Gender equality woefully off track, new UN report reveals

This article is published in association with United Nations.

At the current rate of progress, gender equality would take 171 years to achieve, a new UN report finds as institutions built to advance gains are being defunded and demobilised.

Strikingly, not a single indicator on the Sustainable Development Goal for gender equality (SDG 5) is on track to be met by 2030, the initial deadline, according to Gender Snapshot 2026. 

These targets include ending discrimination, gender-based violence and such harmful practices as forced marriage and female genital mutilation alongside ensuring women’s full participation in leadership and securing economic and property rights.

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Read the full report here.

Who holds the power?

Women continue to face systemic barriers to entering political life.

The UN report highlights the persistent concentration of political power among men, finding that six in seven countries are currently led by men. 

Indeed, the cost of running for office can exceed 100 times a country’s average per capita income, excluding many women before the race even begins. In some countries, up to eight in 10 women running for office also face violence in public life. 

Even when women do enter government, they are disproportionately steered away from the portfolios that hold the highest security and economic power. Close to nine in 10 defence ministers and more than eight in 10 finance ministers are men.

Beyond government, women make up only six per cent of CEOs globally and lead fewer than 20 per cent of the highest courts, leaving the decisions shaping business, law, employment, and the global economy overwhelmingly in the hands of men.

This imbalance seriously undermines democracy as a country cannot fully uphold human rights or democratic principles while half its population lacks an equal voice in leadership and decision-making, the report stresses. 

Violence and discrimination 

Millions of women also continue to endure some extremely severe forms of violence and discrimination across the globe.

Nearly one in five girls is married before the age of 18, and an estimated 230 million women and girls worldwide are survivors of female genital mutilation. 

Nearly one in three women globally have survived partner or sexual violence in their lifetime, and in the past 12 months alone, 316 million women experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner. 

Importantly, the report finds that not a single country has achieved full legal equality, and 51 per cent of the 131 countries studied still have significant legal gaps. 

Nearly two thirds of countries provide no or little legal protection for women’s land rights, creating significant barriers to land ownership and secure tenure. Fewer than 30 per cent of nations studied ensure joint land registration or women’s participation in land governance.

No longer a priority 

Solving these issues has also been removed from priority agendas. 

Amid broadening cuts to funding for development aid, programmes addressing gender inequality are amongst the hardest hit, with such funding falling to its lowest level since 2021. 

One in four institutional mechanisms for gender equality have seen their operating budgets cut over the past two years, and one in three have had their institutional power eroded over the same period. 

Meanwhile, amid funding cuts, 42 per cent of UN entities report a weakening of their gender equality efforts.

“What the Gender Snapshot 2026 shows is that this is not inevitable,” said Li Junhua, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

“It is the result of choices, made visible through data. Investing in gender equality, institutions, and the statistical systems that hold them to account is not a cost. It is the fastest route back to the 2030 Agenda’s promise of equal power for all.”