The following table shows the world record progression in the women's 20 kilometres walk, as recognised by the IAAF.
| Time | Athlete | Date | Place | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2:24:00 | 1931-09-06 | Prague, Czechoslovakia | |||
| 2:14:07 | 1931-09-14 | Prague, Czechoslovakia | |||
| 1:59:02 | 1934-06-09 | Zürich, Switzerland | |||
| 1:57:35 | 1962-07-28 | Cape Town, South Africa | |||
| 1:57:26 | 1963-10-27 | Copenhagen, Denmark | |||
| 1:54:30 | 1967-10-22 | Copenhagen, Denmark | |||
| 1:53:46 | 1968-10-27 | Copenhagen, Denmark | |||
| 1:51:05 | 1969-10-12 | Copenhagen, Denmark | |||
| 1:47:10 | 1973-09-22 | Copenhagen, Denmark | |||
| 1:43:38 | 1977-07-16 | Adelaide, Australia | |||
| 1:43:20 | 1978-04-23 | Mixhuca, Mexico | |||
| 1:41:42 | 1980-02-03 | Melbourne, Australia | |||
| 1:39:31 | 1981-12-20 | Melbourne, Australia | |||
| 1:36:36 | 1982-12-19 | Melbourne, Australia | |||
| 1:36:23 | 1984-07-07 | Canberra, Australia | |||
| 1:36:19 | 1984-07-17 | Melbourne, Australia | |||
| 1:29:40 | 1988-05-13 | Vårname, Sweden | |||
| 1:27:30 | 1995-05-01 | Beijing, China | |||
| 1:27:30 | 1999-02-07 | Adler, Russia | |||
| 1:26:22 | 2001-11-19 | Guangzhou, China | |||
| 1:25:41 | 2005-08-07 | Helsinki, Finland | |||
| 1:25:08 | 2011-02-26 | [1] | |||
| 1:25:02 | 2012-08-11 | [2] | |||
| 1:24:47 | 2015-02-27 | ||||
| 1:24:38 | 2015-06-06 | ||||
| 1:23:49 | 2021-03-20 | [3] |