In 2026, France will chair the G7 and host its summit of heads of state from June 15 to 17 in Evian. Throughout the year, the G7 engages with citizens through engagement groups representing civil society. This year, Equipop is leading Women 7 (an engagement group focused on gender equality issues), alongside CARE France, Le Planning Familial, the Mediterranean Women’s Fund, and PLAN International France.
Women 7 is an international coalition that brings together more than 260 voices, including both civil society organizations and individuals who have signed the W7 2026 Declaration from more than 62 countries around the world.
An emergency situation
This year’s event is taking place against a particularly tense backdrop. The backlash against the rights of women, girls, and marginalized communities is intensifying around the world: organized attacks against feminist organizations, drastic cuts to official development assistance, and the undermining of multilateralism. Some G7 member states, starting with the United States, are openly positioning themselves as opponents of these rights in international forums.
In light of this, Women 7 sends a clear message: the backlash is not a marginal issue. It is a major global imbalance and a direct threat to democracy.
Women 7 calls on the G7 countries to:
- To assert that the backlash against the rights of women and girls in all their diversity, as well as against marginalized communities more broadly, creates a major global imbalance for democracies.
- Explicitly recognize the fundamental role of civil society organizations, particularly feminist associations and civil society groups, in addressing global imbalances and defending democracy.
- Make a political commitment to allocate substantial public funds to support these organizations, at a time when such funding is at an all-time low. In concrete terms, this means providing direct, flexible, and multi-year financial resources to feminist organizations in G7 countries and beyond, and in particular to local groups led by the Global South. It also means mobilizing financial institutions, private foundations, and businesses to fund gender equality.
- Use their influence to bring together a broad range of stakeholders and amplify the mobilization of diverse actors (other institutions, civil society, the public and the media, and the private sector).
This summit is a major highlight on the diplomatic calendar. We call on the G7 nations to champion gender equality and international solidarity in the hope of addressing global imbalances.
Throughout France’s G7 presidency, Equipop is working to strengthen alliances and commitments in support of the rights of women, girls, and marginalized communities, ahead of the U.S. presidency in 2027.
For more information and to read the Women7 2026 statement -> https://women7.org/
