As the global community is defining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the post-2015 era, it takes stock and draws lessons from policy experiences around the world to chart a forward-looking agenda for action. This Report draws on experiences, evidence and analysis from diverse national and regional contexts to answer this question. It reviews women's gains in obtaining equality before the law, access to education and other social services; in increasing their visibility as political actors; in participation in paid work and its benefits; and in increased public recognition of the scale and severity of the violence they experience. But it also asks why progress in ensuring women's practical enjoyment of a range of economic and social rights has been so slow and uneven across countries and between social groups.