Data Source: World Inequality Report 2026 (wid.world)
It's a bitter pill to swallow: even in 2026, women around the world are still getting only a small slice of the total money earned from work. According to the brand-new World Inequality Report 2026, women held just over a quarter of global labour income back in 1990. Fast-forward to now, and that number has barely changed. Over the past thirty-five years, women have gained more education and jobs, yet the overall share of paid earnings is almost the same.
The differences between places are huge. In the Middle East and North Africa, women get about 16% of labour income, the lowest anywhere because so many women aren't in paid jobs at all, often due to cultural expectations or lack of opportunities. On the brighter side, Europe and North America & Oceania do better, with women taking home around 40%. That's progress compared to other regions but it's still nowhere near equal (you'd want 50% for true parity). Most places in Asia, Africa and Latin America sit somewhere in the middle, usually under 25%.
So why does this gap stick around? Women tend to end up in lower-paid jobs like care work or teaching, face discrimination in pay and promotions, often work part-time or unstable hours, and carry way more unpaid work at home, looking after kids, elderly relatives, cooking, and cleaning.
The report points out something eye-opening: when you add up all hours worked (paid + unpaid), women put in more time than men overall, but their paid earnings are much lower, sometimes as little as 32% of men's hourly rate when everything's counted.
Although there has been some progress, the big structural barriers still hold women back. Things like hiring biases, limited access to affordable childcare, weak equal-pay rules, and the way care work is undervalued all make it harder for women to get ahead. Without real changes like better parental leave, stronger enforcement of fair pay, and policies that recognise the value of underpaid work, closing this gap will take much longer than it should. It's not just a "women's issue"; it affects economies and fairness everywhere.
References:
Chancel, L., Gómez-Carrera, R., Moshrif, R., Piketty, T., et al. (2025). World Inequality Report 2026. World Inequality Lab. https://wir2026.wid.world/
Chancel, L., Gómez-Carrera, R., Moshrif, R., Piketty, T., et al. (2025). Executive summary. In World Inequality Report 2026. World Inequality Lab. https://wir2026.wid.world/insight/executive-summary