London, UK – August 9, 2025
— The world is confronting a sobering new reality in the fight for gender equality, with recent data from the United Nations and other international bodies suggesting that at the current rate of progress, it may take a staggering 300 years to fully close the gender gap. This startling projection serves as a powerful wake-up call, highlighting the deeply entrenched systemic issues and compounding crises that are actively eroding decades of hard-won progress. CJ Global’s latest analysis of these reports reveals how the combined forces of global health emergencies, rampant violence against women, and persistent institutional failures are contributing to this alarming slowdown.
The UN’s “Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): The Gender Snapshot 2022” report, a cornerstone of this analysis, makes it unequivocally clear that the target of achieving gender equality by 2030, set as part of the Sustainable Development Goals, is now a distant dream. The report’s authors point to a series of “cascading crises,” from the COVID-19 pandemic to violent conflicts and climate change, as major drivers of this regression. For instance, the pandemic disproportionately affected women, who experienced significant job losses and were forced to take on an increased burden of unpaid care work, reversing years of gains in workforce participation. The World Bank estimates that women globally lost approximately $800 billion in income during the pandemic, and while there has been a partial rebound, their participation in the workforce remains below pre-pandemic levels.
One of the most insidious and pervasive challenges detailed in the reports is the global scourge of violence against women. The World Health Organization (WHO) has highlighted that approximately one in three women worldwide has experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime. This violence is not merely a private issue; it is a public health crisis and a significant barrier to women’s empowerment and equality. In humanitarian and conflict-affected regions, the situation is even more dire, with research from the UN suggesting that up to 70% of women have experienced gender-based violence, a rate double the global average. The report emphasizes how violence limits women’s mobility, hinders their access to education and employment, and has severe short- and long-term consequences for their physical and mental health. The presence of armed actors and the breakdown of social and protective networks in these contexts create an environment where women are acutely at risk, further stalling progress toward equality.
Global health emergencies, in particular, have been identified as a major setback. Beyond the direct health impacts, these crises expose and exacerbate pre-existing gender inequalities. As women make up a disproportionate share of the healthcare workforce—an estimated 70% globally—they are on the front lines, facing higher risks of infection and burnout. Moreover, when healthcare systems are overwhelmed, essential services for women, such as maternal care and family planning, are often deprioritized. A study by the World Bank during the Ebola outbreak warned of an additional 4,000 maternal deaths and 14,000 child deaths each year in the most affected countries, demonstrating how global health crises erase years of progress in maternal and child health. The report also highlights how lockdowns and confinement during pandemics lead to a surge in domestic violence, as women are trapped with their abusers and their access to support services is severely limited.
The lack of women in positions of power and leadership further contributes to this grim outlook. At the current pace, it is estimated that it will take 140 years for women to be equally represented in leadership positions in the workplace and at least 40 years to achieve equal representation in national parliaments. The UN reports that nearly 75% of lawmakers today are men, and 103 countries have never had a woman head of state. This lack of female representation in decision-making roles means that policies and budgets often fail to adequately address the specific needs and challenges faced by women and girls, from unequal pay to insufficient legal protections.
The reports conclude that without a renewed and concerted effort, the current trajectory is one of stagnation, or even regression. The path forward, they argue, must involve more than just aspirational goals; it requires transformative action. Recommendations include strengthening legal systems to ban violence against women, investing in care systems to alleviate the burden of unpaid work, and implementing quotas to ensure women’s representation in politics and leadership. Organizations like UN Women, the Global Fund for Women, and the International Labour Organization (ILO) are at the forefront of this work, advocating for policy changes and providing support to women on the ground. The call to action is clear: the fight for gender equality must be treated with the urgency it deserves, not as a long-term goal for future generations, but as a critical mission for today. The 300-year projection is not a prophecy but a warning, and it is up to the world to heed it and change course.
