On 9 April 2021, Minister for Women and Equalities, Liz Truss, announced the full list of members for the newly formed Gender Equality Advisory Council (GEAC), to ensure women were at the heart of the build back better agenda as the world recovered from COVID-19. World-leading experts including scientists, vaccinologists and business leaders joined the GEAC, including Professor Sarah Gilbert, Dr Fabiola Gianotti and Professor Iris Bohnet.
Members were selected from each of the G7 countries and beyond, united by their commitment to democracy and women’s empowerment. In total 19 representatives were appointed to the Council by Truss in her role as the Ministerial Lead for the GEAC, including the Chair, Sarah Sands, who was announced on International Women’s Day.
The council was called to build on work done by former G7 presidencies and champion the core principles of freedom, opportunity and dignity for women and girls around the world. Its aim was to produce an independent report and set out recommendations on how the G7 should work together to ensure that women across the globe were at the forefront of the recovery pandemic. With the UK’s vaccine development and rollout highlighting the enormous contribution of women in science, tech and engineering, those from these sectors were selected to sit on the GEAC to showcase the benefits of careers in STEM, as part of Government work to see more girls taking up related subjects at school.
The 2021 Gender Equality Advisory Council members were:
Sarah Sands (Chair)
Alice P. Albright
Prof. Jutta Allmendinger
Hon Julie Bishop
Prof. Iris Bohnet
Ursula M. Burns
Dr Fabiola Gianotti
Prof. Sarah Gilbert
Isabelle Hudon
Dr (H.C.) Ritu Karidhal
Bogolo J. Kenewendo
Prof. Reiko Kuroda
Dr Dambisa Moyo
Marie-Christine Saragosse
Emma Sinclair MBE
Dr Aldijana Šišic
Dame Rachel de Souza
Jessica Woodroffe
Dr Denis Mukwege
Final Report (PDF)
Find out more on the 2021 United Kingdom G7 website.