The two-day G20 Empower meet was organised under the Indian Presidency at Kovalam under the theme ‘Women’s Empowerment: A Win-win for Equity and Economy,’ with a vision to include women as active agents in the economy’s growth with a significant focus on entrepreneurship.
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Women constitute half of the world’s population, and empowering them is necessary for the sustainable development of a country. At his Inauguration Spiel, the Union Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Dr Munjapara Mahendrabhai, addressed the G20 delegates and called for efforts to create an environment that promotes women’s entrepreneurship and leadership, capacity building, and access to good mentoring and financing to help them scale their businesses.
He also highlights promoting other vital areas for women’s empowerment, for instance, STEM education (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and women’s leadership at the grassroots level. Focusing more on the entrepreneurship part, Dr Munjapara Mahendrabhai states that it is a vital step in achieving gender equality and economic growth. Right before the Inauguration speech by Mahendrabhai, an exhibition was conducted by the National Institute of Fashion Technology showcasing women’s role in conserving the state’s rich culture and women’s impact on traditional enterprises and the economy.
G20 Empower: Include women as active agents in the Economy’s growth
Empower is a G20 alliance for women’s economic representation and women’s empowerment that strives to be an action-driven alliance among businesses and governments to increase women’s leadership and empowerment across all the G20 countries. The empowerment and emancipation of women is something that all the G20 countries will work on, and the final report will be presented at the final meeting of the G20 Empower Summit.
Sangita Reddy, chair of G20 Empower, said while addressing the delegates that G20 Empower is one of a kind as it draws attention to private sector women and empowerment. The agenda of G20 Empower remains to consolidate best practices from across the world and secure the support of the private sector, which will advocate for and ensure equity in the workplace. Other than that, they will track key performance indicators related to women.
Enabling women to join and stay in the workforce and rise to leadership positions will be monitored by multiple working groups that were created to work with corporations.
Developments in India so far
Sangita Reddy, chair of G20 Empower, while addressing the panellists highlighted the number of women STEM graduates, which is the highest in the world, i.e., 43 per cent. They claim that India has the world’s best community programmes, which include 4 lakh self-help group (SHG) members trained as community resource persons (CRPs). It includes Pashu Sakhi, Krishi Sakhi, Bank Sakhi, Poshan Skahi, Bima Sakhi, etc., and digitization has led to pivotal changes that have enabled the economic and financial inclusion of women.
The G20 Summit of 2024 was conducted under India’s presidency and intends to align with the vision of the women-led development agenda introduced by the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi. As mentioned in one of his speeches, he believes that women are the backbone of society, they play a crucial role in shaping our future, and investing in their empowerment will lead to sustainable development. Dr Munjapara Mahendrabhai also states that it is a vital step in achieving gender equality and economic growth.
