Gender equality ‘woefully off track’, UN warns

Gender equality is “woefully off track,” the United Nations warned on Thursday, reported German news agency dpa.

At the current rate of progress, gender equality would take 171 years to achieve, the UN’s Gender Snapshot report said.

The number of countries with a woman as head of state or government had increased from 2020 to 2026.

“Yet six in seven countries are still led by men. Women’s representation in national cabinets declined to 22.4% in 2026, after peaking at 23.3% in 2024,” the report said.

“The decline is a warning sign that gains cannot be taken for granted and that progress towards equal political power remains fragile.”

Funding for gender equality has fallen to its lowest level since 2021, the report found. At the same time, 42% of UN agencies reported that their efforts to promote gender equality had been weakened as a result of budget cuts.

Millions of women also continued to endure some extremely severe forms of violence and discrimination across the globe, the UN said.

Nearly one in five girls is married before the age of 18 and nearly one in three women globally have survived partner or sexual violence in their lifetime. In the past year, 316 million women experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner, the report said.

UN under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs Li Junhua said the statistics were not inevitable.

“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.”