Commissioner Dalli in Japan to promote women's empowerment at the G7 Gender Equality Conference

The European Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli will be on a 5-day mission from June 23rd-27th 2023 to the G7 Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Conference in Japan. Commissioner Dalli will represent the EU at the Ministerial, which aims to safeguard and strengthen global efforts to promote gender equality as well to facilitate knowledge sharing about relevant best practices.

On 23 June, the Commissioner will participate in a working lunch with senior Japanese officials relating to gender equality, which will be hosted by the EU Ambassador. They will discuss collaborative efforts on an EU-funded project in the country to promote women’s empowerment in the post-pandemic era.

On 24 June, Commissioner Dalli will have a bilateral meeting with H.E. Ogura Masanobu, Minister of State for Gender Equality where they will discuss shared efforts to address gender inequality issues which were exacerbated during the pandemic. The Commissioner will then attend a welcome reception hosted by the Minister.

On 25 June, the Commissioner will attend the Opening Session of the G7 Gender Equality Conference and will engage in a dialogue with Gender Equality Ministers from the G7. At the conference, she will recall the importance of engaging different groups on gender equality in the framework of the G7 and stress the unique role W7 plays in supporting leaders’ and ministers’ endeavours to mainstream gender equality in all areas.

She will then attend two sessions on “Leveraging the Lessons Learned from the Pandemic” and on “Women’s Economic Empowerment”, along with a working lunch hosted by the Chair.

On 26 June, Commissioner Dalli will attend bilateral meetings with G7 counterparts and civil society organisations. That afternoon, the Commissioner Dalli will deliver a speech at a W7 Side Event. She will state that “promoting and protecting women’s rights must be an integral part of any effort for an inclusive, comprehensive, and enduring political solution. Only by joining forces, can we equip women and girls, in all their diversity, to take part in society on an equal basis with men and ensure they can lead, thrive and be free. To succeed, this objective needs a prioritised global response.” She will add that “One thing we can learn from our existing gender equality monitoring tools is that our societies are still deeply unequal. This has been reflected in the disproportionate impact of every single crisis of the last decades, from the 2008 financial crisis to the cost-of-living crisis today. We have set-up an institutional framework to better ensure that a gender equality perspective is included in all stages of decision-making when priorities are set, policies developed, and resources allocated”.