Women Deliver in Naarm: Why Gathering Here Mattered writes Peter Walton

Women Deliver took place at a moment when hard-won gains for women, girls and gender diverse people are under sustained pressure or have been reversed. Across the globe, renewed attacks on sexual and reproductive health and rights, shrinking civic space, and the rise of well organised anti rights movements formed a sobering backdrop for the conference. Against this context, the event was unapologetically about coming together to resist, reimagine and rebuild, with power, leadership and lived experience firmly at the centre of conversations.

One of the highlights for me was witnessing former Prime Minister Julia Gillard record a live episode of A Podcast of One’s Own, in conversation with Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant. Their discussion went to the heart of one of the most urgent and contested frontiers for gender equity today: online safety. Commissioner Inman Grant spoke candidly about the scale of harm experienced by women and children online, and the fierce resistance to regulation from those who purport “technological exceptionalism”. That is, the idea that digital platforms can self-regulate and somehow sit beyond democratic oversight. It was a powerful reminder that protecting rights in the digital age requires courage, persistence, and a willingness to ensure genuine accountability.

Equally striking was hearing the Prime Minister of Tuvalu address the conference, urging Australia to use its presidency of COP31 to ensure that gender is meaningfully embedded in the climate agenda. He spoke compellingly about the disproportionate burden the climate crisis places on women everywhere, and the urgent need for a robust loss and damage framework and binding, gender responsive climate finance. His message was stark and unforgettable, “1.5 degrees is, for Tuvalu, the difference between a country and a former country.” For me, this underscored how closely gender justice, climate justice and community liveability or survival itself are intertwined.

Hosting Women Deliver on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation also carried an added responsibility. The conference deliberately centred First Nations leadership and Pacific voices - both women and young people - whose communities are on the frontline of intersecting challenges including climate change, economic inequality and political marginalisation. That focus reinforced a central theme throughout the week: gender equality cannot be separated from justice, self-determination and the need for bold systemic action.

For Greater Melbourne Foundation, participating in Women Deliver was a privilege and a natural extension of our long-standing commitment to equity, social justice and locally led change. I was thrilled to see one of our partners, SisterWorks, hosting an exhibition and  I also greatly appreciated (with thanks to Australians Investing in Women) the opportunity to meet Victoria’s new Minister for Women and Girls and join a discussion on what matters most for women and girls across Greater Melbourne and our state. These kinds of conversations, grounded locally but informed by global movements, are essential if progress is to be sustained.

Women Deliver was not just a moment in time. It formed part of a longer arc that calls all of us, including philanthropy, to act with greater courage, humility and ambition in advancing social justice and equity - here in Greater Melbourne and beyond.