The Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD) hosted the first G20 technical meeting of the Empowerment of Women Working Group virtually on 17 and 18 February 2025. The meeting was chaired by Adv Joyce Mikateko Maluleke, Director-General of DWYPD, and opened by Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga, Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities. The Minister welcomed delegations and outlined South Africa’s overarching G20 Presidency theme of “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability” and the three key priorities identified for the Working Group.
The meeting served as a platform for South Africa to present and receive feedback on the priorities and deliverables for its G20 Working Group from G20 Member States, Invited Guest Countries and International Organisations as follows:
- Policy perspective on the care economy – paid and unpaid care work and household responsibilities,
- Promoting financial inclusion of and for women, and
- Addressing gender-based violence and femicide.
Delegations welcomed South Africa’s key priorities identified and expressed support for South Africa’s key priorities and the Issue Note both the issue note and the three identified priorities.
South Africa contextualised these priorities during its Presidency and delegations expressed appreciation for South Africa’s approach to building on Brazil’s G20 initiatives.
Some delegations also expressed appreciation for South Africa contextualising its Presidency within that of the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995; and the 25th anniversary of UN Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) and the Sustainable Development Goal 5 as reference points to benchmark progress.
South Africa also provided the space for presentation by knowledge partners on the priority issues , for instance, the UNODC shared a presentation on global findings on femicide; the OECD presented on financial inclusion for women; the ILO on the 2023 findings on progress made on the Brisbane 25×25 by G20 members; as well as a presentation by UN Women on assessing gender mainstreaming within the G20 community on the commitments made over the past 20 years of the G20.
By hosting the first technical meeting and setting the stage for further discussions, South Africa is reaffirming its commitment to advancing the empowerment of women and gender equality and the exchange of best practices to accelerate outcomes for women and girls in all their diversity.
