Minister Gould participates in global gathering for gender equality and reaffirms support for women’s rights organizations
News release
March 31, 2021 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified systemic and long-standing inequalities, with women and girls disproportionately affected by the crisis. Bold action is needed to renew momentum and accelerate progress on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in all their diversity.
Today, at the closing ceremony for the Generation Equality Forum, the Honourable Karina Gould, Minister of International Development, reaffirmed Canada’s commitment to supporting feminist movements, organizations and funds as vital contributors to gender equality, peace and human rights.
Minister Gould was joined by a representatives of the Ford Foundation and the Equality Fund to demonstrate their shared priority of funding feminist movements and organizations. To demonstrate its commitment, the Ford Foundation announced a contribution of $15 million to the Equality Fund. Launched in 2019 with a $300 million contribution from Canada, the Equality Fund is a first-of-its-kind initiative that aims to harness the power of investment, philanthropy and grant-making to build a gender-equal world.
Minister Gould and the Ford Foundation representative also invited others to join together to build a global alliance to increase and sustain resources for feminist movements, organizations and funds. The alliance would be a rallying point, bringing together feminist movements, women’s rights organizations, governments, philanthropic foundations and the private sector. It would build a truly multi-stakeholder partnership to unlock new resources to directly reach more women’s organizations and feminist funds.
Minister Gould extended this invitation as a call to action for others to commit to fund feminist organizations and join conversations to build such a global alliance ahead of the second Generation Equality Forum, to be hosted by France June 30 to July 2, 2021.
Quotes
“The Generation Equality Forum is a unique opportunity to galvanize support for gender equality. Feminist organizations, funds and movements hold the key to advancing gender equality and human rights, and the Ford Foundation’s contribution to the Equality Fund brings us all 1 step closer to providing them with sustainable funding. We hope others will join in building this global alliance, as we can all achieve more by working together.”
- Karina Gould, Minister of International Development
Quick facts
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The Generation Equality Forum is a multi-stakeholder, global gathering for gender equality convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France. It will kick off on March 29 in Mexico City and culminate on July 2 in Paris.
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The Forum will launch a series of concrete, ambitious and transformative actions aimed at achieving immediate and irreversible progress toward gender equality.
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The Equality Fund is global platform that brings together government, philanthropic, private sector and civil society actors to mobilize unprecedented levels of resources and create a sustainable source of funding for women’s rights organizations and movements in developing countries. It does this by pooling and leveraging funds from various actors, including from the philanthropic sector and through the use of gender lens investing.
Associated links
Contacts
Guillaume Dumas
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of International Development
Guillaume.Dumas@international.gc.ca
Media Relations Office
Global Affairs Canada
343-203-7700
media@international.gc.ca
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