In 2016 the G7 began releasing stan- dalone documents on gender equality, with two issued in 2018 and three in 2019. They included statements on education for women and girls in devel- oping countries, gender-based violence in a digital context and the Biarritz Partnership on Gender Equality. This practice stopped in 2020. COMMITMENTS Since 1975, the G7 has made 470 public, collective, precise, future-oriented and 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. Before 2015, most were gender-related commitments with other issues at their core, including addressing HIV/AIDS, improving mater- nal and child health, and improving educational outcomes for girls in Africa. Gender quality itself became the focus in 2015, with 34 (9%) commitments, fol- lowed by 48 (14%) in 2016, and 71 in 2017 (39%). In 2018, the G7 made a record 82 (26%) commitments on gender equal- ity. In 2019 this dropped significantly to 17 (24%) and then none in 2020. There were 30 (7%) in 2021, 32 (6%) in 2022, 53 (8%) in 2023, 38 (8%) in 2024 and 4 (3%) in 2025. COMPLIANCE G7 members averaged 74% compliance with these gender commitments, based on the 53 assessed for compliance by the G7 Research Group. This is slightly below the overall 78% average across all subjects. The gender commitments with the highest compliance focused on health, including improving maternal, newborn and child health outcomes for women and promoting access to education for girls, and with commitments that invoked legal action or human rights. Commitments with the lowest compli- ance focused on supporting refugee and internally displaced women and girls affected by conflict and disaster, and on gender-based violence. The highest compliance came with commitments made in 2002 and 2021 with 100% each, in 2013 with 95%, in 2018 with 93%, in 1996 and 2024 with 92% each, in 2022 with 88%, in 2014 with 86% and 2023 with 81%. The lowest com- pliance came with commitments made in 2011 with 45% and 2016 with 47%.
“Gender equality will occupy a markedly different place on the agenda than it once did. Previously framed as a mainstreamed component of G7 cooperation, embedded in economic, development and foreign policy priorities, it now risks being edged out”
The highest complying G7 member is Canada with 87%, followed by the United Kingdom with 86% and the Euro- pean Union with 80%. In the middle are Germany with 79%, the United States with 74% and France with 72%. The lowest compliers are Japan with 65% and Italy with 53%. RECOMMENDATIONS The highest complying summits, aver- aging 90%, had a high degree of internal G7 institutional support: they coin- cided with two G7 ministerial meetings on gender equality and the creation of one of the five gender-related official and multistakeholder bodies, councils, partnerships, forums and initiatives, including the Gender Equality Advisory Council. The lowest complying summits, averaging 61%, came on commitments made in years when only one such min- isterial meeting took place. The highest complying summits also dedicated a larger percentage of their communiqués – on average 14% – to gender equality, compared to the 12% average for the lowest complying summits. Core gender commitments averaged 72% compliance. Gender-related com- mitments averaged 76%, with those with the highest compliance linking gender equality to health, specifically to mater- nal and newborn health, AIDS, and reproductive health. Commitments with the lowest compliance lacked specific- ity, but committed to or support gender equality and women’s empowerment broadly. The presence of compliance cata- lysts, such as text on how to implement a commitment, generally improves com- pliance. Gender commitments with embedded catalysts average 76% com- pliance, while commitments with none average 73%. The catalysts that coincide with the highest compliance refer to an implementation target or a G7 body, invoke legal instruments or mobilise a certain dollar amount.
// JULIA KULIK Julia Kulik is director of strategic initi- atives and public engagement for the G7 Research Group as well as for the G20 and BRICS Research Groups and the Global Health Diplomacy Program, 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. Kulik leads the groups’ work on gender, women’s health, higher education and summit performance. X-TWITTER @g7_rg www.g7.utoronto.ca
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