potential to end poverty.Equally important, and intrinsically linked to thatgoal, it is in this generation’s reach to transformgender relations, to empower women and girls, andhumanity as a whole.We know what needs to be done to achieve equalityand a 50:50 Planet by 2030. Together with thefindings of the Beijing +20 review, let this report bea call to urgent and sustained action, frontloadedfor the next five years, to start real, visible change,especially in the lives of the most marginalized. Myhope is that everyone will be inspired to be part ofa re-energized and growing movement for genderequality. With determined people from all walksof life, and with more determined leaders, genderequality can be a defining achievement of the firstquarter of the 21st century.Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka3