Women seek brighter way forward for equality at summit

Thousands of feminists, including former political leaders, current policymakers, advocates and grassroots organizers, will gather for a major gender equality conference to discuss priorities, plans and challenges for the future of the movement.

Women Deliver, a global organization advocating for gender equality, will host its 2026 conference in Melbourne this week, marking the first time the event has been held in the Pacific Ocean region.

More than 5,000 delegates from 185 countries registered to attend the conference, which was last held in Rwanda in 2023.

The organization was founded in 2007 but Women Deliver president Maliha Khan told AAP there has never been a more timely meeting than the one in 2026.

“If there was ever a time for people who believe in equality, justice, peace, security, conflict resolution, democracy, and who believe that the climate crisis is the greatest crisis facing humanity, it is now,” he said.

“This is the time for everyone to come together and say that we will not be pessimistic… in fact, we believe there is an optimistic future.

“The only way we can achieve this is if like-minded people who agree on these issues come together and chart a new path forward.”

The conference took place at a time when the rights of women and girls around the world were under threat and gender equality organizations were defunded.

The United Nations has reported that by 2025, almost half of organizations helping women in crisis are at risk of closing within six months, with 90 percent of respondents saying they have reached “breaking point”.

The five-day Women Deliver program is packed with notable speakers from across the political scene, including three former prime ministers (Australia’s Julia Gillard, New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern and Canada’s Justin Trudeau).

Attendees will also have the chance to hear from other global leaders and gender equality advocates, including eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, United Nations deputy secretary-general Amina J. Mohammed, and Olympic gold medalist Emma McKeon.

Issues such as climate justice, gender-based violence, increasing representation in leadership and improving women’s health will be addressed in hundreds of pre-conference, plenary and side sessions.

Coinciding with the conference, an open letter signed by global leaders in politics, civil society, philanthropy, culture and sport was published, calling for urgent action to end gender-based violence.

Signatories include Me Too founder Tarana Burke, UK Special Representative for Women and Girls Harriet Harman and former New Zealand cricket captain Ross Taylor.

The letter was facilitated by All In, an organization that brings together leaders to accelerate progress on ending gender-based violence.

“At Women Deliver, where global leaders come together to shape the future of gender equality, we face a decisive test: Whether we can match decades of evidence and advocacy with the scale of action needed to create a future free of gender-based violence,” the letter said.

“We know that with sustained leadership and investment, violence can be prevented.

“Yet, the global response remains significantly inadequate… accountability is weak, efforts are fragmented, and survivors are often left out of decision-making processes that affect their daily lives.”

The letter calls on Women Deliver to identify concrete actions for policymakers around the world to turn the tide on gender-based violence.

“There is no neutral position; we either contribute to the systems that enable violence, or we help establish systems that prevent it,” the letter said.

The conference will also focus on the next generation of gender equality advocates, highlighting young people working in the sector to improve the lives of young women and girls.

Julia Fan, director of Women Enabling Collective Action, said that although there were strong and positive commitments globally to protect the rights of adolescent girls, many of these were not being implemented.

“We’ve seen progress in the last 10 to 15 years on issues like girls’ education, but in other areas like teenage pregnancy, it still remains a really critical issue,” she said.

Ms Fan said the conference would help launch a manifesto calling for a new narrative for adolescent girls around the world.

“Girls are leaders, they are empowered, they are a diverse constituency, and they need to be in positions of power to truly set direction and advocate for themselves,” Ms. Fan said.

“The combination of these strategic moments allows us to accelerate the pace and progress of our work and become more effective.

“The scale and scope of the challenges we face are not something any single organization can solve alone, we must work collectively.”

According to Dr Khan, each speaker and participant will bring their own perspectives and solutions to gender equality issues faced around the world.

“It is more important than ever that we all come together, stand in solidarity, have disagreements, talk through these disagreements and chart a new path forward,” he said.

The last day of the conference will launch the Women Deliver declaration, which aims to provide a unifying roadmap towards gender equality, rooted in care, solidarity and intersectional justice.

The declaration will be the result of more than 650 consultations with people from every continent in the lead-up to Women Deliver and hundreds of additional conversations held during the conference.

“One of the outcomes I want to achieve from Women Deliver, and which I think is a success, is that we no longer allow people to have the same conversations they had five years ago,” Dr Khan said.

“This (declaration) will be one of the deep, contentious discussions we need to have as a movement before deciding where to move forward.”