Leave no one behind

In 2014, the G20 achieved a new benchmark by consolidating the agenda that defines the path of the world’s most influential economies: the Women 20 (W20) was established as an official engagement group representing the needs and demands of civil society working on women’s inclusion. As a consequence, women became a central actor in the G20 agenda, moving forward year after year, recommending public policies that aim to ensure the inclusion of women in the labour market and contributing to the growth and development of economies while building more equal societies.

Since then, the W20 has worked on recommendations related to including women in the economy and the labour force, ensuring the fair representation of half of the population of the G20, and focusing on building more equal and sustainable societies.

Equal opportunities

In the context of the G20 as the premier economic and finance governance forum, the W20 is committed to focusing on topics that will have an impact on the progressive and constant growth and development of economies. In this sense, considering that no G20 country has yet achieved equity among men and women in terms of their participation in the economy, our work takes on a more relevant role, providing recommendations that should significantly improve the health of the global economy. While it is fundamental to understand the positive impact of including women in the labour market, we must keep highlighting the fact that women deserve the same opportunities, to be considered as equals and to have the same space to develop our careers, businesses or projects.

The W20 faces two important challenges. On the one hand, we have to develop relevant content linked with the G20 and the leaders’ agenda to ensure that the leaders will take into account our recommendations and, on the other hand, we must reach consensus among the most contrasting views. Our objective is to be included in the leaders’ communiqué and ensure the leaders commit to take actions on gender equality, but our ultimate goal is to make a difference, to have an impact on the lives of millions of women who are still underrepresented in global forums and decision-making institutions.

The economic link

Gender inclusiveness and equality are fundamental to promoting economic growth. The G20 should take the commitment leaders made at their Brisbane Summit in 2014 to the next level by implementing actions to ensure the full participation of women in the economy. The recommendations delivered to the leaders by the W20 this year focus on this goal. They are intended to help every country find the best way to implement policies that allow more women to participate, help the economy and build more equal societies.

Our group is growing year after year, involving more delegates, addressing different issues, being part of a broader agenda and representing diverse realities. We remain committed to help all women by letting the G20 leaders know that we need to be considered when they design policies, when they agree on certain commitments – and that commitment is getting stronger and our voices are getting louder.

Under Argentina’s presidency of the G20 this year, the W20 has worked on four topics: financial inclusion, digital inclusion, labour inclusion and the development of rural women. The last issue is new on the W20 agenda and has been well received by all the delegations. This is thus the first time that G20 leaders will receive recommendations on ensuring the wellness and development opportunities of women in rural areas – and that is the real mission of the W20: making visible the invisible, making sure the leaders and decision makers understand that everyone matters, and ensuring that policies and the planning of the economic paths of the most powerful countries leave no one behind.