The World Assembly for Women, which was organized jointly with the Women 20 (W20), was held in Tokyo on 22–24 March 2019. Roscongress Deputy CEO, Director for the Socio-Economic Agenda Elena Marinina, who is a member of the Eurasian Women’s Forum Council, was part of the Russian delegation at the W20 summit.
The W20 is one of the most innovative outreach formats of the G20 and was created in May 2015 as part of the Turkish presidency of the group. In September 2018, an open session of the W20 meeting was held for the first time in Russia as part of the Second Eurasian Women’s Forum, which was run by the Roscongress Foundation.
At the W20 Summit in Tokyo, proposals were drawn up for inclusion in a communiqué as part of preparations for the G20 Summit that is to be held in Japan in 2019. W20 representatives expressed support for the statement contained in the G20 Buenos Aires Declaration that “gender equality is crucial for economic growth and fair and sustainable development”, and reiterated the need to address the gender gap in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
During Japan’s presidency of the G20, the W20 pays particular attention to the inclusive and responsible use of all new technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), due to their critical impact on all segments of society, ensuring no woman is left behind.
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As a result, the W20 representatives have called on G20 leaders to accelerate the pace at which they fulfil their past commitments, promote a gender-sensitive approach on the G20 agenda, and act in accordance with the following recommendations:
- Request their labour and employment ministers to present a mid-term report on the 2014 Brisbane commitment to reduce the gender gap in labour force participation by 25% by 2025 during the 2020 G20.
- Remove systemic legal and social barriers in the labour market and provide solutions for achieving gender equality.
- Enact and implement legal measures to achieve gender equality in all aspects of employment practices. In particular, take further action to close gender income gaps such as wages, pensions and other earnings in line with the SDGs.
- Invest public funds in quality, accessible and affordable care infrastructure for children and elderly, and put in place mandatory paid parental leave to promote shared responsibility.
- Incentivize employers in the public and private sectors to implement evidence-based policies and publicize progress on gender equality, leading to more women in decent and quality work and in leadership positions.
- Close the digital gender gap and ensure that women can exercise their digital rights.
- Take urgent measures to promote equal participation of women in the design and development of digital technologies with due consideration to ethics, and prevent amplification of gender discriminations by biased data-sets, models, and algorithms in Artificial Intelligence (AI).
- Boost equal participation of girls and women of all ages in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM).
- Provide women in urban and rural areas with affordable, reliable, and safe internet and mobile services.
- Ensure financial inclusion, promote women’s entrepreneurship, and accelerate access to investment and markets.
- Ensure women’s equal rights to economic resources and access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, and natural resources.
- Develop a policy framework and action plan to strengthen the business, financial and digital capacity of women’s enterprises, including e-commerce.
- Create conditions for public procurement contracts awarded to women-owned and women-led businesses to increase their share by a minimum of 10%, taking into consideration national circumstances.
- Incentivize investors to proactively incorporate gender factors into investment analysis and decision-making.
- Promote life-long learning, and education on gender equality in schools and workplaces, to eliminate gender stereotypes and unconscious bias.
- End all forms of violence against women and girls in the public and private spheres, including social media.
- Establish effective legal frameworks, ensure access to justice, and strengthen law enforcement to end all forms of violence against women and girls in all spheres.
- Support the adoption of the ILO’s proposed convention and a recommendation concerning the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work, as well as ratify international conventions related to violence against womenю
- Establish effective and transparent governance and accountability mechanisms for achieving gender equality.
- Develop mechanisms to monitor the implementation of G20 commitments on gender equality, together with international organizations, relevant national partners and in collaboration with the W20, and report progress on a regular basis.
- Jointly review progress, within G20, for achieving gender parity in leadership and all levels of decision-making in the public and private sectors by 2030.
- Strengthen the mandate and capacity of national gender machinery to ensure that gender impact assessments are conducted on legislation, standards, and policies.
“The activities of the W20 aim to consolidate the efforts of the women of G20 countries at a global level in order to achieve equal gender opportunities. The Roscongress Foundation took part in the W20 for the first time. This is certainly a landmark event as well as the continuation of work to further the women’s agenda, eliminate gender inequality, promote women’s leadership, and strengthen cooperation with international women’s communities”, Advisor to the Russian President Anton Kobyakov said.
“At the W20 Summit and the World Assembly for Women in Japan, we discussed such themes as creating innovative women’s groups and women’s more active involvement in the digital economy, among other things. For the Roscongress Foundation, one of the priorities that we certainly plan on strengthening is the creation and development of a social agenda using its platforms, the promotion of women’s leadership, and assistance in building the women’s community”, Roscongress Deputy CEO, Director for the Socio-Economic Agenda Elena Marinina, said.