Announcement of the Global Leaders of the Generation Equality Action Coalitions to accelerate gender equality

Media contact: GEFcommunications[at]unwomen.org

The Generation Equality Forum—a global gathering for gender equality, convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France in partnership with civil society—today announced the leaders of the Generation Equality Action Coalitions, to achieve gender equality and all women’s and girls’ human rights. The Action Coalitions will deliver concrete and transformative change for women and girls around the world in the coming five years. They will focus on six themes  that are critical for achieving gender equality: gender-based violence, economic justice and rights, bodily autonomy and sexual and reproductive health and rights, feminist action for climate justice, technology and innovation for gender equality, and feminist movements and leadership. Adolescent girls and young women will be at the heart of each Action Coalition’s work.

The 65 initial leaders of the Action Coalitions represent Member States, diverse feminist and women’s rights organizations, youth-led organizations, philanthropic entities, UN agencies and other international organizations (full list here). The Action Coalitions’ leaders bring deep commitment to and experience in advancing gender equality and women’s human rights and reflect the different experiences and identities of women and girls from around the world.

Further appointments of the Action Coalitions’ leaders will be made in the next few months, including private sector companies and youth-led organizations, to ensure intersectional and intergenerational leadership.

The Action Coalitions’ leaders were selected by the Generation Equality Forum Core Group, which includes France, Mexico, Civil Society and UN Women. Five criteria were followed to select the leaders, including evidence of leaders’ commitment and past record of achievement in the respective Action Coalitions’ themes.

The Action Coalitions are one of the key outcomes of the Generation Equality Forum that will kick off in Mexico City, Mexico, and culminate in Paris, France, in the first half of 2021. The Generation Equality Forum, accelerated by the Action Coalitions, will mobilize urgent action to make irreversible progress towards gender equality and women’s and girls’ human rights globally.

This announcement comes as the world responds to the impacts of COVID-19, which is exacerbating gender and other inequalities and disproportionally affecting women and girls in all countries. In this context of the pandemic, the Generation Equality Forum and Action Coalitions are important and urgently needed to get through this pandemic, to recover faster, and build a more just, inclusive, and equitable future for everyone.

The Generation Equality Forum will also launch an innovative Compact for Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action to drive action and resources towards peace, security and humanitarian action. The Compact will strengthen coordination between existing initiatives and partnerships to ensure that women and youth are at the center of peace, security and humanitarian action, 20 years after the landmark UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. The development of the Compact will be informed by broad stakeholder engagement and consultations with a particular focus on the input of Women, Peace and Security grassroots activists to ensure that existing global and regional processes are harnessed for national and local engagement and action.

The Compact will complement and establish synergies with the six Generation Equality Action Coalitions to advance gender equality and women’s rights in key thematic areas relevant to Peace, Security & Humanitarian Action.

Next steps

The Action Coalitions’ leaders will come together in the coming months to co-design concrete, game-changing Blueprints for action to be implemented over the next five years.

Beginning in September 2020, a set of virtual public conversations will mobilize and capture women’s and young people’s voices to inform the Action Coalitions.

The Action Coalition Blueprints will then be refined at the Generation Equality Forum in Mexico City, during the first part of 2021, and officially launched at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris, later in 2021.

The Action Coalitions aim to mobilize a broad support in addition to the leadership structure. A broad set of stakeholders will be involved in the design of the Action Coalitions during the next months and will be provided with opportunities to commit to transformative actions to advance gender equality and women’s rights.

Find more information on the Generation Equality Forum and the Action Coalitions here.

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