More women than before are in the labor force throughout their reproductive years, though obstacles to combining family responsibilities with employment persist. In some African countries, more than half of all women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation and its prevalence is not declining. Despite calls for gender and equality, women are significantly under-represented in Governments, political parties and at the United Nations. The gender gap in primary and secondary schooling is closing, but women still lag behind men in some countries in Africa and Southern Asia. Two thirds of the world's 876 million illiterates are women, and the number of illiterates is not expected to decrease significantly in the next twenty years.
Informal unions are common in developed regions and in some countries of the developing regions.
Population Women are having fewer children on average but with more women of reproductive age, world population continues to grow. On many issues of particular concern, there is no data collected anywhere. On other relevant issues, data are collected but only in a few countries. Even basic statistical series on women are not collected routinely in many countries. The United Nations Economic and Social Council has recognized the importance of statistical capacity building for the implementation and follow-up of the global conferences.