BIG DEAL| GENDER EQUALITY: The Corporate Commitments That Still Fall Short 

Despite bold promises from the private sector, a new UN Women report reveals that real progress on gender equality remains slow, uneven, and dangerously reversible.

The global development conversation this week in New York centred on gender equality, a truth that has remained a goal still far from being achieved.

A new report, released by UN Women during the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, sheds critical light on the private sector’s role in advancing or hindering progress.

entitled ‘Unfinished Business: Private Sector and Gender Equality,’ the report doesn’t mince words, revealing that despite the growing number of corporate promises to work in favour of the empowerment of women, the real-world impact remains patchy, inconsistent, and in some cases, regressive.

Women Remain Disproportionately Disadvantaged

Women still make up just 39% of the global workforce, disproportionately found in low-wage, low-security roles.

The wage gap remains a staggering 20%, while workplace harassment continues to affect women at troubling levels—underscoring the systemic nature of inequality.

Gains such as improved pay transparency and workplace safety regulations, resulting from legislation, are not translating into extensive change.

The state of equality and fairness between men and women is still treated as a corporate checkbox rather than a strategic imperative.

Advocates Speak Out

Kirsi Madi, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, issued a rallying call: “We must all act together, now, to close the gap between commitment and actual outcomes.”

Her statement highlights a growing frustration among those advocating gender equality, as performative policies and a lack of accountability hinder progress.

Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, spoke of this sentiment during the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration.

“Every step forward proves the same truth: gender equality works,” she said. But progress has not been fast enough.”

Challenges ahead

However, beyond boardrooms and policy papers, the human cost of inequality is mounting.

According to UN Women’s earlier findings, none of the gender-related Sustainable Development Goals are currently on track.

Even more alarming, 676 million women and girls now live in conflict zones—an all-time high since the 1990s.

This convergence of corporate inertia and geopolitical instability paints a grim picture. While some nations have repealed nearly 100 discriminatory laws in the past five years, the pace of reform is dwarfed by the scale of the challenge.

Calls for Radical Shift

The report calls for a radical shift: from symbolic gestures to measurable action. It calls for organizations to include gender equality in their core business strategies—not just as a moral obligation, but as a driver of economic growth and innovation. 

As the UN General Assembly continues, the question remains: will the private sector rise to the occasion, or will gender equality remain the unfinished business of our time?