---
title: "Australia makes gender equality key to foreign policy and aid"
description: "SYDNEY, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Gender equality will become central to Australia's foreign policy, diplomacy, trade and aid programmers under a new international strategy, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Wednesday in Canberra."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-02-05-australia-makes-gender-equality-key-to-foreign-policy-and-aid/"
published: "2025-02-05T04:59:24"
updated: "2025-02-05T04:59:25"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 243
---

# Australia makes gender equality key to foreign policy and aid

> SYDNEY, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Gender equality will become central to Australia's foreign policy, diplomacy, trade and aid programmers under a new international strategy, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Wednesday in Canberra.

By Reuters · Published 5 February 2025, 06:59 SAST · Updated 5 February 2025, 06:59 SAST

## Key points
- In a bold move that suggests gender equality might just be the secret sauce for global peace, Australia unveils a new strategy to bolster women's rights and financial security, all while the U.S. fumbles with aid freezes and a foreign assistance makeover that seems to have forgotten half the population.
- Australia's new International Gender Equality Strategy emphasizes that gender equality is crucial for peace and national interest, not just a "special interest."
- The strategy aims to enhance women's sexual and reproductive health rights, financial inclusion, and security amid rising violence against women globally.
- In the Pacific, two in three women face physical or sexual violence, while 380 million women live in extreme poverty worldwide.
- Australia will allocate A$30 million to support gender-focused aid initiatives, reinforcing its commitment to gender equality in the Pacific Islands.

## Content

By Kirsty Needham

Gender equality is a "stronger predictor of peace than a nation's wealth or political system", Wong said in a speech at a U.N. Women event at parliament house.

Australia's new International Gender Equality Strategy aims to protect women's sexual and reproductive health rights and increase the security and financial inclusion of women.

"Across the world, women are facing more sexual and gender-based violence, and less access to sexual and reproductive health services," Wong said in announcing the new strategy.

Two in three women experience physical or sexual violence in the Pacific region, she added.

Globally, 380 million women and girls live in extreme poverty and 2.4 billion women do not have equal economic opportunities.

"Some will try to delegitimise this strategy as being about a 'special interest'... Gender equality is a matter of national interest," she added.

The United States, the biggest aid donor globally, has [frozen aid funding](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL4N3OU094&linkedFromStory=true), which includes women's reproductive health, and has criticized clean energy projects for women in the Pacific, as the Trump Administration overhauls foreign assistance.

Australia provides 40% of aid to the Pacific Islands region and already has a policy which requires gender equality goals in new aid projects of A$3 million or more.

Under the new strategy Australia will spend A$30 million to provide more assistance to aid groups to include gender and social inclusion targets in programmers, the foreign affairs department said.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by Michael Perry)