Part 1 of 2
"Women remain largely shut out of decisions on how money is spent, how people are protected, and whose needs come first."
This was Sima Bahous, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, speaking to the General Assembly last week, about where things are at for women globally, in 2026.
She was describing the specific gap: the difference between a woman being respected, and her advice being acted on. These are two things most of us were brought up to believe were the same thing, but in reality they are not.
So many women I know have heard the phrase, "thank you, that's such a valuable perspective." Then the decision goes the other way anyway.
There’s often no rudeness. Often it’s the opposite. You are thanked and told your input mattered. Then, frustratingly, what happens next has nothing to do with anything you said.
This is the gap the UN's latest data now puts in sharp focus. Its Gender Snapshot 2026, released this month, found that women's leadership is reversing, at various levels of power, in many countries:
One in seven countries is currently led by a woman.
Of 175 chief justices worldwide, only 31 are women.
A third of national gender equality bodies report actively losing institutional power in just the past two years.
Australia is different
Against that backdrop, Australia's result were quite different. We are now eighth in the world for gender equality and for the first time we've appeared in the top 10.
This didn’t happen by accident. It happened because someone with the authority to legislate, did.
Three things happened:
Paid parental leave was expanded and made more equitable between parents.
Gender pay gap reporting became mandatory for large employers, which meant that for the first time, companies had to publish the numbers rather than managing them behind closed doors.
Federal cabinet also reached gender parity.
Each of those is a single decision, made once, by someone with the power to make it apply to everyone at once.
That is why it worked so fast but it won't finish the job.
The next steps for Australia need to look very different
The next steps are in the hands of what happens inside companies across Australia.
Roughly only one in ten ASX 300 chief executives are women. This small percentage shows we still have a long way to go in business across Australia.
And we have a further barrier. The research suggests people don’t listen equally in rooms with both genders.
A 2018 study in the Academy of Management Journal looked at what happens when people speak up with ideas to move a group forward. When men did it, their standing in the group rose and they were more likely to emerge as leaders. When women did exactly the same thing, they received no benefit in either their standing or their likelihood of emerging as a leader.
People making the same contribution but acheiving a very different result based on gender.
The frustrating gap for women. Recognition and authority are not the same thing.
Recognition is granted by someone else. They acknowledge you, thank you, credit you, invite you back. It feels good, like a strong relationship has been built.
This is why a positive, warm engagement is so easy to mistake for progress. But it's only one part of the picture.
True progress happens when the room gives authority to an idea you shared. When what you said changes what happens next.
Bahous put it plainly at the report's launch: "Equality without power is not equality at all."
At the current rate of progress, the UN estimates gender equality is 171 years away. That is far too long. As Bahous pointed out, it isn't inevitable. It's the result of choices.
There is something we can do, and it's available now
Here is the good news.
While the slower, structural work continues, there is a parallel piece available right now to any woman who wants it. It doesn't need anyone else's permission, or for industry to catch up first.
Authority is something you can learn so your ideas change what happens next.
In the work I do with women, I show them them four things consistently make the difference. How to:
Strategise and manage the decision dynamics before you get into the room
Be clear on your position before you walk in, so you don't falter under pressure
Hold your argument under real pushback without softening the point that matters
Know exactly what to say when a decision starts drifting away from your recommendation, before it's finalised.
Just last week, a senior woman came to me to work on exactly this. She is highly experienced, well regarded and consistently thanked for her input, yet has seen two decisions go against her advice (and end very badly). She knows its not about gaining 'more confidence' but about developing a very different set of skills.
None of these strategies need to wait for legislation or needs a company to change its policy first. Addressing this gap is something women can do right now.
But getting heard is only half of it. In Part 2 on Friday I'll share what happens when you do finally have the seat as the decision-maker, and why the gap follows you there too.
Sources: UN Women and UN DESA, The Gender Snapshot 2026, and Sima Bahous's remarks at its launch and to the General Assembly Platform of Women Leaders (23 September 2026). UN Women
McClean, Martin, Emich & Woodruff (2018), "The Social Consequences of Voice," Academy of Management Journal, 61(5).