Kuala lumpur: Women have now achieved senior leadership positions in business and government at levels that were uncommon in 2006, yet they remain largely underrepresented in roles with the greatest economic and political influence, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).

According to BERNAMA News Agency, the Global Gender Gap Report 2026, published in Geneva, Switzerland today, reveals that twenty years after the World Economic Forum (WEF) first assessed the global gender gap, the world is closer to gender parity than ever before. However, the progress is fragile, with some areas experiencing a reversal of gains.

The report highlights that nearly every economy tracked since 2006 has shown improvement, with the first decade of the index witnessing faster gains compared to the second. Political empowerment has seen the most significant progress over the past 20 years, increasing by eight percentage points among the economies monitored. In 2006, there was one woman minister for every 8.1 men; today, the ratio has improved to one woman for every 4.3 men. Similarly, in parliaments, the ratio has shifted from one woman for every 5.6 men to approximately one for every three men.

However, the report also notes that political empowerment is the dimension showing the clearest signs of reversal. It now scores lower than it did in 2016, slipping an additional 0.4 percentage points in the past year. The share of economies led by a woman head of state peaked at 27 percent in 2022, the highest in half a century, but has since declined back to 2016 levels, erasing earlier gains.

Europe has reclaimed the top regional position, closing 75.7 percent of its gender gap, having narrowed it by seven percentage points since 2006. Seven of the global top 10 performers across the index are European, as the region leads the world in political empowerment, where the parity score at the head-of-state level has tripled since 2006.

Southern Asia ranked seventh at 64.5 percent and remains the lowest-scoring region in economic participation and opportunity, with a score of 40.9 percent. However, it has recorded the largest educational gain of any region since 2006, increasing by 15 percentage points, with nearly all economies achieving parity in tertiary enrollment.

In the realm of artificial intelligence (AI), women are less represented in AI firms compared to non-AI firms at every level. Women constitute 36.6 percent of employees at the individual contributor level in AI firms, compared to 44.8 percent in non-AI firms. At the top management level, women represent 25.3 percent in AI firms compared to 27.7 percent in non-AI firms. Within AI occupations, women are primarily concentrated in data annotation roles, which are often lower-paid positions, while accounting for just 19.3 percent of AI engineers. However, the share of women founders with AI engineering skills has risen from 2.3 percent in 2019 to 8.7 percent in the first two quarters of 2026, though men continue to advance faster.

The 20th edition of the report, the longest-standing index of its kind, benchmarks 145 economies across four dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. Globally, the gender gap now stands at 69.2 percent closed, representing a 0.4 percentage point increase over the past year. Among the 97 economies tracked since 2006, the gap has closed by 5.2 percentage points to 69.4 percent, the highest level recorded. Economic participation and opportunity (61.7 percent) and political empowerment (22.1 percent) are the dimensions furthest from parity.

WEF managing director Saadia Zahidi emphasized that economies at every income level have made progress, indicating that the barrier is not a lack of resources. "Twenty years of data show that gender parity is achievable. Parity is a foundation for growth and competitiveness, but it is not inevitable. To accelerate, governments and employers need to learn from the policies that work and apply them faster. A new economy demands a new approach to talent," Zahidi said.