The G7 brings together the Heads of State and Government of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States and serves as a forum to find common responses to major global challenges including development, education, health, the environment and climate change.

To ensure concrete improvements on gender equality, the Woman 7 (W7) Movement - a coalition of civil society actors from different countries defending women’s rights – has been created with the aim of advocating for ambitious gender equality policies and for the compliance with financial commitments in this field.

With this perspective in mind, the W7 Movement produced recommendations for each of the Ministerial meetings aimed at preparing the main G7 Biarritz Summit, due in August 2019, in the fields of foreign affairs (5-6 April), biodiversity and climate, (5-6 May), gender equality (10 May), health (16-17 May), Labour (6-7 June), education and training for development (5 July) and finance, (17-18 July),  as well as other relevant advocacy meetings such as the Sherpas’ meetings.  

The Euro – Mediterranean Women’s Foundation (FFEM) together with several members of its Associations’ network (such as Forum Femmes Méditerranée, Adéquations and others) are part of the W7 Movement  (formerly known as G7 Gender Coalition) and have been involved in the elaboration of the recommendations as well as in the dissemination of the W7 Movement campaign.

Building on the work conducted by the W7 in 2018 in Canada, the W7 calls on G7 leaders to adopt domestic and foreign policies that are truly feminist and transformative and to that end, to increase financial resources that are dedicated to feminist associations and non-governmental organisations and to ensure a full and effective participation of women and girls in decision-making in the G7 and beyond, by recognising women’s diversity.

Some of the proposed measures are: ensuring that at least 85% of the G7 countries’ Official Development Assistance (ODA) integrates gender as a significant or main objective by 2025 ; inviting women’s organisations to peace negotiating tables; ensuring adolescents’ access to primary healthcare services and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in emergency contexts; investing in the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence through awareness raising activities; adopting accountability frameworks for all G7 commitments on gender equality, in order to measure, adjust and assess public policies and their effects on women and girls.

Additionally, the W7 Movement will formally present its recommendations to G7 countries during a two-day summit at UNESCO House in Paris on 9th of May. Workshops and high-level panels will both inform the positions of G7 leaders on the rights of women and girls and ensure that the voices of women’s organizations from different regions of the world are fully heard prior to May 7th’s Ministerial meeting on Gender Equality. Further, it is forecasted that several members of the FFEM’s Network, including Forum Femmes Méditerranée, will participate at the summit.

For more information about the W7 Movement and its demands, you can visit the website which has been launched in April in English and French.