W7 leaders hope they are not ignored by G7

OTTAWA Feminist leaders from around the world who met this week in Ottawa say they have many nuanced ideas to address gender discrimination and inequality, but some are not convinced their recommendations will be heard at the upcoming G7 meetings.

Eleanor Blomstrom, codirector of the Women’s Environment and Development Organization, said she hopes W7 summit deliberations will help convince the G7 leaders to adopt a feminist approach to domestic and foreign policy when they meet in La Malbaie, Que., in June

“We know that G7 is a powerful space for decision makers and usually women are very much on the sidelines of that,” Blomstrom said.

“I think the W7 is a really important first step. We don’t know yet what it will actually mean but the fact we were able to come together and bring our own feminist power into this space was really important.”

The first W7 summit wrapped on Friday following three days of discussions. Over 60 women from 20 countries discussed ways to push progressive solutions and ideas centred on empowering women as leaders and decision-makers while also addressing barriers that exist for women of all backgrounds.

The group will deliver a list recommendations for how Canada and other G7 nations could address gender equality in areas of climate change, violence against women and building a stronger — and more inclusive — feminist movement.

These recommendations are still being developed and will be delivered to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Status of Women Minister Maryam Monsef for review in May, but a communique was released Friday outlining some key themes from the three-day conference.

Women involved in the discussions said they were happily surprised at how easily and quickly they were able to reach consensus on ideas they believe should be priorities for G7 leaders. These discussions were not solely centred on single issues, but also on how multiple issues interact to create barriers or marginalize women.

Francyne Joe of the Native Women’s Association of Canada pointed to Indigenous women in Calgary who are still living in hotel rooms four years after flooding forced them from their homes. This situation is a result of the negative effects of climate change and also a gaps in social and housing programs for Indigenous women in Canada.

“This government has promised to have homes for them, but there’s no action yet, so we need to see this government and the other G7 (countries) commit to actual action when they read what our recommendations are,” Joe said.

But some of the participants in the W7 were skeptical about whether their final recommendations will indeed be acted upon or championed by Trudeau in June.

“I don’t have a lot of hopes that many of our recommendations will actually be articulated at the G7, however I do have hope that the discussions will start, that some of the concepts and words will come into the discussions which will be useful and that as a group of countries they may find small ways to open paths,” Blomstrom said.

Avvy Go, clinical director of the Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, said even if Trudeau, who calls himself a feminist, cannot deliver the results they are looking for at the G7, the W7 summit does offer an accountability mechanism that could see progress made in Canada.

The W7 participants will deliver a complete set of recommendations calling on G7 nations to invest in decent work and livelihoods, universal public services, social protection based on needs while also reducing unpaid care work and building feminist movements.

The activists will also be pushing Canada to stand firm on its commitment to the issue of sexual and reproductive health rights, including access to abortion, as well as measures to combat violence against women.