Gender inequality in Honduras has seen improvements in some areas regarding gender inequality, while others have regressed towards further inequality since in 1980s. Comparing numbers from the 2011 and 2019 United Nations Human Development Reports helps to understand how gender inequality has been trending in Honduras. In the 2011 Human Development Report rankings for the Gender Inequality Index, Honduras ranked 121st out of 187 countries. In the 2019 Human Development Report Honduras dropped to 132nd out of 189 countries in the rankings. As the country's overall ranking dropped, it indicates that progress towards gender equality is not being made on the same level as other countries around the world.

Many of the inequalities stem from longstanding cultural norms and traditions that have been in place for hundreds of years. Dating back to the Spanish colonial influence on the agricultural society of pre-16th century Mesoamerica.

Traditional gender roles have men dominating the public sphere and women occupying the domestic sphere: it is very taboo for women to participate in what are believed to be traditionally male positions in society. Although, there are women who occupy these traditionally male dominated position, the representation is extremely low. Men are expected to be the main provider of the family and head of the household. Traditional gender roles can give men power to make important decisions over women such as when they may procreate, how many children women may have, what chores need to be done to maintain the household, if they may receive education, and whether or not they may participate in the workforce.

Gender roles in which men occupy more space and hold more power, is taught at a very young age. As children, boys are free to run around unclothed, play without supervision, are less often disciplined for unfavorable behaviors, and enjoy greater freedom overall. While girls are to be well groomed and dressed with care, are watched over carefully, are expected to act in a helpful and quiet manner, and enjoy very little freedom.

Honduran men are expected to father many children, and there is little social stigma attached to men's premarital and extramarital sexual relationships. However, when marrying a woman, men expect their bride to be a virgin. As seen in various news reports, women who do not conform to what is socially deemed as appropriate behavior are often subjected to violence. In 2018 Honduras had 388 cases of femicide (according to Merriam Webster Dictionary femicide is a gender-based murder of a woman or girl by a man) - an average of 32 women killed per month.

According to UNAH Violence Observatory statistics, killings of women decreased from 9.1 deaths per 100,000 in 2016 to 8.2 per 100,000 in 2018, and to 7.9 per 100,000 as of June. Women in domestic situations were the most vulnerable group, accounting for approximately 40 percent of these deaths.

Each year the United Nations releases a Human Development Report and in this report they measure various dimensions of society. One of those dimensions is gender inequality where levels of disadvantage between genders is demonstrated. This index shows disadvantages among genders in three key elements: reproductive health, empowerment, and labor market. Countries are given a rank based on their gender inequality index value. The value is measured from 0 to 1. 0 represents men and women prospering equally and 1 being the opposite, in which one gender prospers as poorly as possible compared to the other.

In the 2011 UN Human Development Report Honduras was ranked 121st out of 187 countries and given an index value of 0.511 However, in the 2019 report that ranking dropped to 132nd out of 189 countries, but the opposite trend for the index value, which improved to 0.479. These statistics can give a general idea of how a country fares on gender inequality overall and if improvements are being made, relative to all 187 countries in the report.