Apologies for interrupting your pink cupcakes and high fives (not really), once again on International Women’s Day, I have to ask – what are we celebrating exactly? Because from where I’m sitting, there is absolutely NOTHING to celebrate. Don’t get me wrong, I will fight for everyone’s rights, including women’s, but if the day has lost all meaning and we are going backwards, don’t you think it’s time for a new approach?
I’ve been sharing similar sentiments for years, watching women’s rights degrade around the world, so where are we in 2026? AND most importantly, are we ready to face reality?
Afghanistan
OK let’s start with the worst – Afghanistan – where gender apartheid has become entrenched, not that the outrage balances with the reality on the ground. I recommend this great piece by Margie Warrell – Enslaved By Law: Why Gender Apartheid Must Be Criminalized.
Some stats. There have been 150 edicts issued by the Taliban since 2021, including banning girls’ secondary education (1.4 million affected), almost no women’s work including in NGO roles, no medical training, and no public speech without a male guardian, which is called the “vice law” mandating veiling/silence (you can’t even hear a woman’s voice).
According to the UN and global health projections, maternal mortality is projected to rise by more than 50% by 2026, and of course, child marriages have increased exponentially, as has poverty. To be a woman in Afghanistan today is to have fewer rights than a family pet, while husbands face virtually no legal consequences so long as there are no obvious bruises or broken bones.
Read: Four years on, here’s what total exclusion of women in Afghanistan looks like | UN News
The US
The gool ‘ol USA, once a bastion of women’s rights, is no more. US abortion bans have caused preventable deaths, with black women hit hardest. According to recent post‑Dobbs research, pregnancy‑related deaths have risen by around 11% in states with abortion bans, with cases like Amber Thurman (denied a D&C) and Josseli Barnica (who suffered haemorrhage delays) illustrating what those statistics mean in real lives, and some models estimating roughly 100 preventable deaths a year.
Additionally, alongside Project 2025, we now have the federal SAVE America Act, which means women’s voting rights will continue to recede, as it pushes for ID’s that match birth certificates. According to reporting by the National Women’s Law Center, the SAVE America Act could disenfranchise more than 21 million eligible voters, and create extra barriers for about 69 million married women whose birth certificate no longer matches their legal name. Hey ladies, don’t change your name when you get married, OK?
Read: SAVE America Act: House passes bill that could make it harder for women to vote
Read: What You Need to Know About the SAVE Act | Campaign Legal Center
Global jobs and political losses for women – the gender gap
We’re going to have to wait until June 2026 for an update, but here’s the key findings from the WEF World Gender Gap Report for 2025.
The good news
- 68.8% of the global gender gap has been closed, which is up 0.3 points from 2024
- Full parity is still 123 years away (which is down from 132 years in 2024), so progress, but still very slow
- No single economy has achieved full gender parity
Work and economy
- Women remain concentrated in lower-paying sectors (healthcare, education) vs. men dominating higher-paying fields (infrastructure, defence, finance)
- Only 29.5% of tertiary-educated senior managers are women, despite increasingly outperforming men in higher education
- Women are 55.2% more likely than men to take career breaks, and for longer – 19.6 months vs. 13.9 months for men, largely due to parenting
Education
- Women are now outperforming men at the tertiary level, yet it doesn’t translate into equal workforce or leadership representation, highlighting a systemic gap
Politics and leadership
- Women hold fewer than one-third of parliamentary speaker positions globally
- Women are underrepresented in key cabinet roles (economy, infrastructure, defence) the portfolios that shape national priorities
- Progress has been made – women in ministerial positions are up 12.6 points, and in legislative bodies up 14.7 points since 2006
So, women are better educated than ever but still face structural barriers in converting that into economic and political power. In other words, even where aggregate ‘gender gap’ scores inch forward, power and money remain stubbornly male – and in some places are going backwards.
Men, on the other hand, continue to dominate leadership, higher-paying industries, and political portfolios. That’s not even taking into account the impact of AI on jobs, which will significantly impact women, as is already being shown.
Here’s just one fact on that. In the U.S., an estimated 79% of employed women work in occupations at high risk of automation, versus 58% of men, and women are dramatically under‑represented in the AI jobs being created.
The tech broligarchy and the manosphere
It looks like AI will get us ladies back in the home, pregnant and barefoot, and the manosphere is flying high on that possibility, actively promoting women as property. We have the likes of Marc Andreessen and Peter Thiel funding the anti-DEI movement, Andrew Tate openly encouraging men to adopt a ‘pimp mindset’ towards their women – check this out it’s funny.
Elon Musk loves sharing his anti-feminism views and the idea that women are breeders. He’s also pushing for the world to be led by a handful of high-status males or “alpha males” – yeah mate, what a terrific idea!
And then we have Nick Fuentes, leader of the Goypers, who has literally said ‘the number one political enemy in America is women’ and that women ‘have to be imprisoned’. I would gladly be the one to put him over my knee and smack his arse!
But wait, there’s more!
Human trafficking and sexual slavery is surging!
Let’s look at the numbers and the split between women and girls, versus men and boys. According to the Global Slavery Index from Walk Free:
All modern slavery victims
- Women and girls – 71% (35.2M)
- Men and boys – 29%
Sex trafficking victims
- Women and girls 99%
- Men and boys ~1%
Forced marriage victims
- Women and girls 68%
- Men and boys 32%
Children among all victims – 25% of total (both genders)
Source: Global Slavery Index | Walk Free
If you want to know what misogyny looks like in practice, it’s this: when exploitation is sexual, it is almost entirely female. However, men are increasingly being identified as victims too, particularly forced labour in construction, agriculture, fishing, etc… AND we are seeing growth in digital and cyber scam centres, especially here in Asia. Male victimisation has been undercounted due to stigma and poor detection.
- Human Trafficking Rates by Country 2026
- 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report – United States Department of State
War and women/girls – Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Iran
According to UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs, in Ukraine 500,000 women and girls have been displaced, with trafficking up 30%. In Gaza, 80% of casualties are estimated to be women and children, and child marriages are up 40%. In Sudan’s civil war alone, aid groups have documented more than 14,000 rapes.
And as we saw this week, a school full of girls at a primary school was bombed in the US/Israel attacks on Iran – the worst mass civilian casualty event in the war so far.
Here’s what one MAGA lobbyist thinks of that: MAGA lobbyist suggests Iranian schoolgirls killed in airstrikes are better off dead than ‘in a burqa’ – Yahoo News Canada.
What’s going on Australia?
And in my home country of Australia, the records for gendered violence-related deaths keep piling up, with one woman killed by a former or current partner every four days, according to recent Australian data.
What do the young men in Australia think? Well 40% of teenage boys believe women lie about domestic and sexual violence: new research.
And read this, why are men so afraid of women’s talents? Can you imagine a world where everyone can reach their full potential and be recognized for it? Why is that so hard? Are egos of the patriarchy really so fragile? The Disappearing Act of Exceptional Women.
Then we have this: I analyzed more than 100 extremist manifestos: Misogyny was the common thread.
Let’s get to work
We’ve got work to do, REAL work, and we all need to get involved. We can sneer at the Taliban for its draconian laws on women, but really, how many countries are much better? I mean just look at what’s happening in the US – it’s appalling! Rise sisters, rise brothers!! Time to turn this misogyny ship around.
Equality is the path to progress for ALL, so it’s time to commit to one meaningful action – whether that’s funding a local women’s service, organization or charity, backing women at work and in your community, refusing to sit on all‑male panels or speak at events with all-male speakers, and challenging the men in your life when they parrot manosphere talking points. I do that.
A funny memory. When our boys were tiny, my husband said to them: “stop throwing like a girl.”
I responded: “they’re not that good.”
He didn’t even know he said it and he’s a true Manbassador! He didn’t say it again.
Seriously though, addressing this is critical, because when we have equality, real equality, everyone’s life is better. That means if you are answering the call of misogyny, please know your life will not be better, it will be worse. Anyone advocating this message is making your life worse too. Stop trusting them.
The ONLY way we can tackle the enormous challenges the world faces – as we traverse the treacherous landscape of the polycrisis – is to all come together, because as I always say: if men, women, minorities and our indigenous brothers and sisters are not at the table where decisions are being made, the wrong decisions will be made.
Make this IWD26 really count and commit to meaningful action – for women, for men, for everyone. Everyone wins with equality, EVERYONE.
In the meantime, please don’t wish me a happy International Women’s Day, it really doesn’t land how you think it will, because none of us are doing enough, and we must, for all our sakes.
Right, there’s my rant for another IWD, in the meantime: Humanity heating planet faster than ever before, study finds | Climate crisis | The Guardian.
Friends content and my own
We spent a lot of time discussing the war on The Sh*t Show this week, looking at the bigger picture. It was awesome having Oliver Gill back as a co-host, because Joe Augustin couldn’t make it, and Richard Busellato had to skip out early too. Always appreciate everyone’s insights and we are looking forward to re-confirming our cyber insurance guest in a few weeks too.
Dig into the news
The world news page is updated daily, so check in whenever it suits you. It covers news and thought leadership across all issues relevant to the polycrisis, as well as some light stuff, because we can’t be serious all the time. To get to the news, click through on the image below, and a reminder, this goes back weeks, so have a scan and read/watch/listen to whatever jumps out at you.
Let me know what caught your attention? Or share with me what has your attention now? There’s a lot going on, which means none of us can cover everything. Besides, it’s always great to get feedback so I know I’m delivering something of value.
Cheers
Andrea
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