Global Gender Gap Report: Women's hard-won gains 'fragile'
Two decades of progress toward gender parity is at risk as women's political representation declines, according to a new World Economic Forum report. At the current pace, the remaining gap could take 120 years to close.
The Global Gender Gap Report 2026, released by the World Economic Forum, indicates that global gender parity is closer than ever, standing at 69.2%. However, the report warns that achieving full parity may take 120 years and that progress remains fragile. While women now hold senior leadership positions in government and business at historically rare levels, women's presence at the top of politics has reversed since the first report.
The percentage of women-led governments has fallen back to 2016 levels after peaking in 2022. Women continue to be underrepresented in high-influence roles, holding fewer than a fifth of CEO positions and only one in ten ministerial roles considered high influence. Despite significant investment in artificial intelligence, women remain underrepresented in AI engineering.
Iceland leads the ranking, followed by Nordic nations, while the United States dropped five places to 47th, with 74.9% of its gender gap closed.
Written by urgent.news from DW News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
