The Women 20 (W20) announced that it is stepping up its efforts in urging G20 leaders to place women’s economic empowerment at the forefront of their commitments they will make at the G20 Leaders’ Summit.
The announcement comes as the 100-day countdown to the G20 Leaders’ Summit, which is set to start on November 21, begins.
Women20 (W20) is an official G20 engagement group with a network of women’s organizations, female entrepreneurs associations and think tanks from across the world.
They work to ensure that gender issues are mainstreamed into G20 discussions and incorporated into the G20 Leaders’ Declaration as policies and commitments to promote gender equality and economic empowerment for women.
With a view to continuing progress towards gender equality and promoting economic growth to reduce the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the W20 calls on G20 members to promote inclusive decision-making by ensuring women’s participation at all levels of decision-making at local, national and international levels. The W20 also calls on G20 leaders to improve their efforts towards women’s empowerment in the digital, financial and labor markets.
Dr. Thoraya Obaid Chair, W20.
“With 100 days left in the lead up to the G20 Leaders’ Summit, we have scaled up our efforts and activities to ensure positive outcomes for women globally. Our work in the coming days will focus on building as much momentum around our policy communique as possible to pressure G20 Leaders to address the unique challenges facing women today.”
Globally, women remain largely excluded from equal access to emerging technology and financial tools. Expanding that access during the COVID-19 pandemic has become more important than ever. In fact, the representation of women in the labor market is extremely unequal. To counter this imbalance, leaders need to dramatically increase their social and care infrastructure investments that will pave the way for a more balanced global workforce.
The G20 is an international forum made up of 19 countries and the European Union. The 19 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK and the US.
