The Generation Equality Forum convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France concluded with a total of nearly $40 billion in commitments in support of efforts to advance gender equality over the next five years.

According to UN Women, confirmed investments included $21 billion from governments and public-sector institutions, $13 billion from the private sector, $4.5 billion from philanthropy, and $1.3 billion from UN entities and multilateral organizations. Pledges from foundations included a commitment of $500 million over five years from the Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), which tweeted that it will focus on "scaling gender-transformative approaches to contraception, safe abortion and post-abortion care for women and girls" and "invest in breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty and #BuildBackBetter by keeping girls in school, helping them to develop life and vocational skills and access the job market." To that end, the foundation has made a founding commitment to SEMA Reproductive Health, a partnership aimed at building healthier, more equitable, and more resilient sexual and reproductive health markets.

CIFF also is supporting Co-Impact's launch of the Gender Fund, which aims to raise $1 billion over the next decade to support predominantly women-led organizations in the Global South with the large, unrestricted, long-term, and flexible funding they need to create more just and inclusive systems; advance women's empowerment, agency, and leadership; and address harmful gender norms that prevent progress. Other investors in the fund include MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett, Melinda French Gates, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, the Thankyou Charitable Trust, and the Estée Lauder Companies Charitable, Bill & Melinda Gates, and Rockefeller foundations.

Other organizations that announced commitments during the forum include the Gates ($2.1 billion), Ford ($420 million), and Open Society ($100 million) foundations; the Women's Funding Network ($300 million); PayPal ($100 million); and the Malala Fund ($20 million). Plan International announced thirty initiatives totaling more than $20 million, including the launch, in partnership with Purposeful and the government of Ireland, of a Girls' Fund to resource girl-led and girl-centered young feminist groups. In addition, Women Moving Millions announced that its Give Bold, Get Equal campaign, launched last fall with the goal of raising $100 million by 2022, had already exceeded that objective.

"The COVID-19 context and other barriers are now an even greater inspiration for innovation, solidarity, and inclusion," said Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, African Union goodwill ambassador on ending child marriage. "I am grateful for the commitments made this week. Now it's time to invest in girls and young women even more — for resources to reach rural and marginalized communities, for technology for public good and available to all, and for Member States' greater accountability to human rights of women and girls."