For the first time since monitoring began in 2018, the 2025 Global Health 50/50 Report finds a measurable decline in public commitments and policies for gender equality, fairness, and equity. The percentage of organisations with a public commitment to gender equality fell from 84% in 2024 to 75% in 2025, with the steepest drop among those receiving US federal funding.
This shift is unfolding against a backdrop of wider global challenges: democratic uncertainty, shrinking aid budgets, and rising opposition to gender justice, fairness and equity. The Report recognises the intensity of these pressures and that public commitments to gender equality, fairness, and equity may now carry legal or financial risks. Many organisations continue to uphold these values internally, however, and their scores may not fully reflect the work happening behind the scenes.
We also find pockets of progress. Some organisations are maintaining and strengthening their policy commitments to gender equality. Organisational leadership is more globally representative than ever before: in 2025, 33% of CEOs and Board Chairs of non-profit organisations were nationals of low- and middle-income countries – twice as many as in 2020.
The 2025 analysis covers 199 organisations across 37 countries and more than 4 million employees. Global 50/50’s commitment to independence and transparency means we have only used publicly available information and have not examined any policies that are only held internally. In this way the report offers a snapshot of information in the public domain, and our analysis touches on how political dynamics are reshaping what is made visible and what has been withdrawn.
Spain, 2025, S. Viana
What’s new in 2025:
- To uphold the principle of ‘do no harm’, we have not published individual performance scores and categories. Instead, results are presented in aggregate.
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Two variables have been renamed to better reflect what they measure:
- ‘Workplace Diversity and Inclusion’ is now ‘Workplace Fairness and Equity’
- ‘Board Diversity and Inclusion’ is now ‘Board Representation and Inclusion’
Key findings
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Understanding Your Organisation’s Score
The 2025 Global Health 50/50 Report assesses how 199 organisations active in global health are performing on public commitments and workplace policies and practices that advance gender equality, fairness, and equity. Each organisation in the sample has an individual scorecard summarising its performance across the key variables we measure. These scorecards can be downloaded for use in reporting and communications.
The Gender & Health Index enables users to view all organisational scores in one place, track how organisations’ commitment to gender equality, fairness, and equity has evolved since 2018, and compare results across sectors, regions, organisation sizes, and more.
Is your organisation in the 2025 report?
Type in your organisation’s name or use the dropdown menu to view your profile and performance.
If your Organisation is not in the 2025 Report
Benchmark your progress on workplace gender equality, equity and fairness using our Self-Assessment Tool.
Tools for Organisational Change
Do you want to improve your organisation's performance?
Ensuring gender equality, fairness, and equity in the workplace requires both strong policies and effective practices. To support HR professionals and organisational leaders in driving meaningful change, we have curated two resource banks showcasing examples of best practice drawn from organisations across sectors. These publicly available policies, guides, and tools are designed to strengthen your organisation’s approach and commitment to gender justice and equity across all areas – from recruitment and staff wellbeing to career progression and leadership.
We also provide suggestions on where to find specialist expertise if you are looking for tailored support to advance workplace fairness and equity, and to strengthen your organisation’s performance in the areas we assess. These consulting services are entirely separate from Global 50/50’s independent monitoring and analysis. We also welcome your recommendations of additional resources or specialist services that could be added to our lists.
An unfinished agenda
We begin the 2025 Global Health 50/50 Report with a reminder: the journey to social justice is long and far from linear. The current contestation over social justice, global solidarity and equality is having a major impact on the global health sector. Yet moments of rupture can also open space for possibility, a chance to rethink and realise more equitable institutions and systems.
What ‘holding the line’ means will vary from organisation to organisation, but all of us within the global health sector have a role to play.
In this context, Global 50/50 sets out a three-point agenda:
Workplaces
Leadership
Global Health Community
In moments of political volatility, the temptation is to soften our voices or make commitments invisible. But silence normalises retreat. As funding shifts and ideologies harden, we must remain consistent in our principles. As this Report highlights, making these values visible through commitments and public policies is part of the long journey toward social justice.
Global 50/50 reminds us once again that evidence and data should underpin change at all levels. We must mobilise this data for better health outcomes for all, and to build systems that are truly equitable. Our responsibility is to those on the frontlines: the local actors advancing gender equality, fairness, and equity.
As a final year medical student, I want to know that I’m part of a global health workforce committed to gender equality, fairness, and equity. Global 50/50 gives me hope that change is possible, and that young leaders like me have a role in shaping a more just and inclusive future.
In the face of growing hostility to gender equality and reproductive rights, holding the line is not enough. For organisations working across diverse and often difficult contexts, staying true to our values means rooting our work in the realities of the communities we serve, not in the shifting winds of political convenience. When the space to act narrows, we find new ways to act, to speak, and to stand with those most affected.
The beauty of Global 50/50’s work is that it provides a non-partisan space to talk honestly about a shared, if challenging, agenda. Its evidence-informed Annual Report stands out as a much-needed mirror on the global health sector, and in many ways, it is the singular accountability mechanism for gender equality in the sector. In these times more than ever, Global 50/50’s data nudges and rewards our quiet persistence to translate values into public-facing actions.
