Advocates for gender equality are being called upon to ensure that the movement remains inclusive while steadfastly protecting the rights of women and girls.

However, there is a pressing need to confront the organized and strategic resistance from the “manosphere” against gender equality, according to Australia’s only female prime minister.

Julia Gillard, the former Labor prime minister currently residing in the United Kingdom, has returned to Australia to deliver a keynote address at Women Deliver. This significant event gathers activists, policymakers, and former leaders from around the globe.

This year, Melbourne plays host to the conference, marking its first appearance in the Oceanic Pacific region. Women Deliver, which convenes every three years, was established in 2007.

The conference unfolds against a backdrop of global opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, coupled with rising concerns about the influence of the manosphere on young men.

“We are witnessing a political trend in various parts of the world that intertwines nationalism, isolationism, patriotism, and agendas opposing women’s rights,” Gillard remarked.

“With all of this happening, it’s a particularly important time for people to come together and to discuss what we can do to win the popular debate globally because … more gender-equal societies benefit everyone.”

“But solidarity, while powerful in itself, is not enough and what we need to do is to generate a new direction forward for gender equality,” she told reporters at a press conference on Monday to open the conference.

“We must acknowledge that much of the (current) system was never built for girls, women and gender diverse people.”

Gains for women and girls could not be taken for granted as history showed they could be easily wound back, former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark said.

“[Women Deliver] is about supporting civil society at the local and national level, so that they can hold governments accountable, and it also calls on governments to be responsive,” she said.

“States have to be held accountable for the commitments that they have made in signing up to any number of international agreements and conventions.

“It’s only we — the people — that can hold them accountable.”

In 2018, Gillard was appointed chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London and later founded its sister institute based at the Australian National University in Canberra.

The institute was among the first to spotlight and track the trend of young men’s attitudes towards gender equality going backwards.

That trend could be partially attributed to the equality movement not being as inclusive of men as it could have been, Gillard said.

“Some of the language we’ve used around gender equality has given the impression that it’s solely about women … it hasn’t been inclusive enough to explain that it’s about a better future for all,” she said.

“[But] I think we’ve got to be pretty knowing that there is concerted, organised and strategic pushback.

“There is a form of politics that has fused with online influencers and the manosphere, who are peddling a particular version of masculinity … [about being] able to project dominance over women in their lives.”

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