Focus:
During the Turkish Presidency of G20 in 2015, Women20 (W20) was launched as an engagement group, created with the objective to advance and ensure “gender inclusive economic growth” within the structure of the G20. In parallel, the G20 Alliance for the Empowerment and Progression of Women’s Economic Representation (G20 EMPOWER) was launched in 2019, with the objective of promoting a more wide-ranging and action-orientated alliance between companies and governments. All these discussions culminated in 2023, under the Presidency of India, in the creation of a new working group called the Women’s Empowerment Working Group to support G20 countries in addressing gender inequality and boosting women’s empowerment across different dimensions.
Following on the legacy of the India and Brazil G20 Presidencies, South Africa’s Presidency of the G20 aims to ensure programmatic continuity, building on the achievements already made by these other G20 presidencies.
South Africa will expound on the priorities previously identified in the G20 for women’s advancement and empowerment. These include addressing the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide; tackling issues of persisting inequalities, especially in the world of work, through increasing labour force participation by women; efforts in closing the gender pay gap; policies to address the care economy—both paid and unpaid care work; and promoting the financial inclusion of women, among others.
South Africa will also seek to further the work initiated by the G20 on promoting women’s participation and representation in leadership, governance, and decision-making levels, as well as women’s ownership and control.
Priorities:
Key Priority 1: Policy perspective(s) on the care economy: paid and unpaid care work and household responsibilities.
Deliverable: Care economy with focus on unpaid work of women from research, policy, and data perspective.
Key Priority 2: Promoting financial inclusion of and for women.
Deliverable: Promoting financial inclusion of women.
Key Priority 3: Addressing gender-based violence and femicide.
Deliverable: Addressing gender-based violence and femicide.
