The draft December 2025 National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) consultation was notably silent on gender, particularly regarding safety (Edgar, 2026). However, in January 2026, some reference to women and girls appears in the draft Planning Practice Guidance consultation document on design. This sparked a debate in the House of Commons on planning's role (Lewis & Keating, 2026) as well as discussions across the built environment industry (Williams, 2026). This paper explores this, and what the exclusion and lack of systematic approaches reveal about the institutionalisation of gender in planning systems in England. Using a comparative analysis of equivalent national planning policy and guidance to examine the wider UK and the Republic of Ireland, it explores why gender remains marginalised and what this lack of consideration means for the future of gender informed planning practice across these nations. Finally, through this analysis, it delves into the potential impact of gender-informed planning in improving the built environment for everyone.