New York, June 26 -- While women's rights have advanced over the decades, gender inequalities and other fundamental human rights violations within families persist, according to a flagship study released on Tuesday, from the UN's gender empowerment agency.

UN Women's new report, "Progress of the World's Women 2019-2020: Families in a Changing World", shows that families, in all their diversity, "can be critical drivers of gender equality, provided decision-makers deliver policies rooted in the reality of how people live today, with women's rights at their core", said UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

But it also adds that families can also be breeding grounds of conflict, inequality and, far too often, violence.

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