President Ramaphosa to lead South Africa’s participation at the Generation Equality Forum

President Cyril Ramaphosa will lead South Africa’s participation at the Generation Equality Forum (GEF) to highlight the country’s commitment to gender equality.

The hybrid virtual Forum will be held from 30 June to 02 July 2021 in Paris.

The GEF is a global gathering to accelerate gender equality actions and marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

It is convened by United Nations(UN) Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France, in partnership with co-leaders from the  Global South and Global North, Civil Society and the Private sector.

Tomorrow, 30 June 2021, President Ramaphosa will deliver a pre-recorded message on rebuilding an equal economy during the opening ceremony of the GEF Forum. The Opening Ceremony is scheduled for 15h20-17h50 (CEST), and the President will deliver his message from 16h00.

The Generation Equality Forum kicked off in Mexico City in March and will culminate in Paris meeting this week, to be attended by Heads of State, as well as high-level representatives from every sector in society, to showcase commitment announcements for gender equality with concrete, tangible action from governments, corporations and civil society.

On 1 July 2021, South Africa, led by the President, will also participate at the virtual session of the Generation Equality Forum: Economic Justice and Rights (EJR) Action Coalition to discuss global commitments and actions to be taken by stakeholders to promote economic justice and rights for women.

The virtual session is scheduled for 17:00 –19:00 hours (CEST), with President Ramaphosa expected to deliver his remarks from 17h30.

UN Aids Executive Director Ms Winnie Byanyima will moderate the engagement, and the Executive Director  of UN Women, Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, will open the meeting. Other dignitaries joining the event will include Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sanchez, President of Liberia H.E. Mr. George Weah, Vice President of Tanzania H.E. Mr. Philip Mpango, ILO Director-General, Mr Guy Ryder and American Philanthropist Melinda Gates.

South Africa will leverage the momentum of the Paris meeting to highlight the country’s commitments to gender equality and amplify its domestic priorities at the global level. It will also use the opportunity to recognize the importance of intersectional youth leadership and provide feedback on the work of the multi- stakeholder Forum.

South Africa is a co-leader of Generation Equality Forum’s Action Coalition on Economic Justice and Rights and the President will use the engagement to articulate strong support for the jointly developed global acceleration plan, which has a catalogue of commitments to support women in the care economy, ensure decent work for women, create access to and control of productive resources including financial inclusion, and promote gender-responsive inclusive economies.

The country has participated actively in the negotiations for the Global Acceleration Plan (GAP) of the Economic Justice and Rights Action Coalition, which presents a clear action plan of commitments and actions that stakeholders must take to advance economic justice and rights.

During the engagement, the EJR Action Coalition members will also launch the Economic Justice and Rights Global Acceleration Plan, to give leaders of the action coalition an opportunity to state their commitments reflecting clear actions to be implemented over the next five years.

The set of innovative and multi-stakeholder Action Coalitions (ACs) includes Gender Based Violence; Economic Justice and Rights; Bodily Autonomy and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR); Feminist action for Climate Justice; Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality; Feminist Movements and Leadership. The Action Coalitions also work hand-in-hand with a global Compact on Women, Peace, Security and Humanitarian Action.

The GEF in Paris will present the final Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality, including the six Action Coalition Blueprints, and drive all stakeholders towards identifying, defining and laying the roadmap for implementing bold, game-changing commitments.

The proceedings of the GEF will be carried live on UN Web TV, social media platforms of the Élysée and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and SA Presidency Digital Platforms.


Media enquiries: Tyrone Seale, Acting Spokesperson to President Ramaphosa – media@presidency.gov.za

Issued by: The Presidency 
Pretoria