UN Women will use the opening weeks of the UN General Assembly’s 81st session to tell the world that global efforts to advance peace, development and human rights are stalling because women remain locked out of real decision-making power.
The push centers on the release of Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2026, to be launched jointly by UN Women and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs at a press briefing on September 17 at UN Headquarters in New York.
The report, widely regarded as the most authoritative annual data source on gender equality and the 2030 Agenda, will show that women’s political leadership is not just failing to advance in 2026 but is actively regressing at multiple levels of power in numerous countries.
Its core argument goes beyond representation numbers: true equality, the report finds, requires women holding positions of genuine authority and influence, not just seats at the table.
Read More: Three Women Are in Line to Lead the UN. We Covered their Live Debate
The findings arrive just ahead of High-Level Week (September 22–26), when heads of state, ministers and civil society leaders converge on New York, and as member states begin the process of choosing the UN’s tenth Secretary-General. In 81 years, that post has never been held by a woman.
A dense schedule of events during High-Level Week will build on the report’s themes. The UNGA Platform of Women Leaders holds its annual meeting on September 23, focusing on women’s leadership in restoring trust in multilateral institutions.
The same day, UN Women and Croatia will co-host a G77 ministerial roundtable confronting technology-facilitated violence against women, including AI-enabled abuse, while the Women, Peace and Security Focal Points Network marks its tenth anniversary with a ministerial-level side event on strengthening accountability amid what organizers describe as a fragmented global security landscape.
Read More: Women All Across the World Resonate With the Mexican President
On September 25, Mexico, UN Women and the civil society coalition Karama will convene a high-level public dialogue on “reinvigorating feminist multilateralism,” bringing together regional and grassroots partners including FEMNET, ARROW and WEDO.
A related panel at the SDG Media Zone on September 22 will ask directly whether the Sustainable Development Goals can be met without women in power, examining how underrepresentation, online abuse and disinformation compound to erode both women’s participation and public trust in institutions broadly.
Taken together, the events amount to a coordinated argument from UN Women: with conflicts at record levels and SDG progress stalled, gender equality in leadership is not a side issue for the UN’s 81st session, it is a precondition for the institution delivering on any of its core mandates.
