Global gender equality will take 120 years, says WEF
The global gender gap has never been narrower – at 69.2 per cent closed – but it would take another 120 years to achieve gender equality at the current rate of progress, the World Economic Forum has said. That means full gender parity will not be reached within the lifetime of women alive today and could remain out of reach until the generation of their grandchildren or great-grandchildren.…
The World Economic Forum has reported that global gender equality will not be achieved within the lifetime of women alive today, estimating it will take an additional 120 years to close the gender gap. Iceland leads with the narrowest gender gap, while European countries dominate the top positions in the 2026 Global Gender Gap Report.
The index does not consider overall development or women's outcomes separately, but instead measures gaps across four areas: political empowerment, economic participation and opportunity, health and survival, and educational attainment. Despite significant progress in education, political empowerment remains the most distant from parity, with only 22.1% of the gap closed and full parity estimated to take 194 years at the current pace.
The Middle East and North Africa region stands at 62.5% gender parity, with the region projected to take 182 years to achieve full parity. While progress has been made in educational attainment and economic participation, political empowerment remains the biggest challenge, with only 11.5% of the gender gap closed in this category.
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