Women Have Always Been Ready—So Why Is Progress Still So Slow?

This International Women’s Day, I’m reminded of a movie I saw a while ago: A League of Their Own. The film introduced millions to a largely forgotten chapter of history — the women who kept professional baseball alive during World War II when men were sent overseas. These athletes weren’t placeholders. They were exceptional — disciplined, resilient, and fiercely competitive — yet their achievements were minimized, constrained, and almost erased once the men returned.

What has always stayed with me is not just their talent, but the message they were constantly sent: this opportunity was temporary. Their excellence was tolerated — not fully valued. That story mirrors the broader experience of women across generations and industries.

WHY is progress so slow? If there is no longer an intention to exclude or block women’s progress, why are women not advancing? It’s not always about intentionally excluding women – it is about the subtle and often invisible forces that keep women from advancing in many fields.

It begins with how we educate our girls. I remember when my daughter was a teenager, she went to a magnet school for science and technology.  And she came home and told me – “You know, mom, the teachers never ask the girls to answer questions.”  I was thankful that she had noticed this pattern – because recognising the bias is the first step.  This helped her to see that the problem did not lie with HER, but with the system around her. Well, there was one teacher who did intentionally call on the girls.  He made a difference in my daughter’s confidence, and she in turn has grown into a self-assured young professional who is touching many lives.  I remember we wrote him a letter to thank him, because one of the things we can do is to build up and highlight allies.  Even the smallest initiative can make a difference. We need to support and celebrate those who are role modelling the behaviors we want in our work places.

These often-invisible biases come in many forms – from a lack of role models to a lack of access to key networks to a lack of sponsors and mentors who can guide the careers of women.  The bias also comes in the form of gendered work patterns that funnel women into certain tracks and men into others. Women are perfect for HR and communications roles and men for technology, profit and loss and leadership roles…. You know the drill!

In 2026, there is progress that we can acknowledge:

• Women now make up over 40% of the global workforce, and representation in leadership continues to rise, albeit unevenly.

• Women hold roughly one-quarter of parliamentary seats worldwide, more than double the share three decades ago.

• Girls’ access to education has expanded dramatically; in many countries, girls now enrol in secondary and tertiary education at rates equal to or higher than boys.

• Women’s participation in traditionally male-dominated fields — including STEM, finance, and sports leadership — although low, continues to grow, slowly reshaping what leadership and excellence look like.

And yet, familiar barriers remain:

• At the current pace, global gender equality is still more than a century away.

• Women continue to earn, on average, about 20% less than men globally, with larger gaps for women of color and women in the Global South.

• Unpaid care work remains profoundly unequal, limiting women’s economic mobility and leadership opportunities.

• In many parts of the world, women’s rights are stagnating or regressing — a sobering reminder that progress is not guaranteed.

Like the women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the US, women today are often told — implicitly or explicitly — that their success is conditional, situational, or secondary. Yet time and again, women around the world have shown that when given access, opportunity, and respect, they don’t just participate — they excel.

As someone who has spent a lifetime working across cultures and systems, I know this: progress for women has never been automatic. It has required persistence, solidarity, and the courage to stay on the field even when the rules weren’t written for us.

On this International Women’s Day, let’s celebrate how far we’ve come — and remain clear-eyed about how far we still have to go. Because women’s achievements are not a footnote in history. They are central to it. So let's #GiveToGain as we advance gender equity in our workplaces and communities.

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