Over the past few weeks, you may have noticed that I have been focused in my newsletters, blogs and social media posts on the upcoming Generation Equality Forum (GEF) that is happening in Paris THIS week — June 30 to July 2, 2021 — virtually and with many participants and governments in person.  

The Generation Equality Forum (GEF) is a landmark event to catalyze rapid advancement on gender equality and will be the first time since the last global UNWomen’s conference in Beijing, 26 years ago, that a global community of government leaders and civil society will convene to consider the need for greater gender equality in order to have a more just and sustainable world.

In Beijing, Hillary Clinton famously opened the forum with her reminder that "Women’s rights are Human rights!” and during that gathering, the UN succeeded in getting 189 countries to sign commitments to make gender equality a priority. But the reality is that no country has fulfilled that commitment. Some are closer than others, but we are no closer to equality in most countries — including the US —than we were when those agreements were signed. Yet, it has been challenging to mobilize and activate the global community around the importance of this Forum.

Given that the GEF was postponed from last year due to the pandemic, it’s been challenging for UNWomen (the UN entity responsible for the organization and implementation of this forum and the regional convenings that have led up to it) to connect the losses for women and girls, worldwide, due to Covid, and the importance of this forum to generate renewed energy and actions to prevent further rollbacks of many of the gains that had been made in government, business, and women’s lives and livelihoods.

That is why I believe so strongly that gender equality must be at the heart of any Building Forward Better agenda. 

Many influential voices join me in that belief, and it’s been inspiring to see Melinda French Gates take such an active role in raising awareness and pushing for the necessary commitments from companies, governments, and individuals to prioritize gender equality on every agenda. In this video — one of many she posted — she explains why the GEF is such an important opportunity to bridge the gap between ambition and action.

Many other women leaders have been speaking, writing, and posting videos to try to mobilize participation in the Forum as well as to secure commitments. Because of Covid, the Generation Equality Forum will be taking place predominantly online, and you are all invited to participate. 

Register Now for GEF Paris: forumgenerationegalite.fr/en/get-involved/register

The GEF will bring together governments, corporations, NGOs, youth-led groups and foundations to secure concrete, ambitious, and transformative commitments for gender equality. These are shaped by the Action Coalitions which are the world’s roadmap towards full gender equality.

There are six Action Coalitions that have been meeting over the past several months to develop action platforms on these global challenges: Gender-based violence; Economic justice and rights; Bodily autonomy and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR); Feminist action for climate justice; Technology and innovation for gender equality; and Feminist movements and leadership.

Your organization can join them by making a commitment to advancing gender equality, and the deadline for submitting these commitments has been extended until today (Monday). It’s never too late to encourage your company, a nonprofit you support, a government you participate in or vote for to step up and do the right thing ...for more than half the world’s population! And we know from all the data that gender equality is good for business, for government, for communities and families — in fact, for everyone.

Unless there is a renewed global focus on making gender equality a priority in every government, every business, and across every sector of life and work, it will take more than 135 years to close the global gender gap. We can’t wait, and each of us can do something to advance this timeline. Each of us can #ActforEqual.

My action is to optimize all my communication platforms, like this newsletter, to elevate the initiative, to help inform and hopefully inspire others to join me. In that spirit, I invited one of the architects of the GEF, UN Assistant Secretary General and UN Women Deputy Executive Director Anita Bhatia, to join me recently on my Fintech.TV series, “Dangerous Women: Leading Onward” to share more information about GEF’s agenda and goals. Watch our conversation: 

I hope I’ve convinced you to put gender equality on your agenda for your business, your community, your family, yourself!

See you at GEF!

— Pat