The Generation Equality Forum is a global gathering for gender equality held by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France, in partnership with youth and civil society.

This year the meeting was held in Paris from June 30th to 2nd July, launching programs leading to progress in empowering women and leading towards gender equality.

Close to $40 billion was pledged in new investments, as well as ambitious policy and program commitments from governments, civil society and others, to help fuel a new global five-year action plan to accelerate true gender parity, by 2026.

The Forum has been held at a crucial moment, as the world assesses the unequal and damaging impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women and girls. The $40 billion in investments represent a major step-change in resourcing for women’s and girls’ rights, as lack of financing has been a major reason for slow progress in advancing gender equality.

The chief of UN’s gender empowerment agency said that women are still “sitting in the corridors when men are inside at the table negotiating peace.”

UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, Anne Hathaway, gave her personal commitment to “continue to be a global advocate for the legal and policy changes that will empower both women and men to begin the equal distribution of care responsibilities that will help change our world”.