Can Trudeau show the G7 what a feminist looks like?

This opinion piece was written by Lyric Thompson, the Director of Policy and Advocacy at the International Center for Research on Women. It also appears in our gender equality newsfeed.

This year, as Canada took the presidency of the G7, or group of seven (formerly) largest economies, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent clear signals that he would devote an unprecedented level of attention to gender equality and women’s empowerment in the admittedly wonky policy process. But he also said that he intended to use Canada’s moment to show the world what his feminism would look like on the global stage.

Yet he is hardly operating within a feminist context. The strong undertow of nationalism and populism in several G7 countries, not to mention the chauvinism of at least one of their leaders, present a real challenge for such an agenda, particularly within the narrow confines of a consensus body.

The question of the day is: Will Trudeau show us what a feminist looks like, or, in the grand tradition of the G7, will the churn of current events, from Trump to trade, force his retreat to the lowest common denominator?

It’s a bit of a wild card.

In the lead-up to the summit, Trudeau has done all the right things: he has consistently delivered a drumbeat of messages forecasting his intent to lead boldly in this arena.

He and his lawmakers consistently tout the release of his government’s Feminist International Assistance Policy.

In a widely-hyped Facebook Live event in January he announced a G7 policy agenda that for the first time looks not only at a single “women’s issue” du jour — such as women’s economic empowerment in Italy or gender-based violence in conflict settings in the UK — but at gender equality as a whole as one of five priority areas, and an element that must be examined throughout all other themes (climate, jobs, peace and economic growth).

Then, at Davos, he used his plenary address to announce the establishment of a Gender Equality Advisory Council of high-level advisors, including the likes of philanthropist Melinda Gates, Nobel laureates Malala Yousefsai and Leymah Gbowee and head of U.N. Women Phumzile Mlambo-Nguka. He challenged them to deliver “bold, feminist” ideas for him to champion on the G7 platform.

They delivered.

Earlier this week the council released a comprehensive set of recommendations spanning process and substance.On process, the council recommends that G7 leaders take a feminist approach to foreign assistance and commit to achieving gender parity in their delegations.

If Trudeau wanted a clear roadmap to a feminist G7, he got it

In their development assistance, countries should collect more data on gender, and spend 0.7 percent of their gross national income (GNI), 20 percent of which should be for programs that focus on gender equality.

On substance, the Council endorses more than a hundred desired outcomes and recommendations across all of Trudeau’s appointed thematic tracks.

These range from calling for the end of child marriage, female genital mutilation and the Mexico City Policy; to recommending leaders commit to reduce and redistribute the burden of unpaid care that is disproportionately shouldered by women.

The agenda is admittedly wide-ranging, ambitious and delivered very late in the process. Many G7 commitments are determined through a course of negotiations that take place among policy staff and ministers in the months leading up to the Leaders’ Summit, which is often more photo-op and less negotiation.

In the course of those debates, we have seen a Foreign Ministers’ Communique that included a new initiative — although no funding was announced to implement it — on women, peace and security, and two declarations out of the development and finance ministerial meeting on gender. One focuses on adolescent girls and another on gender-based violence in humanitarian settings. Again, strong statements with zero dollars attached.

Trudeau has indicated that he will announce funds to support girls' education at the summit, an admittedly easier area to gather multilateral support. But as the Council’s recommendations indicate, a truly feminist agenda will include new and additional support for a host of issues under the gender equality umbrella, and a restructuring of the way G7 countries engage in policymaking at home and abroad.

If Trudeau wanted a clear roadmap to a feminist G7, he got it. The question is, will he be able to keep his fellow leaders from running off the road long enough to arrive at his desired destination?

If not, we’ll always have Paris. (Picture credit: Flickr/European Council President)