// ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SECURITY: GENDER EQUALITY
G7 performance on gender equality
3,888 words (45%). This increased in 2018 to 5,086 words (45%), the most extensively mainstreamed amount. The 2024 communiqué contained 2,178 words (11%). The G7 released its first standalone document on gender equality in 2016, followed by two in 2018 and three in 2019. They included statements on improving education for women and girls in developing countries, ending gender-based violence in a digital context, and the Biarritz Partnership for Gender Equality. This practice disappeared in 2020. DECISIONS Since 1975, the G7 has made a total of 466 public, collective, precise, future-oriented, politically binding commitments on gender equality, accounting for almost 6% of the total identified by the G7 Research Group. Most were made between 2015 and 2018. Previously, most were gender-related commitments with other issues at their core, including addressing HIV/AIDS, improving maternal and child health, and improving educational outcomes for girls in Africa. Gender quality itself became the focus in 2015, with 34 (9%) commitments, followed by 48 (14%) in 2016, and 71 in 2017 (39%). In 2018, the G7 made a record 82 (26%) commitments on gender equality. In 2019 this dropped to 17 (24%) and then to zero in 2020. There were 30 (7%) made in 2021, 32 (6%) in 2022, 53 (8%) in 2023 and 38 (8%) in 2024. DELIVERY G7 members averaged 73% compliance with these gender commitments, based on the 51 assessed by the G7 Research Group. This is slightly below the overall 77% average. The gender commitments with the highest compliance focused on health (including maternal, newborn and child health), promoting access to education for girls, and commitments that invoked legal action or the protection of human rights. Commitments with the lowest compliance focused on supporting refugee and internally displaced women and girls affected by conflict and disaster, and on gender-based violence.
Amid shifting political landscapes, upholding commitments on gender equality, particularly where it intersects with health, education and human rights, is a critical step
A s the G7 leaders convene in Kananaskis, they will be hosted by Canada’s first new prime minister in a decade. The previous government consistently prioritised gender equality in domestic and foreign policy, a dedication reflected in the communiqué of the last Canadian-hosted G7 summit at Charlevoix in 2018. However, with a new leader and a gathering of counterparts who are increasingly resistant to equality-focused policies, this year’s summit will likely shift away from championing this issue. DELIBERATIONS G7 leaders first addressed gender equality in 1981, but not consistently until 2001. Attention steadily increased from 2013 until 2019. It was entirely absent in 2020, but reappeared at all their summits through to 2024. G7 communiqués averaged 889 words on gender equality at each summit, for 6% of the total words from 1975 to 2024. The most attention came in 2017 and 2018. The 2017 communiqué contained
Julia Kulik, director of strategic initiatives and
public engagement, G7 Research Group
// JULIA KULIK Julia Kulik is director of strategic initiatives and public engagement for the G7 and G20 Research Groups, the BRICS Research Group and the Global Health Diplomacy Pro- gram, all based at the University of Toronto. She has written on G7, G20 and BRICS performance, particularly on the issues of gender equality and regional security. She leads the groups’ work on gender, women’s health, higher education and summit performance.
X-TWITTER @juliafkulik www.g7.utoronto.ca
54 // G7 CANADA: THE KANANASKIS SUMMIT 2025
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