Women's Diplomacy by World Woman Forum 2026

WORLD WOMAN FORUM (WWF) 2026, one of the flagship events of GLOBAL BUSINESS WEEK 2026, successfully concluded at the Davos Congress Centre, bringing together women entrepreneurs, business leaders, executives, investors, innovators, policymakers, educators, philanthropists and changemakers from more than 40 countries.

Global Leadership and Distinguished Speakers

The World Woman Forum 2026 will bring together outstanding women of our time — leaders from business, science and technology, education, medicine, culture, diplomacy, media, philanthropy and the social sector. Among the distinguished speakers are confirmed: Dr Olga Azarova (UK), Dr Christina Batruch (Switzerland), Liudmyla Stanislavenko (Ukraine), Cherry Chang (Republic of China), Lyazzat Alshinova (Kazakhstan), Wendy Silinyana (South Africa), Elena Lee (Kazakhstan), Elena Chirich (Australia), Narmina Hasanova (Azerbaijan), Dinora Saitova (Kazakhstan), Jamilya Kerimova (Turkmenistan), Elena Vykhrystyuk (Ukraine), Watceilia Varso (Australia), Tatiana Markova (Germany), Nazzara Ergasheva (Kyrgyzstan), Irina Khazhalia (Georgia) and many other remarkable women leaders from around the world.

The global female population is approximately 4.07 to 4.1 billion women and girls. This estimate is based on a world population of roughly 8.2 billion and the World Bank’s 2024 global female population share of 49.72 percent, according to World Bank Open Data.

International Labour Organization (ILO) — a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards.

Women are half of humanity, but their economic and leadership power is still not equal to their demographic weight.

According to World Bank and ILO modelled data, the global female employment-to-population ratio for women aged 15 and above was 46.6% in 2024, compared with 69.7% for men, as reported by the World Bank Gender Data Portal. This means that roughly 1.4 to 1.5 billion women are employed worldwide, depending on the exact base population used for women aged 15 and above.

The International Labour Organization reports that unpaid care work remains one of the largest barriers to women’s participation in the labour market. In 2023, an estimated 708 million women were outside the labour force because of unpaid care responsibilities, compared with 40 million men, according to the ILO.

In entrepreneurship, the numbers are equally powerful. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2020/21 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report estimated that 274 million women were involved in business start-ups globally, while an additional 139 million women were owners or managers of established businesses, according to Babson College and GEM. Together, this suggests that more than 400 million women were involved in starting, owning or managing businesses globally, although definitions and country coverage vary.

Entrepreneurship — the creation or extraction of economic value; it is the process of designing, launching and running a new business, often initially a small business.

More recent GEM data shows that women’s entrepreneurial activity continues to grow. The GEM 2024/2025 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report found that one in ten women started new businesses in 2024, compared with one in eight men, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.

These figures explain why a global forum for women’s leadership is not a symbolic event. It is a response to one of the most important economic and social realities of the 21st century: women are already building businesses, leading institutions, educating societies, shaping families, creating innovations and driving social change, but they still need greater access to capital, visibility, networks and decision-making power.

The choice of Davos is highly symbolic. Davos is associated with global dialogue, economic power, political debate and the future of business and society. For decades, it has been a place where leaders discuss the direction of the world. Holding World Woman Forum 2026 at the Davos Congress Centre sends a clear message: women’s leadership deserves it and belongs at the centre of global decision-making, not at its margins.

The Davos Congress Centre is not only a prestigious venue. It represents a global language of leadership. By entering that space, women leaders are not asking for permission to participate in the future. They are declaring that they are already shaping it.

Women’s Entrepreneurship as a Global Economic Force

Women entrepreneurs are a global economic force. They create jobs, support families, educate communities, invest in children, build local economies and often reinvest profits into health, education and social stability. In many countries, women start businesses not only because they seek opportunity, but because they face limited access to formal employment, discriminatory labour markets or the need to combine income generation with family responsibilities.

The GEM Women’s Entrepreneurship Report shows that women’s start-up activity continues to grow, but women also face a higher likelihood of closing businesses for family or personal reasons. The GEM 2024/2025 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report found that women were 47 percent more likely than men to close a business for family or personal reasons, showing the persistent tension between entrepreneurship and caregiving.

This is why women’s entrepreneurship policy cannot focus only on motivation. Women do not need only encouragement. They need access to capital, childcare infrastructure, legal protection, safe digital environments, mentorship, procurement access, export opportunities, investment readiness, visibility and cross-border networks.

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