Women Deliver 2026: Why The Fight For Gender Justice Cannot Wait
Shobha Shukla
At a time when wars, climate disasters, economic inequality and anti-rights movements are threatening progress across the world, the call for gender justice has become more urgent than ever.
This is the driving force behind the Women Deliver Conference 2026, one of the world’s largest global gatherings on gender equality and the rights, health and dignity of women, girls and gender-diverse people.
For the first time since its launch in 2007, the conference will be held in the Pacific region, on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Peoples of the Kulin Nation in Narrm (Melbourne), Australia.
With more than 6,500 participants from 185 countries expected, the event carries the theme: “Change calls us here.”
The message is simple but powerful: real change must shift power back to the people.
Louisa Wall, Oceanic Pacific Mobilisation Advisor for Women Deliver 2026, says hosting the event in the Pacific is a major step towards ensuring that indigenous women, First Nations peoples and Pacific communities are no longer excluded from shaping solutions that affect their lives.
“Our region is on the frontline of climate change, cyclones, rising seas and the destruction of livelihoods. Pacific women also face high rates of gender-based violence and low political representation,” she said.
Wall insists that women’s leadership, especially First Nations leadership, must be central to both regional and global solutions.
Australia’s own progress offers important lessons. Ranked 13th out of 148 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index, the country has made notable strides in gender equality.
In Victoria State, gender-responsive budgeting supports women’s education and workforce participation, while free access to sanitary products in schools, hospitals, libraries and train stations has helped tackle period poverty.
Abortion care is also fully integrated into mainstream healthcare across Australia, with laws protecting women from harassment outside clinics and ensuring access without parental consent barriers for minors.
Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the country’s first female PM and a Women Deliver Ambassador, warns that the world is facing multiple crises at once, wars, climate injustice, economic inequality and a growing anti-rights movement targeting women and marginalised communities.
She notes that while poverty deepens for millions, wealth continues to concentrate in the hands of a few, creating unequal outcomes and fuelling instability.
“There is also an anti-gender politics being used in many parts of the world to gain popular support, and attitudes towards gender equality are going backwards, especially among young men,” she warned.
Dr Maliha Khan, CEO of Women Deliver, believes the global system itself must be reimagined.
She argues that institutions created after the World Wars promised peace and prosperity, but have failed many women and post-colonial nations.
“We want justice, not just development,” she said, stressing the need for stronger local leadership, better funding for grassroots movements, and systems that truly centre those most affected.
The conference, she says, is not just about policy, it is about rebuilding accountability and ensuring every girl and woman has the right to shape her own future.
Women Deliver 2026 is more than a conference. It is a reminder that gender equality is not a side issue, it is the foundation for a safer, fairer and more sustainable world.
Because when women lead, communities rise.
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