One in 130 females living in modern-day slavery: UN

Even as it remains true that modern-day slavery has an effect on everyone, females across the world account for around 71% of all victims, according to a report by the United Nations. 

 
Pointing towards the modern-day slavery being largely a gender issue, the report titled ‘Stacked Odds’ states that modern-day slavery is enabled by power imbalances and for women and girls, this imbalance is exacerbated by gender inequality and discrimination.   

According to the report,females account for a staggering 99% of all victims of forced sexual exploitation, 84% of all victims of forced marriage, and 58% of all victims of forced labour, it added.   

The report highlighted that in most countries girl children continue to have relatively less access to school and medical care, which in turn makes women more vulnerable to end up in poverty.   

Females outnumber males as victims of modern-day slavery in four of the five world regions. They account for 73% of victims in the Asia and Pacific, 71% in Africa, 67% in Europe and Central Asia, and 63 % in the Americas, the UN report states.   

Even in the Arab States, where estimates are significantly impeded by a lack of data on forced marriages and the forced labour of domestic workers, nearly 40% of all people living in modern-day slavery 
are women. 
New Delhi, Hindustan Times, (12 October 2020)