The annual report for 2021-22, by United Nations Women (UN Women), explores the themes of improvement and development of gender rights over the years. Released in the post-pandemic years, this edition looks at the issues of women’s inequality which surfaced during and after the Covid-19 outbreak – which the UN had termed as shadow pandemic – and expresses concerns about the world not reaching gender equality indicators before the 2030 endpoint for Global Sustainable Development Goals. 

To counter this concern ‘UN Women’ also built a new four-year strategic plan (2022-2025) which articulates the method by which they aim to reach this goal. The report optimistically lists  reasons which would help people stay on course and champion women’s empowerment, highlighting the role of feminist economics, gender-based violence, and the strength of women and men who are working towards bursting the norms.  

The report concludes by stating, “Over the last four years, UN Women has established an increasingly efficient, effective and accountable corporate architecture built based on strong business processes. Despite the pressures of COVID-19, robust business continuity plans and risk mitigation actions have kept overall performance strong, warranting continued trust and confidence.” This is a must-have report in all libraries that have work on women’s issues.