The Women’s Worlds Congress is an international and interdisciplinary event that gathers women* from diverse fields of academia and social activism.

The Basque Country has taken over as host of the XV edition, which will be held in May 2026. On this occasion its central subject will be “Women* and Peaces,” in the plural, a recognition of the multiple ways in which women* contribute to a culture of peace.

Unique to this edition is that women’s*, feminist, and pacifist organizations from the Basque Country, Colombia, and Mozambique have been collectively organizing this gathering for two years, guided by Gernika Gogoratuz and Gernikatik Mundura. This congress is the result of a collective process called “ Seedbed of Internationalist Women for Peace,” in which women*, collectives, and grassroots organizations have rooted to strengthen alliances and sow ideas around peaces, with insubordination and from everyday life. Each local process has contributed to weaving a common fabric that today shapes this new global congress.

The 2026 International Women’s Worlds Congress (MM26) will be inaugurated on May 20, 2026, at the House of Assemblies in Gernika-Lumo (Basque Country), an emblem of Basque freedoms and democracy, in the town declared City of Peace and Place of Democratic Memory. From May 21 to 24, we will be in Bilbao to participate in various activities, thereby continuing the spirit of gathering and reflection on peaces. On Saturday, May 23, there will be a festive agenda in the urban space with open activities such as kalejiras, memory and peace tours, and cultural expressions in the streets. The closing will be on Sunday, May 24, coinciding with the International Day of Women for Peace and Disarmament.

The XV Women’s Worlds Congress is an invitation to weave feminist networks and strategies to engage in change, build bridges, and imagine a new future. It will be a collective space to envision a more livable world based on justice and peace.

“No wars to kill us, no peace(s) to oppress us.”

Background

The congress is organic in nature, with each new edition emanating autonomously from the previous one, from continent to continent. The first event was held in 1981 and since then, every four years, every edition has featured a varied agenda and the number of participants varies depending on the event. At the previous edition, in Mozambique, 2,000 people attended in person and another 800 participated virtually.

The XV Women’s Worlds Congress seeks to be a plural space for socializing and connecting formal academia and social activism, a safe and diverse place where the voices of women* from around the globe emerge and interrelate, in a welcoming and respectful environment where all forms of expression are valued, based on the premise that there are diverse valid ways of generating, gathering, and expressing knowledge.

Organizers

Gernika Gogoratuz is a Peace Research Center created in 1987 as part of the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Gernika. Its objective is “to contribute, with contributions generated or supported by scientific reflection, and linked to the city and/or the symbol of Gernika, to the achievement of an emancipatory and just peace on a global scale and in the Basque Country in particular.” In collaboration with the organizations from the previous edition in Mozambique in 2022, it will be hosting the next edition of Women’s Worlds in Gernika-Lumo and Bilbao (Basque Country).

Gernikatik Mundura is a non-governmental organization that advocates for internationalist solidarity, interculturality, and community coordination to defend life. As an ally of Gernika Gogoratuz and close to the associative network in the Basque Country, it will co-host the XV Women’s Worlds Congress.