The 2018 G7 Summit held in Charlevoix, Quebec in June made important commitments towards gender equality including several promises relating to to child care and parental leave:
- Further support families by promoting high quality childcare that is accessible and affordable, and improve access to child benefits and parental leave
- Encourage private, state-owned companies and public employers to take measures to facilitate the reconciliation of work and care responsibilities for both women and men, and to increase efforts to reduce the gender pay gap
- Support gender equality in labour market opportunities and in the distribution of unpaid care work, with measures such as paid maternity leave and parental leave, as well as initiatives to ensure women’s equal access to decent employment opportunities, leadership opportunities, resources and finance
The summit also announced that an accountability report on women’s economic empowerment will be released to follow the progress and impact of these commitments.
Report Card on the 2018 G7 Commitments to Gender Equality
Following the G7 Leaders’ Summit, the International Center for Research on Women and the Center for Democratic Education prepared a Report Card on the 2018 G7 Commitments to Gender Equality. The report card will be used as a tool to measure whether any progress is made between and the next G7 to be held in France in 2019.
