W20
COMMUNIQUE2023

CONTENTS
We recommend action acrossfive priority areas
PAGE NO.
Priority area #1

Climate Change

03

Priority area #2

Entrepreneurship

05

Priority area #3

Gender Digital Divide

07

Priority area #4

Grassroots Leadership

09

Priority area #5

Education, Skill Development,& Labour Market Participation

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W20 COMMUNIQUE 2023
Women- led Development
Women 20 2023 (W20) calls upon G20 leaders to place
women and girls as the drivers of the 2023 Presidency
theme of One Earth, One Family, One Future –Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam

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We urge G20 leaders to:
Advance their previous commitments in the 2022 Bali
Leaders’ Declaration, the “G20 Roadmap Towards andBeyond the Brisbane Target”, also referred to as the Rome
Roadmap - included in the 2021 G20 Leaders’ Declaration,
increasing the quantity and quality of women’s
employment and previous G20 Leaders’ Declarations
regarding equality and equity for women.
Develop and improve National Gender Strategies thatare funded and tracked using gender-sensitive and sexdisaggregated data. Each G20 government to establish anational Annual Review Mechanism and bring in all key
stakeholders and respective members of national W20
delegations to evaluate the progress, gaps and challenges.
Create an Annual G20 Reporting & Review Mechanism
to track implementation and the impact of the commitments
made to women and girls and the results at the G20 level.
Requiring and delivering gender equality, inclusion and empowermentof women and girls in all their diversity will result in increased economic
and social growth that strengthens resiliency for G20 countries.

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We recommend action across five priority areas:

1. Climate Change
Climate change and gender are inextricably linked and women should be at
the heart of climate justice. All climate-related policies must take an inclusive,
equal and equitable gender approach.

Guarantee equal representation and meaningful
participation of women in climate decision-making
mechanisms, e.g., COP 28 et seq., and a gender-responsive
approach in all climate change policies, including Nationally
Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Commit that the UN Loss and Damage Fund (COP27) andadaptation finance have a stronger gender focus toprovide fiscal space for gender-just climate action andinfrastructure, including climate disaster risk reduction
management.
Leverage the Green Climate Fund and commit direct
funding to women-led projects, such as investing in climate
entrepreneurship and technologies supporting net zerogoals.

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Protect and support women and children affected byclimate change and climate change-induced migrationand the consequences on their human rights; and track
impact.
Mandate gender strategies for energy infrastructure
planning and decision-making to guarantee access torenewable energy for all to enable a just energy
transition.

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2. Entrepreneurship
Women entrepreneurs play a crucial role in driving national economies byboosting GDP growth, creating jobs, and providing essential goods and services.
Women, particularly in rural and indigenous areas, continue to face multiple
legal, policy, procedural, regulatory, social, and societal barriers, as well as alack of access to capital and financial services.

Facilitate, promote, and incentivize access to markets(domestic and international) including: public and corporate
procurement, national and international trade, e-commerce,
access to corporate value and supply chains, and newtechnologies; with particular attention to sustainable andemerging sectors (space, blue, green, circular, digitaltechnologies).
Increase access to finance, collateral, and capital, forwomen entrepreneurs, and incentivize private, institutional,
and public investors to invest in opportunities through agender lens.

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Promote women entrepreneurial policy frameworks
and ecosystems that will accelerate women-owned andled MSMEs’ growth through all stages, encourage every
country to create and fund Women’s Business Centres,
facilitate women entrepreneurs to move from informal toformal sectors in order to unleash growth and increase tax
revenues.
Encourage Gender-Responsive Public Procurement(GRPP) programs in G20 countries and establish their own
national targets for procurement for women-owned and led
MSMEs; increase gender procurements by minimum one
percentage point a year with a goal of 20% by 2030.
Allocate a minimum of 5% of the new Global Minimum
Corporate Tax, endorsed by OECD and G20 in 2021, to fund
women-owned and led MSMEs in growth sectors.
Implement We-Fi’s Women Entrepreneurs Finance Code;create and leverage blended finance mechanisms for
women such as the Global Blended Finance Alliance;
continue to provide the remaining funding for the $350
million USD commitment in 2022 to We-Fi.

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3. Gender Digital Divide
The digital gender gap in access, skills, leadership and research is driven bycomplex social, economic and cultural factors, resulting in women and girls
experiencing barriers to accessing and using digital technologies. Closing thisgap will result in significant social and economic gains and increase inlivelihoods and GDP, both now and for future generations. G20 leaders must
commit to women’s full participation as key actors and decision-makers in thedigital economy.

G20 Member States must publish an annual national G20
Digital Gender Equality Report to demonstrate progress.
By 2030, halve the digital gender gap (includingmobile) by addressing barriers around affordability,literacy and digital skills, accessibility, online safety, andlack of relevant content in usage and adoption of digitaltechnologies.
Guarantee and put in place policies and procedures tocorrect and prevent digital technology/AI from creating,perpetuating, and amplifying gender biases in data andalgorithms.

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Provide a minimum 15% tax break, or other equivalent
incentives for women-led technology and tech-enabledstart-ups; and relevant incentives/subsidies for women
entrepreneurs.
Strengthen institutional capacity and mechanisms toprotect, monitor, investigate, and prosecute reports ofonline abuse and violence against women and girls.

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4. Grassroots Leadership
It is critical for women to become leaders, to lead development, and act asagents of change, including at the grassroots level, and for society to embracethat mindset and the systemic change necessary for women to exercise thatleadership. As such, governments, organizations, and individuals must
promote grassroots leadership of women.

Promote women's leadership by applying a minimum
quota for one-third of women representation at all levels ofgovernance and decision-making in leadership, with anemphasis at the grassroots levels and sustained career
progression to achieve the 50% representation goal for
2030.
Guarantee that all recommendations/benefits for
women extend and are tailored to the remote, ruraland indigenous areas, particularly important areas are:education, healthcare, gender-based violence (includingonline) infrastructure, climate change, agriculture, financial
and digital literacy.
Ensure the G20 Annual Reporting and Review
Mechanism for women’s leadership includes women atgrassroots level especially from remote and rural areasfrom each country.

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5. Education, Skill Development, &Labour Market Participation
Education is a human right. For peaceful, equitable, and prosperous societies, itis necessary to educate girls and women. The economic contributions of
women must be appropriately recognized, rewarded and supported throughmeasures that promote decent and predictable work, gender-equitable sharingof care responsibilities, strengthening public social infrastructures, and aguarantee of freedom from gender-based violence everywhere.

Provide equitable access to primary, secondary,vocational, and tertiary education; increase retention inschool; and deliver lifelong learning, including upskilling,
for women and girls of all ages in emerging sectors andSTEM/STEAM.
Mandate anti-bias and unconscious bias training in theeducation and wider social ecosystems for all, and fundmedia campaigns to change gendered conceptions of care,work, and stereotypes of women and men.

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Provide free sanitary hygiene products and safe andsustainable sanitation practice education, in schools andhigher education facilities; supported with comprehensive
sexuality education (CSE) as specified by the World HealthOrganization (WHO); and provide an affordable andaccessible range of services, including antenatal andpostnatal care to reduce maternal mortality.
Guarantee that all research regarding health, medical
devices and pharmaceuticals is conducted andanalyzed equally, and includes women at all stages of
their development, including pregnancy, which influences
future generations as well.
Adopt and enforce anti-violence legislation andworkplace safety as provided for in ILO Convention 190,
and extend that protection to all other gendered violence at home or elsewhere.

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Legislate gender pay gap reporting for the publicsector, private sector and publicly-traded firms andend gender-based discrimination in the workforce.
Commit to increased funding for a universal "Basic Care
Basket"supportedbyactions
tostandardize,professionalize and formalize the care economy;
deliver on prior UN commitments by G20 donor countries toprovide 0.7% of GNI to develop and improve careinfrastructure; and implement policies that protect andimprove maternity/parental benefits and support genderequitable care responsibilities, including family leave
programs.

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Transform, Thrive, and Transcendwww.w20india.org