Australia Awards South and West Asia

On 20 May 2025, members of Australia Awards – South Asia & Mongolia’s Regional Women in Leadership Network attended a briefing on Australia’s International Gender Equality Strategy, released by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) earlier this year.
The briefing session was led by Liz Cowan from the Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion Branch at DFAT. The Regional Women in Leadership Network is a Community of Practice that consists of Australia Awards alumni.

The new Strategy outlines Australia’s actions to advance gender equality. It was launched by Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong, in February 2025 ahead of International Women’s Day. In her launch speech, Senator Wong said, “Gender equality is not a special interest. Gender equality is a matter of national interest.” Liz highlighted that this quote reflects the Strategy’s core message—that gender equality is essential for regional and global prosperity and stability.

At the briefing, Liz shared insights into the Strategy’s development since 2023. DFAT consulted more than 600 people through 40 roundtable discussions, including one with the Regional Women in Leadership Network in 2023.

Liz then outlined the five priorities of the new Strategy and how they built on the focus areas of previous strategies.

Firstly, stakeholders had called for greater focus and resources to end sexual and gender-based violence and to advance and protect women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Australia already had a National Action Plan on women, peace and security, but it sat separately to the previous international gender strategy. This has been integrated into the new Strategy in the form of the second priority: pursuing gender responsive peace and security efforts.

“Having a focus on climate action was actually one of the clearest and most consistent messages we heard through consultation,” Liz said, noting that this had not been part of previous strategies. The third priority—delivering gender-equitable climate action and humanitarian assistance—was included to address these critical issues.

Stakeholders had wanted Australia to maintain its focus on economic empowerment. Liz noted that the fourth priority in the new Strategy is promoting women’s economic equality, reflecting a shift in the language to mirror that used in domestic policy. This priority also includes a specific focus on inclusive trade, reflecting some strong work that Australia has done in terms of inclusivity in free trade agreements and other trade initiatives.

Regarding the Strategy’s final priority of supporting locally led approaches to women’s leadership, Liz said, “We previously had a strong focus on women’s leadership and voice, but now with our new Strategy, we’re recognising that it’s actually women’s rights organisations and local women who are the most effective drivers of change for gender equality.”

Liz noted that the Strategy reflects an evolution in Australia’s approach to gender equality, with a focus on local leadership aligned to Australia’s International Development Policy (2023). “Our new Strategy really calls out the fact that the promotion of gender equality is most effective when driven by local actors,” she said.

The briefing concluded with a question-and-answer session, where alumni had the opportunity to ask questions and engage in discussions about the Strategy’s implementation.

Following the event, alumna Fatema Jahan Sharna of Bangladesh said, “I learnt that Australia’s International Gender Equality Strategy highlights that empowerment stems from equality and inclusion. This is essential for all to follow to have a gender-equal society.”

Fellow Bangladeshi alumna Mehruba Islam said the Strategy was “a praiseworthy initiative by the Australian Government that marks a meaningful step toward creating a more socially balanced and inclusive world”.

The next Regional Women in Leadership Network event is an online seminar with Dr Anna Cody, Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner, discussing her work to further promote gender equality and remove discrimination and harassment. This event is open to all women alumni from South Asia and Mongolia.