Women7 Canada

W7 + GEAC Update

24 March 2025

Last  week in Ottawa, the Gender Equality Advisory Council (GEAC) convened to discuss recommendations on gender equality it will present to this year’s G7 leaders and ministers.  Established in 2018 during Canada’s G7 Presidency, the GEAC was created to support attention to gender equality in the G7’s discussions and policies. The GEAC will develop recommendations to G7 decision makers in advance of the Leaders’ Summit in mid-June. 

The GEAC is composed of eight members appointed by G7 partners and serving the second year of their two-year terms and nine members appointed by the Government of Canada for this year. Following past good practice, GEAC membership includes one of the W7 co-chairs. 

The two-day meeting on 18 and 19 March 2025, included the participation of the Women 7 (W7),  one of the civil society engagement groups which provide recommendations to G7 countries.  The W7 brings together feminist organizations from across the G7 countries and the Global South to engage in dialogue, provide recommendations, and advocate for the advancement of women’s rights and gender justice at the G7. The W7 Organizing Committee for this year is composed of representatives from 11 organizations: Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, the Canadian Labour Congress, the Canadian Women’s Foundation, the Equality Fund, Equitas, the Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative, Mines Action Canada, the National Association of Friendship Centres, the Nobel Women’s Initiative, Women’s Shelters Canada, and Oxfam Canada. 

Members of the W7 Organizing Committee presented recommendations to the GEAC focused on our key priority themes, including economic resilience, climate change, emerging technologies and AI, democracy, and, of course, gender equality. These recommendations drew on the ongoing efforts of our thematic Working Groups. These groups will continue to meet, finalizing policy briefs in the next couple of months. 

The two-day meeting concluded with a panel discussion co-hosted by W7 and the GEAC on advancing gender equality with a focus on Afghanistan. The panel was moderated by Canada’s Ambassador for Women, Peace and Security, Jacqueline O’Neill. The panellists included Zahra Nader (Editor-in-Chief of Zan Times), Madina Mashkoori, (Student, Carleton University), Nell Stewart (Executive Director, Afghanistan and Pakistan Division, Global Affairs Canada) and Melanne Verveer (GEAC member and Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security).

At a time when we are seeing alarming rollbacks of rights for women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ individuals globally, the W7 members reaffirmed their commitment to holding G7 leaders accountable for global promises.

In the coming months, the W7 will continue to advocate for the implementation of national and international commitments on gender equality, pressing G7 leaders to hold the line on gender justice. The focus will be on pushing for policies that promote sustainability, security, justice, and equality for all.

In addition to the thematic working groups and our engagement with the GEAC, W7 initiatives include:

• Supporting the Civil 7’s (C7) Summit in April, working to build synergies across the two engagement groups.
• Liaising with other engagement groups, including the Pride 7 and the Labour 7.
• Sharing updates and resources on the W7 website. 
• Launching the 2025 W7 communique. Please sign on and help spread the word.
• Kicking off a social media campaign to gather video recommendations aimed at G7 leaders.

Public Update: 2025 Women’s 7/W7

February 2025

Summary

Canada will chair the G7 in 2025. The W7 or Women’s 7 is one of many ‘engagement groups’ that provides recommendations to G7 countries and holds governments accountable for commitments made. 1 The W7 focuses on advancing women’s rights and gender equality as both a standalone priority and a set of issues that requires attention and robust action in each ministerial meeting and theme discussion. Each year, the W7 is organized by civil society organizations from the host G7 country.

This document provides a brief overview of the 2025 W7, building on lessons learned since 2018 and addressing current challenges.

History

In 2018, Canadian organizations set a new direction with an explicitly feminist W7, that focused on
feminist issues, such as sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), gender-based violence (GBV)
and unpaid and paid care. For the first time Global South feminist activists were active participants. Since
then, W7 hosts in other countries have built on this experience while developing their own goals, ways
of working, and priorities.

As well, in 2018, the Government of Canada (GoC) established the inaugural Gender Equality Advisory
Council (GEAC). In all but one year, G7 presidents continued the GEAC. In its different forms, each GEAC
has provided recommendations to the G7 on how to advance gender equality. Some of the organizers of the 2018 W7, as well as new organizations, have come together to plan the 2025 W7 in Canada.

W7 Objectives

• Host the 2025 W7 during Canada’s G7 presidency (involving feminist activists from across Canada, G7 Countries, and the Global South).
• Engage G7 actors in 2025, bringing feminist proposals (analysis, language, initiatives, etc.) to the discussions of Canada’s G7 priorities.
• Where possible, influence outcome documents and commitments.

Approach

Given each year the leadership of the W7 shifts from country to country, we believe preparations for Canada’s G7 presidency should start as soon as possible. We have formed a W7 organizing committee that will coordinate activities for the balance of 2024 and throughout 2025 (including the handover to France for 2026).

After an analysis of past W7s, other engagement groups, and G7 trends, we are approaching the W7 in a different way than previous years.

Our key actions include:

• Background Papers: Commissioning 5 background papers to provide analysis and support for the development of recommendations. The papers look past G7 documentation and gender analysis regarding:
  • Climate
  • Economic resilience
  • Emerging technologies
  • Care
  • Democracy.
• Communique: Developing a W7 communique. We’ve compiled recommendations from previous communique and asked activists from the Majority Wold to provide a peer review.We hope to have the communique available for sign starting late February.
• Working Groups: Forming 5 thematic working groups who will meet online to provide inputs into recommendations and ‘policy briefs.’ We will look for opportunities for the Working Group Chairs to engage with G7 officials. After a public call for participation, the working group members have been confirmed by the co-chairs. The working groups are:
  • Climate
  • Economy
  • Emerging Technologies
  • Democracy
  • Gender Justice
• Policy Briefs: Developing a series of policy briefs on key issues that review past G7 language/commitments, identify gaps, and make concrete recommendations.
• GEAC: Working – to the extent possible – with the GEAC, coordinating analysis and recommendations. The Organizing Committee will hold a joint session with the GEAC during their in-person meeting mid-March.
• Analysis: Preparing a response to the Leaders’ Communique.
• Other Engagement Groups: Liaising with other ‘engagement groups’ to both learn and advance shared priorities.
• Public Outreach: Developing public “products” (including a website – to be launched in late February) to advance the policy dialogue around key feminist priorities.

Key Dates

Organizing Committee Members

Our organizing committee has representatives from: Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, Canadian Labour Congress, Canadian Women’s Foundation, Equality Fund, Equitas, Mines Action Canada, Nobel Women’s Initiative, Oxfam-Canada, Women’s Shelters Canada, and a Senior Fellow – Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative.

We are grateful for the financial support from Women and Gender Equality Canada.