The world is failing women and girls in crisis, but feminism can help – CNN

(CNN)World Refugee Day is an emotional moment every year. When UNHCR publishes its annual totals on the number of people displaced by conflict and persecution — this year more than 70 million — we are forced to confront our failure to bend the arc of history towards justice for millions of refugees around the world.

Today, as I stare at these new numbers and think about the millions of individual lives shattered by crisis, I feel, above all else, frustration that the world continues to fail the women and girls who remain the most marginalized and abused group in any conflict. A report by Equal Measures this month showed that not a single country is on track to achieve gender equality by 2030 — the target date for conclusion of the UN Sustainable Development Goals — and in most cases, this threatens the well-being and safety of women and girls. Fragile and conflict states like Chad, Yemen and DR Congo are furthest behind, largely attributed to the level of violence and insecurity endured by women and girls in these settings.