Twenty-five years have passed since the United Nations adopted a groundbreaking resolution calling for the equal participation of women in all peace and security efforts. Yet, as the world marks this anniversary, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has delivered a sobering message: women remain glaringly absent from the negotiating tables where peace is brokered, and the dangers facing them are only escalating.
Speaking on October 7, 2025, at a U.N. Security Council meeting commemorating the adoption of the resolution on October 31, 2000, Guterres did not mince words about the current state of affairs. According to the Associated Press, he stated, “Around the globe, we see troubling trends in military spending, more armed conflicts, and more shocking brutality against women and girls.” He noted that, despite some progress, the gains made over the past quarter-century are “fragile and – very worryingly – going in reverse.”
The statistics paint a grim picture. As reported by multiple sources including the AP and the U.N. News Service, sexual violence against women and girls is on the rise. An astonishing 676 million women now live within 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) of deadly conflicts—a figure the head of the U.N. women’s agency describes as the highest since the 1990s. The scope and scale of this crisis are hard to overstate, with lives and futures hanging in the balance across continents.
Yet, Guterres did acknowledge that there have been glimmers of hope. Since the resolution’s adoption, the number of women serving in uniform as U.N. peacekeepers has doubled. Women have stepped up as local mediators, advanced justice for survivors of gender-based violence, and led organizations that have been pivotal in community recovery and reconciliation after conflicts. These achievements, while significant, remain overshadowed by the persistent exclusion of women from decision-making roles in peace processes.
“Too often nations gather in rooms like the Security Council chamber ‘full of conviction and commitment,’ but fall far short of the resolution’s demand for equal participation of women in peace negotiations—and protection of women and girls from rape and sexual abuse in conflicts,” Guterres told the assembled leaders, as quoted by the AP. His remarks underscored a recurring pattern: lofty promises made in international forums that rarely translate into meaningful action on the ground.
UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous also addressed the Security Council, echoing Guterres’s concerns while highlighting areas of progress. She pointed to women’s roles in reducing community violence in the disputed Abyei region between Sudan and South Sudan, as well as in the Central African Republic. In Haiti, women have achieved near parity in the new provisional electoral council, and Chad’s National Assembly has seen women’s representation double. Syria’s interim constitution now guarantees rights and protections for women, and in war-torn Ukraine, women succeeded in ensuring that national relief efforts to help women were codified into law.
But Bahous did not shy away from the darker trends. She lamented what she described as a “renewed pushback against gender equality and multilateralism,” a phenomenon she said is being exacerbated by short-sighted funding cuts. These cuts, according to Bahous, are undermining education opportunities for Afghan girls, curtailing life-saving medical care for tens of thousands of sexual violence survivors in Sudan, Haiti, and beyond, and limiting access to food for malnourished women and children in Gaza, Mali, Somalia, and other regions.
In her remarks, Bahous sought to counter the sense of inevitability that sometimes accompanies such setbacks. “It is understandable that some might conclude that the rise and normalization of misogyny currently poisoning our politics and fueling conflict is unstoppable,” she said. “It is not. Those who oppose equality do not own the future, we do.” Her words were a rallying cry for renewed commitment and action, rather than resignation.
Guterres, for his part, urged the U.N.’s 193 member nations to step up their commitment to women caught in conflict. He called for increased funding, ensuring women’s participation in peace negotiations, accountability for sexual violence, and the protection and economic security of women and girls. “The world cannot afford to ignore the voices and needs of half its population,” he emphasized, according to U.N. News Service reporting.
The stakes could hardly be higher. The failure to include women in peace processes isn’t just a matter of fairness; research has shown that peace agreements are more durable and effective when women are involved in their negotiation and implementation. Yet, as Guterres and Bahous both made clear, meaningful inclusion remains the exception, not the rule.
The challenges are compounded by broader global trends. Rising military expenditures, the proliferation of armed conflicts, and the normalization of misogyny in political discourse have created an environment in which the rights and safety of women and girls are increasingly under threat. According to Bahous, “short-sighted funding cuts” are making it even harder for women and girls to access education, healthcare, and basic nutrition—essentials that are often the first to be sacrificed in times of crisis.
Despite these daunting obstacles, the examples cited by Bahous offer a measure of hope. In places like Abyei, the Central African Republic, Haiti, Chad, Syria, and Ukraine, women have not only survived but have become agents of change, helping to build more resilient and peaceful communities. These stories, while perhaps less headline-grabbing than tales of violence and loss, are crucial reminders that progress is possible—even in the most challenging circumstances.
Still, the overall message from the U.N. leadership was one of urgency and concern. The world’s governments, international agencies, and civil society organizations must do more to ensure that women are not merely victims of conflict, but active participants in forging peace. As Guterres put it, the gains of the past 25 years are at risk of being lost, and the world cannot afford complacency.
In the end, the anniversary of the U.N. resolution serves as both a milestone and a warning. The path toward equal participation for women in peace and security remains long and fraught with setbacks, but the determination of leaders like Guterres and Bahous—and the courage of women on the frontlines—suggests that the struggle is far from over.
