Insights from the Regional Consultations on Gender Equality: A Youth Vision of the World’s Future

Last month, SDSN Youth began its new project, A Youth Vision for the World’s Future (AYVWF), in collaboration with the Ford Foundation. The new initiative aims to center youth voices to shape policy recommendations for a more sustainable and equitable world. Through a series of regional consultations on gender equality, climate action, and the future of work, AYVWF gathers lived experiences, practical insights, and forward-looking solutions directly from young leaders across sectors and geographies.

Throughout March 2026, SDSN Youth convened four consultations on gender equality, convening over 145 youth participants from over 70 countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe to reflect, challenge, and co-create solutions grounded in real-world experiences.

The State of Gender Equality

With just a few years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), progress on gender equality remains uneven. According to the Sustainable Development Report, the progress has only been moderate in aspects such as the ratio of female-to-male average years of education or the ratio of female-to-male labor force participation has also seen only modest gains. While the percentage of seats held by women in national parliaments has largely stagnated. As participants highlighted, and evidenced by this data, there are few advances, and these often fail to translate into real structural change.

“Most of the time, gender equality is framed as merely representation. But then, even when you include, say, an equal number of men and women, who shapes the decisions is still largely concentrated amongst a small group of actors. It can either be women, or it can either be men.”

— Participant from Namibia, working in global health.

At a time when the world is navigating overlapping crises, from climate change to economic instability, gender inequality continues to deepen vulnerabilities. Addressing it is not just a moral imperative but a prerequisite for sustainable development, economic resilience, and social justice.

Youth Recommendations

Despite a wide array of contexts, several powerful and consistent themes emerged across regions.

Many participants widely acknowledged that while progress has been made in access to education and professional opportunities, it has been insufficient to dismantle deeper systemic barriers. A participant from Malawi, working in youth-focused gender and development programs, noted, “Even though progress has been made, challenges such as gender-based violence, economic inequality, and cultural barriers still exist because some people are still resistant to the change that feminism and empowerment is bringing.”

Participants emphasized that structural and cultural barriers remain deeply entrenched across regions. Across regions, patriarchal systems, cultural expectations, and long-standing social norms continue to shape outcomes for women and girls.

“There is a juxtaposition and an antagonism between how people are able to understand that the advancement of women is not a battle against the development of the society…that when women advance, the society advances as well.”

— Participant from Nigeria, working in women’s rights advocacy.

Technology also emerged as a cross-cutting theme, offering both promise and risk. From online gender-based violence to bias embedded in AI systems, participants stressed the urgent need for accountability and more inclusive digital design.

“Even right now, the offline gender-based violence, we’re still facing a lot of challenges around it. But now with the technology aspect included in it, a lot of frontline workers — like the judges, the police — they don’t have the skills to face it. And in some languages like Timor-Leste, we don’t even have the language to call the violence itself.”

— Participant from Indonesia, working in technology inclusion and gender-based violence response

Education was consistently identified as both a powerful solution and an ongoing challenge. While access has improved, the way education is structured often reinforces the very gender norms it should be dismantling. A participant from the Philippines, and an educator working on gender-inclusive curricula, mentioned, “Gender inequality doesn’t begin in government or workplaces. It always begins in the classroom, at home. So as an educator, what students learn or experience reflects how they see themselves.” This insight called for curriculum reform, inclusive teaching practices, and expanded access, particularly for those in rural and marginalized communities.

Another key theme was the importance of engaging men and boys as active partners in advancing gender equality. Participants noted that gender equality is often framed too narrowly, which can create resistance rather than collaboration. As a participant from India shared, “In online discourse, whenever gender equality comes up, the persistent narrative is that it is anti-men. A unified approach to addressing that harmful narrative across countries is very important." This perspective reinforced the need to reframe gender equality as a shared responsibility and to create intentional spaces for allyship and learning.

Another recurring concern throughout the discussions was the gap between policy and lived reality. While many countries have strong gender equality frameworks on paper, these policies often fail to reach the communities they are meant to serve.

"If all these interventions don’t trickle down to local societies — if people don’t know that we have a new law — it really doesn’t help in any way. We have to break it down into minuscule, consumable information packs that can be easily disseminated to rural communities."

— Participant from Zimbabwe, working in media and communications

This “localization gap” points to the need for more accessible communication, community-driven approaches, and inclusive implementation strategies.

Finally, participants across all regions emphasized that the core challenge is not a lack of commitments, but a lack of implementation, funding, and accountability. Many pointed out that policies often remain confined to national frameworks without the resources or enforcement mechanisms needed to reach communities on the ground.

“The challenge here is not only legal, but it's about how organizations actually make decisions. If we want real change, we need to create mechanisms that create consequences.”

— Participant from Brazil

Others highlighted that insufficient funding for grassroots and youth-led initiatives limits the ability to turn commitments into tangible outcomes. Without clear accountability systems to track progress and enforce action, even the most well-designed policies risk remaining symbolic rather than transformative. As one participant from Greece noted, “In 2026, most countries across this region have national legal frameworks to promote and enforce gender equality, but there is a significant gap between the adoption of these frameworks and the implementation in everyday life.”

As the consultations came to a close, they revealed a powerful truth: young people are not waiting for change. They are already driving it. Across regions, youth demonstrated deep understanding, innovative thinking, and practical solutions rooted in their communities. Gender equality is an urgent, ongoing effort that requires collective action across generations, sectors, and societies.

The Next Phase of the Project

Throughout this Spring, SDSN Youth will conduct additional regional consultations on climate change and the future of work. The insights gathered from all consultations will directly inform SDSN Youth’s Recommendation Brief, set to be finalized and released in Summer 2026. This brief will elevate youth-driven solutions to global policymakers and institutions.

For more information, please visit the AYVWF page or contact youth@unsdsn.org