Your gender equality checklist: Flex work, equal pay, fair tech
From unpaid care work and pay equity to AI bias – three actions to boost equality.
For the first time, gender equality ranks alongside healthcare and climate change as a top global concern. Gen Z and Millennials, the generations shaping our workplaces, our politics, and our online spaces, have sounded the alarm and put the spotlight on gender equality.
But while nearly a third of young people rank gender equality as urgent – 29 per cent of Gen Z and 28 per cent of Millennials – the majority (58 per cent) says they don’t know how to support it. Here are three ways to start: at home, at work, and in digital spaces.
These recommendations are based on Team Lewis Foundation’s latest data in support of HeForShe, the UN Women solidarity movement for gender equality.
1. Flexible working is non-negotiable for gender equality
For many women, the workday isn't just a 9-to-5 shift. Most work a full day, some entirely unpaid, and then turn to household and childcare duties from 5 to 9. This relentless cycle starts at sunrise – fixing breakfast and getting children ready for the day – and continues into the evening with dinner, homework, baths, and bedtime.
UN Women Time Use Surveys show women do three times more unpaid care and domestic work than men, averaging 4.2 hours daily compared to men's 1.7 hours. This unfair load, and the constant need to flex around rigid systems is one of the biggest drivers of inequality at work. It’s also one of the easiest to fix.
When a child is sick or school closes unexpectedly, it’s often women who pay the price, rescheduling meetings, using unpaid leave, or stepping back from work entirely. In the United States, women are 10 times more likely than men to take time off work to care for sick children.
Flexibility at work could change everything. Over half of women (52 per cent) surveyed by Team Lewis said flexible work would make it easier for them to stay in the economy. The report also found that 45 per cent of women reconsidering their jobs in 2025 blamed a lack of flexibility, and 40 per cent cited poor work-life balance.
A shift in work culture isn’t just good for women, it could be a gamechanger for the economy. According to Flexonomics, a report by Pragmatix Advisory, unlocking flexible working could add £55.7 billion to the UK economy. The gains would come from retaining talent, boosting productivity, and tapping into the full potential of women, who are being held back by outdated ways of working.
What can you do to boost flexibility for women?
Businesses: Normalize equal care responsibilities and flexible working arrangements
Create jobs that work around people’s lives: prioritize flexible hours, remote options, and update leave policies to incentivize and acknowledge equal care responsibilities.
Families: Share the chores
Equality starts at home. If you eat, cook. If you wear it, wash it. If you live there, clean it. Care is everyone’s responsibility.
2. The cost of ignoring gender equality at work
Most women face inequality and injustice at some point in their careers. Women are underpaid, promoted less often, overlooked for leadership, interrupted in meetings, sidelined from key projects, and more likely to face harassment, microaggressions, and burnout.
Women worldwide still earn 20 per cent less than men, and just 28 per cent of managerial roles are held by women. While diversity targets are often championed, meaningful change has proven sluggish.
The Team Lewis report found that more than 40 per cent of employees believe their company’s efforts to support women could go further, and 47 per cent want pay transparency prioritized.
Workplace culture needs an overhaul too. Women report being undervalued, spoken over, and shut out of decision-making. One female respondent put it simply: "I often find myself in work environments where my opinion is not respected."
In the US, it will take another 50 years for ALL women to achieve equality in the corporate sector, 22 years for white women and 48 years for women of colour. Despite the data, governments in many parts of the world are ditching equality initiatives when they are most needed.
Research from McKinsey & Company consistently shows that companies with gender-diverse leadership outperform those without it. Ignoring workplace equity doesn’t just hold women back—it stifles progress, limits innovation, and deprives organizations of fresh ideas, new angles, and leadership that can drive growth. Simply put, inclusive workplaces are fairer, smarter, stronger and more sustainable.
What can you do to make the workplace an equal space?
Businesses: Audit your policies, not just your progress
Prioritize equal pay for work of equal value, transparent promotion pathways, and zero-tolerance for discrimination and harassment.
Individuals: Make gender equality part of your everyday
Listen actively, call out bias, and champion women’s voices in every room you’re in.
Men: Become allies
Use your influence to support your female colleagues.
3. Progress by design: Tackling gender bias in AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a massive opportunity for humanity, reshaping how we work, learn, and live at gargantuan speed. But AI doesn’t operate in a vacuum, it “learns” from the world we have built. If AI tools and systems are trained with biased data, stereotypes and views shaped by decades of inequality, these will influence the final product.
Currently, only 28 per cent of people are aware of gender bias in AI. Once informed, over half said they were concerned, especially Gen Z and Millennials. And they’re right to be. AI systems have already failed repeatedly: facial recognition software has led to false arrests, AI hiring systems have favoured male applicants over women, and healthcare algorithms have misjudge clinical needs—especially for patients from minority groups—leading to missed care that could save lives.
The problem isn’t just who uses AI; it’s who builds it. Women currently make up just 35 per cent of employees in US tech firms yet only 40 per cent of people surveyed by Team Lewis see the lack of women in AI leadership as a problem. And just 24 per cent believe AI frequently portrays women in misogynistic ways. This points to a deeper issue—when AI learns from a world shaped by inequality, it risks encoding that inequality into the future.
Still, there is growing demand for change and 66 per cent of people believe governments should regulate AI to reduce gender bias. That means tackling everything, from image generators that produce stereotypical visuals, to algorithms that penalize CVs with female indicators. Many are also calling on companies to invest in inclusive design teams, ethical standards, and better training data.
What can you do to counter gender inequality in tech?
Tech leaders: Build systems that are in tune with women’s needs.
Invest in diverse tech teams, audit your tools for gender bias, and put ethics and gender equality at the core of AI development.
Netizens: Don’t scroll past the problem
Call out gender bias when you see it. Report misogynistic and sexist content. Demand tech that works for all women and girls.
Want to do more for gender equality?
As the world marks 30 years since the Beijing Platform for Action, the most visionary plan for gender equality to date, now is the time to turn promises into action. Explore the bold steps you can take to help build a more equal world—for ALL women and girls.