Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Hard Numbers

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

​Women attend the observance of the International Women's Day 2024, at the United Nations in New York, U.S., March 8, 2024.

Women attend the observance of the International Women's Day 2024, at the United Nations in New York, U.S., March 8, 2024.

REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
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 journal Royal 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.

More For You

​The share of college students in the United States who said they’ve considered changing their majors because of AI.

The share of college students in the United States who said they’ve considered changing their majors because of AI.

Natalie Johnson
College students in the US know they’re soon entering a labor market that looks dramatically different from their parents’ generation, and even from a few years ago. Unemployment among young people is up. Meanwhile, companies are shedding jobs, citing AI as the reason. New polling shows nearly half are second-guessing their career plans. [...]
Hard number: 2026 World Cup debuts
Natalie Johnson
Forty-eight countries have officially qualified for the World Cup, after Iraq booked the final spot with its win against Bolivia on Tuesday. It’s the first time Iraq will be competing in the tournament in 40 years. The Democratic Republic of Congo, too, is set to participate for the first time in years (52 to be exact!), and even declared a [...]
The number of Asian countries that have lined up to participate in the first edition of Eurovision, the world’s longest-running international music competition, on the continent.

The number of Asian countries that have lined up to participate in the first edition of Eurovision, the world’s longest-running international music competition, on the continent.

Natalie Johnson
10: The number of Asian countries that have lined up to participate in the first edition of Eurovision, the world’s longest-running international music competition, on the continent.The annual musical extravaganza will make its debut in Asia this year, with the grand finale set for November in Bangkok. Countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia, South [...]
The amount of time police said it took four masked men to steal paintings by Renoir, Cézanne, and Matisse from a museum near Parma, Italy, earlier this month.

The amount of time police said it took four masked men to steal paintings by Renoir, Cézanne, and Matisse from a museum near Parma, Italy, earlier this month.

Natalie Johnson
3 minutes: The amount of time police said it took four masked men to steal paintings by Renoir, Cézanne, and Matisse from a museum near Parma, Italy, earlier this month.The crew that pulled off the daring heist at the Villa dei Capolavori made off with paintings worth more than $10 million. [...]