2022 Germany

The shared values of democracy, the rule of law and human rights create close bonds between G7 partners. Gender equality plays a central role here. During Germany’s G7 Presidency, Chancellor Olaf Scholz therefore convened a Gender Equality Advisory Council (GEAC).

GEAC 2022 Themes

Care Economy

Feminist Diplomacy

Caring Economy

Intersectional Policy

Funding

Ownership, Entre-preneurship, and Investment

Gender-based Violence

Gender and Crisis

Jutta Allmendinger (Chair)

Prof. Dr. h.c. Jutta Allmendinger, PhD is the chair of this year’s GEAC under the German G7 presidency. She was previously a member of the UK’s 2021 GEAC. Dr. Allmendinger is President of the WZB Berlin Social Science Center and Professor at Humboldt University Berlin. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class, the Communicator Prize and the Schader Prize. She is active on numerous advisory boards in Germany and abroad, such as the supervisory board of Berlin’s BSR Department of Sanitation and the editorial board of the weekly DIE ZEIT. In 2021, she was appointed by Pope Francis to the Pontificial Academy of Social Sciences.

Chiara Corazza

Chiara Corazza (Italy) has spent the past 42 years developing successful and purposeful international initiatives in the private and public sectors, including efforts to accelerate gender equality. She was Director of International Affairs of the Greater Paris Region, and she later led the Greater Paris Investment Agency. Ms. Corazza has served as CEO and Special Representative in several G7 and G20 councils.

Halima Diallo

Halima Diallo (Senegal) is the Gender Equality Officer of the NGO Right To Play. Ms. Diallo has worked with several organizations and UN entities – among them the UN Population Fund, UN Women, and the World Food Programme – promoting equal participation in decision-making processes, fighting discrimination and gender-based violence, and ensuring equal opportunities in leadership. In 2019, Ms. Diallo was awarded the ‚Women of Nder‘ distinction, which honors women who have achieved outstanding accomplishments in their communities.

Caroline Farberger

Caroline Farberger (Sweden) is a partner and board chair at the venture capital firm Wellstreet. She has spent 25 years working in the financial services industry, most recently as CEO of ICA Insurance. Ms. Farberger is an advocate for diversity and inclusive leadership in business.

Zarifa Ghafari

Zarifa Ghafari (Afghanistan) is an activist, broadcaster, and defender of women rights in Afghanistan and beyond. She established the Afghan Women Development and Help Foundation to advocate for women’s inclusion in the Afghan National Army. Ms. Ghafari also served as the first female mayor to the Maidan Wardak province in Afghanistan.

Vincent-Immanuel Herr

Vincent-Immanuel Herr (Germany) is a HeForShe catalyst for UN Women Germany and partner at Herr & Speer, a political consulting firm focused on gender equality and European integration. He is an outspoken public advocate for male allyship and has published numerous articles on this topic.

Isabelle Hudon

Isabelle Hudon (Canada) is the President and CEO of BDC, the bank for Canadian entrepreneurs. Ms. Hudon brings a deep business background and a clear vision for an inclusive economy to support growth for Canadian entrepreneurs. She is a champion of diversity, gender equality, and the green economy, leading BDC’s 2,500-person team. From 2017 to 2021, Ms. Hudon was Ambassador of Canada to France and Monaco.

Reiko Kuroda

Reiko Kuroda (Japan) is a Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Biology at Chubu University and the University of Tokyo in Chemistry and Biology. She has served as the Vice President to the International Science Council, scientific advisor to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, and Ambassador of the Women’s Initiative in Developing Stem Career (WINDS). Ms. Kuroda is an active member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Club of Rome.

Ninia LaGrande

Ninia “La Grande” Binias (Germany) is a writer, host, and actress from Hanover, Germany. Her main fields of interest are politics and pop culture, with a focus on ableism and feminism. In 2020 Ninia received the Stadtkulturpreis, the Hanover city Cultural Prize, for her activism and artistic achievements.

Oleksandra Matviichuk

Oleksandra Matviichuk (Ukraine) is a human rights defender who works on issues in Ukraine and the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) region. She has excelled in creating horizontal structures to mobilize mass movements against attacks on rights and freedoms, and she has years of experience documenting violations during armed conflict. At present she heads the human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties and coordinates the work of the group Euromaidan SOS.

Delphine O

Delphine O (France) is Ambassador-at-Large and Secretary General of the Generation Equality Forum (Beijing+25). In 2021, she organized the largest international summit for women’s rights since 1995, convened by UN Women and co-chaired by France and Mexico. Ms. O was previously a Member of Parliament in the French National Assembly. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Strategic Orientation Board of the German Marshall Fund France, and IRIS (Institut des Relations Internationales et Stratégiques).

Alexis Ohanian

Alexis Ohanian (USA) is a tech founder and venture capitalist. He is author of a national bestseller, Without Their Permission, and co-founder of Reddit, one of the largest websites in the U.S., currently valued at more than $10 billion. In 2020 he founded Seven Seven Six, a new firm built like a technology company that deploys venture capital with over $750 million assets under management. In 2022 he launched the 776 Foundation to support marginalized individuals and announced a $20 million commitment to climate action through his new 776 Fellowship Program. Ohanian is also an advocate for paid family leave and the lead founding investor in Angel City Football Club.

Gabriela Ramos

Gabriela Ramos (Mexico) is the Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences of UNESCO, where she oversees the institution’s contributions to building inclusive societies. She previously worked as Cabinet Director and Sherpa for G20, G7 and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) at the OECD.

Juliane Rosin

Juliane Rosin (Germany) is Head of International Affairs at the National Council of German Women’s Organizations (Deutscher Frauenrat, or DF) and leads this year’s Women7. Her work for the DF has focused on women’s dialogues at the G7 and G20, the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and gender equality across Europe.

Sarah Sands

Journalist and author Sarah Sands (United Kingdom) served as the 2021 Chair of the G7 Gender Equality Council. From 2017 to 2020 she was editor of Today, BBC Radio 4’s flagship current affairs program; she has also held positions of editor of the London Evening Standard, the Sunday Telegraph (where she was the first woman editor), and deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph. Ms. Sands is a partner at Hawthorn Advisors and a founder of the Braemar Science Summit.

Paulette Senior

Paulette Senior (Canada) has devoted her life and career to breaking down systemic barriers and building up diverse women and girls. Her personal experience immigrating to Canada from Jamaica as a young girl ignited her interest in social justice, and she is a sought-after thought leader on issues of gender equity and gender-based violence; women’s poverty and the wage gap; girls’ empowerment; and leadership. Since 2016, Ms. Senior has served as the President and CEO of the Canadian Women’s Foundation.

Sawako Shirahase

Sawako Shirahase (Japan) is Senior Vice-Rector at the United Nations University and Professor of Sociology at the University of Tokyo. She is currently the director of the University Tokyo Center for Contemporary Japanese Studies. Ms. Shirahase’s research interests include comparative social stratification and demographic transformation, gender and generational relations, and family change and the social security system. She has served on numerous Government of Japan councils and advisory boards, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ Statistical Commission and the Social Security Council of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

Chetna Sinha

Chetna Sinha (India) is the founder and chairperson of Mann Deshi Bank, India’s first bank for and by rural women, as well as the founder of the Mann Deshi Foundation. In addition to serving as the co-chair to the World Economic Forum in 2018, Ms. Sinha has participated in the W20 and is a member of the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance. In 2018, she was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar—India’s highest civilian honor for women.

Martin Speer

Martin Speer (Germany) is a HeForShe catalyst for UN Women Germany and partner at Herr & Speer, a political consulting firm focused on gender equality and European integration. He is a believer in institutional responsibility for equality and has advised political and societal stakeholders on this topic.

Melanne Verveer

Melanne Verveer (USA) is the Executive Director of Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace & Security. She previously served as the first U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, a position to which she was nominated by President Obama in 2009. In that capacity, she worked closely with Secretary Hillary Clinton to integrate women’s participation and rights into U.S. foreign policy. Ms. Verveer has served as the Special Representative on Gender Issues for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and is the co-author of Fast Forward: How Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose.

Yenny Zannuba Wahid

Yenny Zannuba Wahid (Indonesia) is a social entrepreneur and political activist who works to promote peace and tolerance in the world. She currently serves as independent commissioner at PT Buka Lapak, the largest all-commerce platform in Indonesia, and she has founded business ventures that give back to society through an allocation of profit to social causes. Ms. Wahid’s current focus has been on grassroots work to empower women through the Wahid Foundation.

Team

The WZB Berlin Social Science Center has been tasked with implementing the administrative operations for the 2022 GEAC by the German Chancellery (Bundeskanzleramt). The GEAC Secretariat brings together the diverse expertise of talented WZB staff and external collaborators to provide the best possible research, communications, and project management support in the service of the GEAC’s mission.

Get to know our Team