Gender Equality: Tools and Principles

G7 Leaders are accountable for their commitments and must adopt legislation, strong policies, and concrete targets to address the persistent gender gaps that exist across the G7 agenda, including in relation to women’s participation and leadership. The G7 has a pivotal role in championing gender equality as a driver and enabler of democratic resilience, peace and security, action on climate, and economic prosperity, and the Gender Equality Advisory Council (GEAC) calls on G7 Leaders to deliver on their commitments.

Key Principles and Tools for Achieving Gender Equality

The following principles and tools will enable the G7 to adopt our recommendations and allow the G7 to lead by example, demonstrating that gender equality is not just a moral imperative but a strategic necessity for a prosperous and stable world. 

Recommendations

Gender-based Analysis, Data and Accountability

• Invest in comprehensive gender- and/or sex-disaggregated data, while considering, where relevant, multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, to increase accountability for past G7 commitments, inform policy decisions, and support economic growth.

• Set concrete targets to increase women’s leadership in politics and business.

• Strengthen the G7 Dashboard on Gender Gaps by improving its indicators, including to quantify women working in artificial intelligence (AI) and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and to broaden the definition of gender-based violence.

• Introduce a gender-based analysis to the work of the G7 Accountability Working Group to more comprehensively measure the gender-based impact of G7 commitments, including their impact in non-G7 countries.

Investments and Economic Equality

• Ensure G7 commitments are matched with resources.

• Introduce gender-responsive budgeting to address economic inequalities and secure the allocation of resources to address persistent gender gaps.

• Take action to address global economic inequality, including by addressing the debt crisis and building a fair global taxation regime.

• Earmark funding for women’s rights organizations. 

• Introduce gender-responsive labour standards with enforceable provisions on equal pay and non-discrimination.

Education and Capacity Building

• Invest in education in the G7 and beyond to increase access to education for women and girls.

• Revise school curriculums to foster positive gender norms, support male allyship, prevent gender-based violence in all its forms, promote STEM skills to increase women’s participation in AI, quantum technologies, and minerals value chains, and enhance their digital and financial literacy.

• Build capacity in the G7 and its trading partners to carry out gender-based analysis and implement gender-responsive policies and programs.

Democracy and Human Rights

• Take concrete steps to counter the growing rollback on women's rights, including sexual and reproductive rights, as well as LGBTQIA+ rights. For example:

• Speak up for the rights of women and LGBTQIA+ people in bilateral relations and in multilateral forums, including in relation to conflict settings.

• Emphasize the importance of safeguarding these rights as fundamental to democracy and stability.

• Fund organizations that support these rights.

Gender-based Violence

• Increase efforts to address all forms of GBV—physical, psychological, economic, tech-facilitated, and workplace harassment—including through education, awareness-raising, legislation, policies, and enforcement measures.

Rationale

Women are under-represented in all areas of decision making and leadership. Globally, only 27% of parliamentarians in single or lower houses are women,² and there are only 25 countries where women serve as head of state and/or government.³ According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), women hold only 25% of leadership positions in multinational enterprises, with the lowest share in the energy sector (18%) and the highest in health care (30%).

Compared to men, women earn less,⁴ spend 2.5 times more time on unpaid domestic and care work,⁵ and have less access to capital and financial services. Nearly 60% of women’s employment globally is in the informal economy; in low-income countries, the proportion is greater than 90%.⁶

Sexual and gender-based violence is present in all countries and spheres of life, from workplace harassment to intimate partner violence, AI-generated pornographic deepfakes, femicide and sexual violence in conflict, including conflict fueled by the quest for critical minerals. It increases during conflict and crisis, such as emergency evacuations during a wildfire or in the context of migrant smuggling. Globally, one in three women have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence, and femicide is on the rise with 140 women or girls worldwide killed every day by someone in their own family.⁷

At the same time, achieving gender equality presents a significant opportunity to build more secure and prosperous societies, as studies consistently demonstrate a link between gender equality and peace, security, and economic growth. For example, countries with 10% women in the workforce compared to those with 40% are nearly 30 times more likely to experience internal conflict.⁸ Governments would make significant savings if they addressed gender-based violence, which costs them up to 3.7% of their GDP.⁹ In addition to the harm GBV inflicts, it also prevents women from participating in public life, starting a business, or taking on a leadership role, effectively impeding the realization of gender equality.

Studies also demonstrate a link between diversity—defined as a greater proportion of women and a more mixed ethnic and cultural composition in the leadership of large companies—and company financial outperformance,¹⁰ and that women score higher than men in most leadership skills.¹¹ If all girls completed their secondary education, they would be more likely to find well-paying jobs and reach leadership positions, and countries would gain between US$15 trillion and US$30 trillion in lifetime productivity and earnings.¹² Bridging the gender digital divide could save US$500 billion in the coming years.¹³ Closing the gender gap in employment and entrepreneurship—including in the G7 policy areas—could raise global GDP by more than 20%, essentially doubling the current global growth rate over the next decade.¹⁴

Footnotes

[1] World Economic Forum. Global Gender Gap Report. (2024)

[2] Inter-Parliamentary Union (as of April 1, 2025).

[3] UN Women (as of January 1, 2025).

[4] In G7 countries, women earn on average 14% less than men, compared to 12% across the OECD.

[5] UN Women and DESA. Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2024. (2024)

[6] International Labour Organization (ILO). Women and men in the informal economy: A statistical picture. Third edition. (2018)

[7] UN Women. Op. cit.

[8] Caprioli, Mary. “Gendered Conflict.” Journal of Peace Research 37, no. 1 (2000): 51–68.

[9] World Bank Group. (2018)

[10] See for example McKinsey & Company. Delivering Through Diversity. (2018)

[11] Zenger, Jack, and Joseph Folkman. “Women Score Higher Than Men in Most Leadership Skills.” Harvard Business Review. (2019)

[12] Montenegro, Claudio; Quentin Wodon; Hoa Nguyen; Adenike Onagoruwa. 2018. Missed Opportunities: The High Cost of Not Educating Girls. The Cost of Not Educating Girls Notes Series.© World Bank.

[13] UN Women and DESA. Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2024. (2024)

[14] World Bank Group. Women, Business and the Law 2024. (2024)