At the current pace of change, it could take 350 years for women to participate in the labor market at the same rate as men. That is not a typo. It is what the data tell us when we trace the trajectory of women’s labor force participation from 1990 to today across countries worldwide. This sobering finding lies at the heart of Shaping the Future of Women in the Workplace featured in the 2026 edition of the Atlas for Global Development.
Longstanding gaps in women’s economic participation
Drawing on the World Bank’s Gender Data Portal, the data story provides a comprehensive analysis of women’s jobs worldwide. Globally, only about half of women aged 15 to 64 are engaged in income-generating work, around 30 percentage points below men. That gap has barely changed since 1990.
Global averages, however, tell only part of the story. In several low-income countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, women’s labor force participation approaches 90 percent. Yet much of this work is in subsistence agriculture or informal trade, often without contracts, social protection, or income security. High participation does not necessarily mean access to good jobs; it may instead reflect economic necessity.
Contrast that with a country like Jordan, where female labor force participation is among the lowest in the world hovering around 15 percent. The barriers there are different in kind: deeply embedded social norms, mobility constraints, and a formal economy that has not been structured to absorb women. The measures needed in Jordan therefore look very different from those required in Tanzania or Rwanda.
These differences are why timely, country-specific data matter. It is not enough to know that women are less likely than men to be in paid work. Policymakers need to understand where the gaps are, what drives them, the kinds of jobs women hold, and the conditions under which they work.
read more: https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/the-data-on-women-at-work-call-us-to-action
