The former prime minister warned a group of young leaders on Wednesday gender inequality wasn’t a thing of the past and young women would still have to confront and overcome sexism in their careers.

“You are going to be pursuing your work, your advocacy, your leadership in a world that is still unequal for women,” Ms Gillard told the Global Citizen Now conference in Melbourne.

“You’ve got the benefit of seeing this movie before.

“That does mean that you can think in advance how it is that you’re going to make your way in this world and deal with sexist, even misogynist, situations when (they come) your way – how you’re going to call it out, how you’re going to address it.”

Ms Gillard, addressing the conference via video from London, said women had more tools at their disposal to deal with sexism in 2024, along with greater solidarity with each other.

However, she flagged a “disturbing” trend borne out in upcoming Global Institute for Women’s Leadership research, which showed young men were increasingly expressing sentiments like “efforts for gender equality have gone too far.”

“There are a lot of pressures on young men today, a lot of online influencers who are trying to peddle very dark visions of what it is to be a man,” Ms Gillard said.

“We do need to make sure that the generation that’s coming up and shaping the future is a generation where everyone sees that gender equality will make for a better world for everyone.

“I am concerned about that negative line that’s showing in our polling and what it might say about some emerging, harder attitudes towards gender equality.”

The former prime minister is chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership.

Ms Gillard was subjected to intense misogyny during her three years as prime minister from 2010, with public commentary and insults about her appearance, clothes, partner and other aspects of her life.

Her 2012 parliamentary speech, in which she declared, “I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man” directed at then-opposition leader Tony Abbott, has been hailed as history making.

The Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson was expected to address the Melbourne conference in-person on Wednesday afternoon, putting her faith in 32 Global Citizen youth leader award winners as among the world’s future leaders.

The group has been touted as this generation’s innovators and advocates, making strides towards fixing big-picture issues including poverty, climate change, equity and human rights in the Asia-Pacific region.

Hugh Jackman was slated to address the conference remotely on Wednesday but a text to organisers from him saying he could no longer take part was read out on stage.

The Global Citizen Now conference is focused on ending poverty and features a line-up of more than 40 speakers.