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 stands at 69.2%, yet progress remains tenuous. The report, covering 145 economies, highlights that women now hold leadership positions in politics and business to a greater extent than ever before. However, the percentage of countries led by women has regressed to 2016 levels after peaking in 2022.
While women now comprise less than a fifth of CEO positions and fewer than one in ten high-influence ministerial roles, the number of ministerial roles led by women has surged by 26% since 2008 but remains unchanged today. Despite substantial investment in artificial intelligence, women make up fewer than one in five AI engineers across all levels of these firms.
Iceland now leads the ranking, with 93% of the gender gap closed, followed by Nordic countries Finland and Norway. The US, which closed 74.9% of its gender gap, has dropped five places to 47th, mainly due to a decline in women's representation in senior management and politics. India, the world's most populous nation, ranks 131st, with only a 4.3 percentage-point increase in gender parity since 2006, largely due to educational achievements.
China has climbed seven places to 96th, with economic parity at 72.3%, but political parity remains stagnant. African countries, such as Namibia, have made significant strides, with Namibia rising four places to No. 4 in the ranking and achieving 84.5% gender parity.
Written by urgent.news from DW English (Business)'s reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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