Global Leaders Confront $1.5 Trillion Cost of Gender Violence, Menopause Earnings Gap, and Democratic Erosion

Foreign Policy's HerPower Forum convened on the eve of the United Nations General Assembly to map the widening fault lines of gender equity — from a $1.5 trillion annual toll of violence against women to a newly quantified earnings penalty for menopause, to the dismantling of $50 billion in global aid. Across 11 sessions, presidents, ministers, lawmakers, and researchers laid out what's being gained, what's being lost, and what it costs.

• Panel pegs global cost of gender-based violence at $1.5 trillion — about 2% of world GDP — and calls for upstream prevention investment
• New research reveals 7.4% earnings drop for women whose menopausal symptoms are medically recorded; UK and Rhode Island pass landmark legislation
• Open Society Foundations commits $300 million pairing economic and civil rights to counter democratic erosion
• European Parliament President Metsola unveils vote-delegation reform for new mothers — 47 years in the making
• Prosper Global CEO describes $50 billion hole left by USAID dismantling, with 80% of funding now redirected to crisis response
• Congresswoman Jayapal targets Pentagon's $1.5 trillion budget after eight failed audits, pushes universal childcare
• UN Secretary-General candidate Ibaki pledges 50/50 gender parity in the Secretariat, citing Ecuador-Peru peace as proof women negotiators deliver

The basics: UN Women estimates that violence against women costs the global economy roughly $1.5 trillion per year — approximately 2% of GDP. National-level studies range from 1% to 6% of GDP. The panel framed the question as a choice: pay for consequences or invest upstream in prevention.