By KT Reporter
Gender equality remains the unfinished business of our time, and the private sector is indispensable for closing the gap, according to a new report from UN Women launched today.
The report, Unfinished Business: Private Sector and Gender Equality- Transforming Corporate Commitments into Equality for All Women and Girls, draws on data from thousands of companies in 117 countries. It finds that while progress is visible, women remain under-represented in leadership, over-represented in low-wage jobs, and subject to wage gaps and harassment that blunt both economic growth and human rights.
The report highlights that the private sector drives employment, markets, capital, innovation, and supply chains, shaping the lives of billions of people around the world. It cautions that businesses can entrench inequalities when they fail to act or become decisive agents of change when they embed gender equality across workplaces, marketplaces and communities.
“This is a make-or-break moment”, said Kirsi Madi, UN Women Deputy Executive Director. “Thirty years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and with only five years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we are called to deliver on the promise to half of the world. Businesses cannot afford to treat gender equality as optional.”
Uganda mirrors many of the report’s global concerns. Women make up more than 50 per cent of Uganda’s population, but only 39 per cent of the formal workforce. They are concentrated in the informal economy, especially in agriculture and petty trade, where wages are low and social protections scarce. The gender pay gap in formal employment is estimated at nearly 20 per cent, while women entrepreneurs continue to face limited access to credit and markets.
The UN Women report makes a compelling business case. Companies with gender-diverse leadership teams are 25 per cent more likely to outperform on profitability, and closing gender gaps could add a cumulative USD 342 trillion to the global economy by 2050. In Uganda, the World Bank estimates that eliminating barriers to women’s full participation could boost annual GDP growth significantly.
Yet inaction is costly: lifetime earnings lost to gender inequality globally equal USD 160 trillion. “Every delay deepens economic losses and weakens social stability,” the report warns.
The report urges governments to create and enforce laws that guarantee women’s rights and align business incentives with equality goals. It challenges companies to move from voluntary pledges to measurable outcomes, embedding gender equality in corporate strategy, supply chains, and workplaces. Better data and stronger partnerships among governments, businesses, and civil society are highlighted as essential.
UN Women points to emerging innovations, from gender bonds in Tanzania to inclusive supply chains in Canada and Bolivia, as evidence that measurable change is achievable when action is mandated, tracked, and resourced.
With Uganda’s 2040 development blueprint dependent on private investment, the report is a wake-up call. It urges Ugandan companies to treat gender equality not as charity or compliance but as smart economics.
“Historical change is within reach, but no single actor can close gender gaps alone,” Madi emphasised. “We must all act together, now, to close the gap between commitment and actual outcomes.”
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