From June 24 to 25, Jenna Sudds, Parliamentary Secretary to the Honourable Marci Ien, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, met with G7 Gender Equality Ministers over a two-day session to discuss lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as gender equality policies to support women's economic empowerment. The sessions were preceded by a dialogue with the Gender Equality Advisory Council (GEAC) and Chairs of the Women 7 (W7), to ensure that the perspectives of international experts and civil society organizations were included.
Throughout these sessions, Parliamentary Secretary Sudds emphasized that Canada is dedicated to the G7's goal of advancing gender equality. She also highlighted the importance of promoting gender equality and 2SLGBTQI+ rights both domestically and internationally. Gender equality leads to resilient, inclusive, and democratic societies.
Parliamentary Secretary Sudds called attention to Canada's intersectional response to recovery from the pandemic with inclusive policies, programs, and initiatives to address the distinct needs of diverse communities. In Canada, pandemic measures, such as lockdowns and service closures, severely impacted people experiencing gender-based violence and exacerbated technology-facilitated gender-based violence. In addition, she spotlighted Canada's 10-year National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, launched in November 2022.
Parliamentary Secretary Sudds spoke about Canada's commitments to advance women's economic security and empowerment through several key initiatives under the Women's Program and the development of the Early Learning and Child Care System, to provide affordable childcare across the country. She explained how these initiatives are in response to the increased pressure on unpaid care work, primarily affecting women during the pandemic. She acknowledged the persistent gender pay gap resulting from the influence of societal norms and biases, and the unequal distribution of care responsibilities. She recognized the challenges faced by 2SLGBTQI+ communities and referenced the 2SLGBTQI+ National Action Plan, which takes significant steps towards addressing these challenges.
Quick facts
- Canada supports leaders and ministers in ensuring that gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls are integrated into all the G7's work.
- The GAEC provides recommendations and advice on concrete actions that will produce real results for women and girls. It is made up of feminist champions, technical experts and community activists, including representatives from civil society, government and youth, from G7 and other countries.
- The W7 brings together approximately 70 feminist leaders from across Canada, G7 countries, and the Global South to discuss and form policy recommendations to help advance gender equality and women's empowerment. Their voices, perspectives and leadership will contribute key recommendations on ways to ensure that the G7 responds to the realities of women and girls around the world.
- The role G7 host, also known as the G7 presidency, rotates annually among member countries in the following order: France, United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada. The European Union is not part of the rotation.
