Women7 2022 – Germany
The 2022 W7 Dialogue was chaired by Deutscher Frauenrat (National Council of German Women Organizations) who formed an advisor network of more than 60 feminists from 24 countries, who together prepared and advocated key recommendations to the G7 leaders.
Four cross-cutting issues underpinned discussions about the W7’s key demands:
- Ensure meaningful participation of women and girls in all their diversity
- Apply gender as a cross-cutting principle in domestic and foreign policies
- Implement gender-responsive budgeting globally and domestically
- Invest in a sex and gender responsive intersectional approach on data collection
The core principles were mainstreamed along six thematic areas:
- Women’s economic empowerment, justice and rights
- Gender equal COVID recovery
- Climate Justice
- Feminist Foreign Policy
- Ending violence against women and girls / gender-based violence
- Accountability Mechanism
These demands were brought forward with the campaign slogan “Time to deliver”. The motto of the 2022 Women7 Campaign reminded G7 leaders to make concrete political and financial commitments with transformative impact on the lives of women and girls in all their diversity. The campaign was officially launched at the W7 Kickoff event on January 20, 2022 and continued throughout the year.
The second half of the W7 presidency was then all about the question: Did the G7 deliver? With the publication of a report card and a handbook, Women7 Germany evaluated the 2022 W7 presidency and G7 outcomes in regard to gender equality. Even though there is a lack of concrete political and financial commitments, some important milestones were achieved:
- For the first time in the history of the G7, the rights of transgender and non-binary persons as well as LGBTIQ* are mentioned.
- Strengthening sexual and reproductive health and rights and addressing sexual orientation and gender identity are recognized as essential levers for empowering women and girls.
- The W7’s call for gender-responsive post-pandemic recovery based on the principles of transformative economic policies that also address structural barriers to gender equity and recognize the value of unpaid and underpaid care work were also included almost verbatim in the leaders’ communiqué. This includes a pledge of $79 million to support the World Bank’s Childcare Incentive Fund.
- The G7 Dashboard on Gender Gaps is a concrete implementation of one of the Women7 recommendations and introduces annual monitoring of gender equality indicators.
- In addition, the communiqué mentions – albeit in a subordinate sentence – the strengthening of the rights of women and girls “in terms of feminist development, foreign and trade policies”.
Contact
Project Lead: Juliane Rosin rosin@frauenrat.de
Project Coordinator: Caroline Ausserer ausserer@frauenrat.de