Hard Numbers … in honor of International Women’s Day, March 8

30: The United Nations has released a new report assessing progress on women’s rights worldwide 30 years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a landmark agreement for advancing gender equality, was adopted. The report finds uneven gains for women’s rights and gender parity, particularly with government representation and legal rights. There’s been stagnation or backsliding on alleviating poverty, access to education, workforce participation, and conflict-related sexual violence. Overall, 1 in 4 countries has reported some form of backlash against women’s rights in 2024 alone. Still, women remain optimistic: Check out GZERO World’s recent interview with Annemarie Hou, executive director of the UN Office for Partnerships.

46: American girls are outperforming boys in many key educational areas, from on-time high school graduation rates (89.1% vs. 82.9%), to likelihood of being held back in kindergarten (100 girls per every 145 boys get held back), to enrollment in at least one Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate class (46% vs. 38%). Girls are even closing the math achievement gap, according to a study by Education Week.

4: Olympic gold medal runner Faith Kipyegon could potentially run the mile in under four minutes, according to new research in the journalRoyal Society Open Science.The phenom from Kenya could run the mile in 3:59 under the right conditions, the researchers posited; if they’re right, she’d be the first woman to do so.

15: A court in Arizona’s Maricopa County on Wednesday permanently blocked a 15-week abortion ban from going into effect. The decision affirms the state’s constitutional protection for abortions up to 24 weeks, which Arizona voters approved by ballot measure last year.

42: Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, has the highest approval rating of any European Union country leader, tied with Poland’s Donald Tusk at 42%. But that doesn’t mean she’s safe from challenge: The Italian economy grew less than projected last year, and it’s a long way till those 2027 elections.