UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Thirty years after world leaders adopted a historic blueprint to achieve gender equality, a new United Nations report says women’s and girls’ rights are under attack and gender discrimination remains deeply embedded in economies and societies.

The rights of women and girls around the world are facing a multitude of threats, according to a UN study released on Thursday ahead of International Women's Day on March 8. These "unprecedented, growing threats worldwide" include higher levels of discrimination,

"The weakening of democratic institutions has gone hand in hand with backlash on gender equality," the report said, adding that "anti-rights actors are actively undermining long-standing consensus on key women's rights issues.

As democratic institutions worldwide have weakened, so have women's rights, according to a report from UN Women. The head of the UN said instead of mainstreaming equal rights, the world was mainstreaming misogyny.