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: