Leadership Gender Gap |
International Women’s Day 2026, under the theme, “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls”, calls for action to dismantle all barriers to equal justice: discriminatory laws, weak legal protections, and harmful practices and social norms that erode the rights of women and girls, according to the United Nations. Here is a barrier the world rarely acknowledges: not one of the nine nations that controls nuclear weapons is currently led by a woman.
All nine (Russia, the US, China, France, the UK, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea) are governed by men. Together they hold over 12,000 warheads. New START, the last US-Russia nuclear arms control treaty, expired on February 5, with no replacement in sight. The ongoing US-Israel strikes on Iran are pushing nuclear-armed powers closer to confrontation. The Doomsday Clock stands at 89 seconds to midnight, the closest to annihilation in its 75-year history. This is the world men have built. What would the world look like if women held the leadership positions?
The world today has the highest number of active conflicts since the end of World War II: from the ongoing devastation in Iran, Ukraine and Sudan to the crises in Gaza, Ethiopia and Myanmar. Despite the landmark 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, the pattern remains: every one of these major hostilities was initiated and continues to be commanded by male leaders. Global military spending exceeds $2.7 trillion, nearly equivalent to the entire gap needed to meet every UN Sustainable Development Goal: redirecting a mere 4 per cent of this budget could eliminate world hunger entirely, 10 per cent could provide basic healthcare and vaccines to every child on Earth. Meanwhile, the world reels under crises on multiple fronts.
Corruption drains an estimated $3.6 trillion from global economies annually, siphoning funds meant for hospitals, schools, and clean water. This systemic theft fuels a survival crisis where nearly 700 million people go to bed hungry each night, 120 million are forcibly displaced by wars and climate change, and over 150 million children suffer from stunting. Even basic care is a luxury, as 4.6 billion people lack essential health services and over 1.1 billion people struggle with mental health disorders. Maternal........