Women are making gradual progress in political and workplace leadership, but gender parity remains decades away, according to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026.
The report shows that women held 27.4% of seats in national parliaments as of January 2026, up from 22.3% in 2015. Their representation in local government rose from 33.9% in 2020 to 35.6% in 2025.
Women also accounted for 30.5% of managerial positions globally in 2025, compared with 26.9% in 2015, highlighting continued progress but a persistent gap in leadership representation.
The UN said the figures demonstrate progress but warned that the pace remains insufficient to achieve equal representation.
“Women’s leadership is advancing, but parity remains decades away,” the report said in an update on August 9, 2026, highlighting the continuing gap between women’s share of the population and their representation in decision-making positions.
The report found that progress in national parliaments has slowed significantly. Women’s share increased by 5.1 percentage points between 2015 and 2026, but by only 0.2 percentage points between 2025 and 2026.
Only seven countries had achieved at least 50% representation of women in national parliaments by January 2026, compared with three countries in 2015. At the other end of the scale, three countries still had no women representatives, while 18 countries had women making up less than 10% of parliamentarians.
Local government has recorded stronger representation, but progress has also slowed. The proportion of women in local government positions reached 35.6% in 2025, with the number of countries where women account for at least 40% of local government representatives rising from 23 in 2020 to 41 in 2025.
The UN said quotas can significantly improve women’s representation. Countries using quotas elected 15 percentage points more women to national parliaments and 17 percentage points more women to local governments than countries without such measures.
However, only 93 countries have legislated quotas for national parliaments and 82 for local governments. The report also identified harassment and violence, including online abuse, as factors discouraging women from seeking or remaining in political office.
The workplace presents a similar challenge. Although women account for about 40% of jobs globally, they occupied only 30.5% of managerial positions in 2025. At the current rate of progress, the UN estimates that it would take more than 50 years to achieve gender parity in management.
There are, however, regional examples of faster progress. Sub-Saharan Africa recorded the strongest increase in women’s share of management positions over the decade, rising by 7.7 percentage points. In 2025, women accounted for 44.6% of managers in the region, the highest share globally.
The findings form part of the wider SDG assessment, which says meaningful gains have been made since the goals were adopted in 2015, including expanded access to water, electricity, healthcare and digital connectivity.
However, progress remains uneven and insufficient amid conflict, climate change, economic pressures, rising debt and declining development assistance.
The UN says greater investment, stronger international cooperation, expanded access to technology and data, faster energy transition, greater gender equality and renewed commitments to peace are needed to accelerate progress before the 2030 deadline.