INTRODUCTION
South Africa places inclusive economic growth at the centre of its national agenda. Hosting the Group of Twenty (G20) Presidency under this priority aligns with Brazil’s previous leadership and provides a platform to continue the commendable work undertaken by Brazil in 2024. As Chair of the Empowerment of Women Working Group (EWWG), South Africa aims to build upon Brazil’s initiatives and further contextualise these priorities during its presidency.
Assuming the Chairship coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the United Nations (UN) Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. This is a significant moment as the world reviews the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in 2025.
Additionally, South Africa’s Chairship occurs as the world marks a decade since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 5 on women’s empowerment and gender equality. With only five years left to achieve the 2030 targets, the Working Group under South Africa will champion accelerating SDG 5 among G20 members.
In 2025, the global community will commemorate the 25th anniversary of UN Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS). This offers an opportunity for the EWWG to review the implementation of the WPS agenda and women’s roles in peace and security.
Within this context, South Africa welcomes the opportunity to promote and build upon G20 initiatives on women’s empowerment and gender equality, continuing the work of the Brazilian presidency. During its Chairship, South Africa will focus on G20 priorities for women’s advancement, including addressing gender-based violence and femicide; tackling workplace inequalities by increasing women’s labour force participation; closing the gender pay gap; addressing the care economy (both paid and unpaid care work); and promoting women’s financial inclusion.
South Africa will further G20 efforts to promote women’s participation and representation in leadership, governance, and decision-making, as well as women’s ownership and control. To this end, South Africa will share its initiatives with G20 members, exchanging best practices to accelerate outcomes for women and girls in all their diversity. This platform will facilitate policy discourse and collaboration on evidence-based research for planning and policymaking among G20 states.
PRIORITIES
KEY PRIORITY 1: POLICY PERSPECTIVES ON THE CARE ECONOMY
Key Deliverable:
Collaborate on research and policy measures towards Counting Women’s Work with the University of Cape Town and global partners, including UN Women and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), on programmes addressing unpaid care work.
Engage with the UN Statistical Commission on recommendations from the Ninth Global Forum on Gender Statistics held in 2023 in Johannesburg.
KEY PRIORITY 2: PROMOTING FINANCIAL INCLUSION OF AND FOR WOMEN
Key Deliverable:
Host a conference on Global Innovative Approaches and Best Practices Advancing Financial Inclusion for Women to explore critical issues surrounding financial inclusion, including access to land, properties, and assets.
Deliberate on models and strategies to address financial inclusion gaps between women and men, discuss ways to close the gender pay gap, promote gender-responsive procurement, and examine how gender-responsive budgeting contributes to financial inclusion.
Focus on the importance of planning and auditing in the budgeting cycle for effective mainstreaming.
The conference, hosted in partnership with the Tshwane University of Technology, the Banking Association of South Africa, and international partners, will bring together practitioners, experts, government officials, academia, the private sector, policymakers, development partners, civil society, and other stakeholders. The event will discuss innovative strategies, exchange knowledge, address challenges, and identify models for financial inclusion of women as a marginalised sector.
The conference will address the diverse needs of women from different backgrounds, such as rural, peri-urban, and urban areas; women with disabilities; women in the LGBTQIA+ community; women-led businesses; and women in agriculture.
KEY PRIORITY 3: ADDRESSING GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND FEMICIDE
Key Deliverable:
A dialogue with G20 leaders on positive masculinity and their role in eliminating violence against women and girls. This could occur on the margins of the Leaders’ Summit, with leaders signing a pledge of commitment.
