2197, Not 2030: The Long Road to Gender Equality

With a 13% reduction in funding for gender equality and a 28% reduction in funding for  women’s rights organizations between 2023 and 2024, the goal of achieving gender equality by 2030 is slipping out of reach. At the current rate of progress, gender equality is projected to be achieved only by 2197, more than 160 years after the UN’s 2030 deadline.  This stark realization has been brought forward by the Gender Snapshot 2026 report, released by UN Women and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).

The findings of the Gender Snapshot 2026 report reveal a political retreat from gender equality that is crosscutting, measurable, and compounding. From 2020 to 2026, women’s share of seats in parliaments has declined in 54 countries, while one in three institutional mechanisms for gender equality has had its institutional power eroded over the past two years. Of these mechanisms, around one in four have seen their operating budgets cut over the same period, and nearly one in ten have lost control of their budget altogether. Funding for gender equality has fallen to its lowest level since 2021, with funding for women’s rights organizations most impacted. Meanwhile, amid funding cuts, 42 per cent of UN entities report a weakening of their gender equality efforts.

The concentration of political power remains stark: six in seven countries are led by men. Women continue to face systemic barriers at every stage. 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, as many as eight in 10 women running for office face violence in public life. During electoral campaigns, 8 in 10 women candidates for parliament and 6 in 10 candidates for local government experience psychological, sexual, economic and/or physical violence. And when women do reach cabinet, they are still disproportionately steered away from the portfolios that command the highest security and economic power. Close to nine in 10 defense ministers and more than eight in 10 finance ministers are men.

The road to justice and safety is even longer. Women comprise only 29.0 per cent of prosecutors in cases of gender-based violence and discrimination and are underrepresented in public service positions relative to their share of the national population in 62.1 per cent of countries. Only 31 out of 175 Chief Justices globally are women. Despite their abilities and contributions, women and girls, who neither choose nor lead conflicts, are sidelined from ending them. 

“The evidence is clear: when women lead, societies are stronger, economies are more resilient and outcomes are better for everyone. Yet as long as power remains concentrated in institutions that systematically exclude women, societies will continue to fall short of their full potential. Equality cannot be achieved without equal access to power—because equality without power is not equality at all,” said UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous. 

"The data leave no room for ambiguity: at current rates gender equality remains 171 years away. What the Gender Snapshot 2026 shows is that this is 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," said Li Junhua, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

The pattern extends beyond government. Women hold only six per cent of corporate Chief Executive Officer positions globally, occupy just 11.6 per cent of managerial positions in Central and Southern Asia 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.

The findings of the report come at a consequential moment for the multilateral system. World leaders are gathering for the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA81) as the United Nations moves towards selecting its tenth Secretary-General – a position that no woman has held in the UN’s 80-year history. As governments debate the future of multilateralism, the report argues that no vision for the future of the world is credible without women and girls having an equal share of power in shaping it.

As 2030 draws nearer, not a single SDG 5 indicator is currently on track yet. UN Women and UN DESA are calling for a reversal of the political retreat on gender equality - and for power to be shared more equally. This can be ensured by giving women an equal voice in political and economic decisions, properly funding gender equality institutions, protecting women’s rights organizations and civic space, and ensuring women have equal power to shape the decisions that affect economies, peace and security, technology and public life.

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Written by UNIC Intern Aishvarya Thakur

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