The following statement was released by the governments of Australia and the United Kingdom following the second UK-Australia Strategic Dialogue on Gender Equality (22 May 2025).

In the face of increasing contestation and the rollback of hard-won progress, we reaffirm our commitment to gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

We are deeply concerned about escalating attempts to reverse global progress on gender equality, including sexual and reproductive health and rights. We are at a critical moment, where we must coordinate with partners across the globe to continue progress on gender equality. Such efforts are vital to protect the fundamental human rights of all women and girls, everywhere.

The erosion of gender equality and human rights undermines peace and security, and sustainable development. To accelerate progress, we need a strong multilateral system. The UN80 process is crucial to this, and we encourage ambitious, coordinated and transparent reform to ensure the UN system can deliver a progressive vision for all women and girls. Furthermore, enhanced collaboration is needed at the nexus between gender equality, humanitarian action, and climate change.

We are jointly committed to continued collaboration on gender equality in the Indo-Pacific. We will continue to prioritise, protect and promote sexual and reproductive health and rights and the elimination of gender-based violence, including through the implementation of our joint Memorandum of Understanding on Gender-Based Violence. We will continue pursuing effective strategies for ending gender-based violence, including technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and countering rollback, including through joint learning and regional dialogues. We will also continue integrating violence prevention into our work to address climate change.

We remain committed to the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. Core to the effective implementation of the WPS agenda are national and regional action plans and promoting women’s leadership to address contemporary challenges. We acknowledged this when discussing joint opportunities to mark the WPS agenda’s 25th anniversary at Ministerial level in 2025.

Women’s rights organisations play a vital role in protecting and promoting gender equality. We reaffirmed our commitment to exploring innovative ways to bolster and support grassroots movements, including through increased advocacy in regional and multilateral fora and joint events.

In this challenging environment, continued collaboration between the UK and Australia is vital. We urge everyone to stand with us to uphold gender equality, human rights, and democracy; all essential for a stronger, safer world.