Global Scans · Gender Equality · Weekly Summary

In September 2015, 193 world leaders agreed to 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development. If these Goals are completed, it would mean an end to extreme poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030.
Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower women and girls.

• [New] The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warns of unequal access to skills development based on gender, socioeconomic background, and location. HLB
• [New] Canada has quietly stepped away from its feminist foreign policy, and the UK government has acknowledged cuts to development spending will constrain work on gender equality and women's participation in peace processes. ODI: Think change
• [New] Starting in April 2026, Australian employers with 500 or more employees will be required to select and work towards specific gender equality targets. Australian HR Institute
• [New] Elections Canada will continue to apply a GBA Plus lens to strengthen inclusiveness across its policies and services, ensuring that programs and service delivery reflect gender equality and an intersectional approach. Elections Canada
• [New] Gender-responsive approaches must be mainstreamed across all Global Gateway interventions, ensuring that women participate in decision-making, benefit equitably from employment opportunities, and are protected from risks associated with large infrastructure projects. ISI
• [New] UN Women prioritizes investments that demonstrate measurable impact on women's economic opportunities and strengthen the broader ecosystem of gender equality advocates operating throughout Moldova's diverse regions. Impact Funding
• [New] The sharp decline in Official Development Assistance poses a systemic risk to global funding for gender equality. Focus 2030
• [New] 38% of AI-driven recruitment tools could perpetuate gender or ethnic biases if not carefully monitored. Accurate Legal Billing
• [New] Science and gender equality are both vital for the world to reach its full potential. Beyond Borders
• Coherent gender mainstreaming will require meaningful consultation and inclusion of women's rights organizations and feminist movements from across the Global South, which will provide indispensable policy expertise. Bond | The international development network
• Addressing gender disparities in labour force participation could raise gross domestic product by up to 20% in some economies - making gender equality not a social aspiration, but the foundation of a stronger, more resilient global economy. OMFIF
• Closing gender gaps in the labour force could lift GDP by between 15 and 20% in many economies - and by up to 50% in the MENA region and South Asia. Atlantic Council
• There is a national campaign to improve gender diversity in policing called 30×30, which has the goal of increasing the number of female recruits to 30% by 2030. Public Policy Institute of California
• Trump has passed multiple executive orders as president restricting access to accurate federal identity documents, threatening to take away federal funding for gender-affirming care and erasing trans history on federal websites and in schools. The Tufts Daily
• UNICEF has warned that in low-income countries around 90% of adolescent girls and young women do not use the internet, underscoring the risk of a widening gender gap in opportunity as economies digitise. TechAfrica News
• Women were slightly more affected by AI, though differences by gender were not statistically significant, while younger workers in Viet Nam faced higher automation risk than their counterparts in Lao PDR. SpringerLink
• Global analyses demonstrate that sex / gender patterns in AD vary in parallel with regional disparities in education, occupational opportunities, socioeconomic status, and access to healthcare. PubMed Central (PMC)
• The GAP IV will set the EU vision for promoting gender equality and women's empowerment as a strategic priority in all external actions, in an increasingly fragile global environment. Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood
• Florida's House Bill 1521, dubbed the Safety in Private Spaces Act, bans transgender people from using bathrooms that match their gender identity under the threat of arrest, and could lead to gender non-conforming people, cisgender or transgender, being unjustly targeted. The Reflector
• Kansas' Senate Bill 244, proposed earlier this year, bans transgender people from using the bathroom of their gender identity in government-owned buildings, rather than their sex assigned at birth, under threat of being sued. The Reflector

Last updated: 24 May 2026