International Women’s Day 2026, under the theme, “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls”, calls for action to dismantle all barriers to equal justice: discriminatory laws, weak legal protections, and harmful practices and social norms that erode the rights of women and girls, according to the United Nations. Here is a barrier the world rarely acknowledges: not one of the nine nations that controls nuclear weapons is currently led by a woman.

All nine (Russia, the US, China, France, the UK, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea) are governed by men. Together they hold over 12,000 warheads. New START, the last US-Russia nuclear arms control treaty, expired on February 5, with no replacement in sight. The ongoing US-Israel strikes on Iran are pushing nuclear-armed powers closer to confrontation. The Doomsday Clock stands at 89 seconds to midnight, the closest to annihilation in its 75-year history. This is the world men have built. What would the world look like if women held the leadership positions?

The world today has the highest number of active conflicts since the end of World War II: from the ongoing devastation in Iran, Ukraine and Sudan to the crises in Gaza, Ethiopia and Myanmar. Despite the landmark 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, the pattern remains: every one of these major hostilities was initiated and continues to be commanded by male leaders. Global military spending exceeds $2.7 trillion, nearly equivalent to the entire gap needed to meet every UN Sustainable Development Goal: redirecting a mere 4 per cent of this budget could eliminate world hunger entirely, 10 per cent could provide basic healthcare and vaccines to every child on Earth. Meanwhile, the world reels under crises on multiple fronts.

Corruption drains an estimated $3.6 trillion from global economies annually, siphoning funds meant for hospitals, schools, and clean water. This systemic theft fuels a survival crisis where nearly 700 million people go to bed hungry each night, 120 million are forcibly displaced by wars and climate change, and over 150 million children suffer from stunting. Even basic care is a luxury, as 4.6 billion people lack essential health services and over 1.1 billion people struggle with mental health disorders. Maternal mortality claims nearly 300,000 lives every year, and a woman is killed every ten minutes. These are the symptoms of the same governance failure: a world run almost exclusively by men.

Addressing the leadership gender gap is not a cure-all, but is critical for building more inclusive and effective solutions. Historical examples provide some answers. Israel’s Golda Meir reportedly refused to authorise a nuclear strike during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, even as defences collapsed. She chose not to cross the threshold. Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto signed a Non-Nuclear Aggression Agreement with India in 1988, choosing diplomacy over brinkmanship. The argument is not that women are inherently peaceful: Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher fought wars. However, research on risk perception (Slovic, 1999; Finucane et al., 2000) shows women consistently foresee higher likelihood and severity of catastrophic outcomes.

Mixed-gender decision-making teams produce more rigorous and less groupthink-prone analysis (Janis, 1972). A PNAS study (Larivière et al., 2013) found performance of a group peaks near 50:50 gender balance. In nuclear command, where one miscalculation ends civilisation, that difference in judgment is a strategic necessity. Around the world, women leaders have consistently demonstrated that empathy and strength can go hand in hand with effective governance. Examples show this combination delivering positive outcomes in healthcare, education, and social justice: Sanna Marin of Finland, Angela Merkel of Germany, Indira Gandhi of India, and Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand have each left lasting marks on their nations.

Ardern’s compassionate response to the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings earned her global acclaim. She also introduced policies to reduce child poverty and combat climate change through the Zero Carbon Act that committed New Zealand to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Angela Merkel’s decision to open Germany’s borders to over a million refugees reflected the humanitarian spirit that defined her long tenure, while in India, Indira Gandhi’s ‘Abolish Poverty’ campaign and support for the Green Revolution strengthened agricultural self-sufficiency, and Mamata Banerjee’s rise from poverty embodies fierce, self-made leadership as India’s longest-serving woman Chief Minister. However, women’s representation in national parliaments is just 27.2 per cent, and in local governments worldwide it has stagnated at 35.5 per cent.

Still, Rwanda, Cuba, Mexico, New Zealand, and the UAE already have over 50 per cent women in their parliaments. Women face challenges in reaching political leadership. They struggle with time poverty, have fewer opportunities for mentorship, receive limited campaign funding, and endure disproportionately targeted online harassment. Former Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, whose government was internationally praised for its swift and effective response to the pandemic that kept infection and death rates far lower, revealed that her cabinet faced a torrent of sexism, including personal attacks and even threats. The evidence that women are ready comes from India’s own villages.

Over 1.4 million women hold elected positions in Panchayati Raj Institutions, 46 per cent of all local representatives. What they have done with that power is instructive: women sarpanches in Telangana’s Adilabad used the law to shut over 50 liquor shops across 600 tribal villages; Dubagunta Rosamma’s anti-liquor movement reshaped a state law. In Maharashtra’s Kolhapur, women councillors abolished widow-shaming rituals. They are governance, and leadership at scale. The journey from Panchayat to Parliament has already been proven possible.

Droupadi Murmu rose from a tribal village to become India’s President. Savitri Thakur began in a district panchayat before becoming a Union Minister. Raksha Nikhil Khadse served as village sarpanch before entering the national cabinet. Nimubhen Bambhaniya was a mayor before reaching Parliament. India’s Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (2023) now mandates 33 per cent reservation in the Lok Sabha. What is possible in a gram sabha is possible in a security council. Rudrama Devi ruled the Kakatiya dynasty for thirty years, mastering warfare and statecraft in the 13th century, when few believed a woman capable of such rule. The women who govern India’s villages today are proving the same point again.

As the Nobel Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences noted in 2023, unequal allocation of female talent is not just an equity failure; it is an efficiency failure. The central question remains: is it possible to close the leadership gender gap? It will require each of us to act: Support women’s leadership by voting for gender-balanced candidates, and encouraging women in our community to step into decisionmaking roles. Even North Korea, for all its dictatorship, now presents a surprisingly progressive image as Kim Jong Un’s public appearances with his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, hint at a possible female succession, something even champions of democracy and gender equality, like the U.S. and France have yet to achieve. If change is visible even there, it is not beyond reach anywhere.

(The writer is a transparency and equality advocate and founder member, 51ABI Foundation)

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