Bali, 26 August 2022. G20 EMPOWER as an alliance of the Group of Twenty (G20) plays an active role in providing recommendations to G20 member countries to continue the commitments made at the G20 Italy in 2021 in three points. First, activate, facilitate, and promote a joint commitment with the private sector to monitor and compile Key Performance Indicator (KPI) data at the national level. Second, joint collaboration between the private and public sectors to support programs for women in SMEs. Third, implementing fast work in empowering the future and work of women, especially in building a national agenda that directly targets women. The recommendation was delivered directly by the Chair of G20 EMPOWER, Yessie D Yosetya at the G20 2022 Ministerial Conference on Women Empowerment (MCWE) in Bali, 24-25 August 2022.
Under the G20 EMPOWER Indonesian Presidency, priority issues from the previous Italian Presidency were strengthened through monitoring the progress of women's leadership in the private sector, which is called G20 Empowerment KPI Implementation Accountability.
Three points of easy-to-adoption recommendations were developed to ensure the measurement of KPIs in support of women's leadership. First, together with ILO & OECD, EMPOWER produces a dashboard to measure KPIs which has been agreed to be released annually. Second, EMPOWER utilizes a network of advocates from all G20 member countries which aims to have a multiplier effect in accelerating women's leadership. Third, EMPOWER also produces a Playbook which brings together more than 73 good practices from various companies in 15 countries that can be immediately implemented by the private sector.
G20 EMPOWER also strengthens priority issues by addressing women workers as the basis for economic recovery. In this regard, EMPOWER produces recommendations that can be taken by the private sector to support the involvement of women in Small and Medium Enterprises. Further coordinated efforts include increasing public and private sector collaboration in support of women SMEs, increasing financial access for women in SMEs, and establishing policies to enable more women in SMEs.
Furthermore, EMPOWER is also building the economy of the future through digital skills upgrading and empowerment, the private sector is encouraged to build digital future skills for women by increasing digital awareness and participation, creating customized training programs, and continuous tracking and monitoring.
Yessie D Yosetya added, “As private sector leaders, we encourage the private sector in all G20 member countries to adopt three important points. First, the G20 core KPIs are measured and publicly disclosed annually through enterprise-level monitoring. Second, special support programs for women in SMEs, including evaluation of the implementation of support programs. Third, active participation in building the digital skills of the future for women.”
“Every priority issue is the result of joint collaboration between all members of the G20 countries, our partners, & our knowledge partner, the Boston Consulting Group”, explained Yessie further.
Three topics related to efforts to close the gender gap and realize women's empowerment became the focus of discussion at MCWE G20 2022. First, the post-Covid-19 economic condition, particularly related to lost opportunities in the labour market. Second, closing the digital gender gap, especially regarding women's participation and future in the digital economy. Third, women's entrepreneurship in particular related to accelerating equality and accelerating recovery.
The three main themes are women's issues that have been discussed throughout the series of Women20 and G20 EMPOWER meetings as part of the G20 Indonesian Presidency task force. MCWE G20 itself has a mission to reaffirm the commitment of the G20 leaders so far, as well as to discuss promising practices and critical issues that will close the gender gap and realize women's empowerment.
Present at the MCWE G20 2022 meeting which was held in a hybrid manner, around 150 delegates and hundreds of invited participants were online. Also present were the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, the Minister of PPPA of the Republic of Indonesia, I Gusti Ayu Bintang Darmawati, the Coordinating Minister for PMK of the Republic of Indonesia, Muhadjir Effendy, the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia, Sri Mulyani, Minister of Equal Opportunities and Family of Italy, Elena Bonetti, Minister for Women, Commonwealth of Australia, Katy Gallagher, Minister of State, Ministry of Social and Family Development, Singapore, Sun Xueling, President, National Institute for Women, Mexico, Nadine Flora Gasman Zylbermann, Senior Specialist, Gender, Equality and Non-Discrimination at Work, International Labour Organization, Joni Simpson.
The Minister of PPPA, Bintang Puspayoga, said, "We believe, only through global cooperation and strong commitment, we can overcome the challenges faced by women, especially during the recovery period of Covid-19 by continuing to promote gender equality and women empowerment in all development sectors."
According to Bintang, in 2022 UN Women released data that the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated gender disparities in current economic resilience. This condition affects 740 million women who work in the informal sector. In addition, women who work in the formal sector and low-income entrepreneurs have higher incomes than men. Meanwhile, in 2021 the GSMA released data showing the global internet user gap of 17%. This figure shows the existence of a digital gender gap in all regions of the world. It further reflects inequality and discrimination against certain groups, including women themselves.
Furthermore, the implementation of MCWE G20 2022 has fulfilled the four major points that have been agreed previously. First, successfully identifying the global landscape, future trends, and trajectories of G20 member countries on issues of women's empowerment, particularly those related to the three priority issues of the care economy, the digital gender gap and women in SMEs. Second, successfully holding discussions with relevant G20 stakeholders including government, private sector, civil society, academia, development experts, and others, on how to improve the issue of women's empowerment, focusing on three issues, including identifying opportunities, challenges and future collaborations. .
Third, successful sharing of good practices and lessons learned among G20 member countries on issues of women's empowerment related to three topics of discussion, including providing action points for the development of adaptive approaches to support women's empowerment policies after Covid-19. Fourth, produce recommendations for the G20 leaders' meeting from the G20 Ministerial Conference on Women's Empowerment, especially regarding the implementation of concrete approaches to policies and programs oriented towards women's empowerment.
The MCWE G20 Indonesian Presidency which has been taking place since 23 August in Bali has become a joint event involving government elements from G20 member countries and non-governmental organizations. This is part of the commitment of the Minister of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection of the Republic of Indonesia to continue the G20 MCWE during G20 Indonesian Presidency in 2022.
Rinawati Prihatiningsih, Co-Chair of G20 EMPOWER added, "Under the Indonesian Presidency, again all delegates agreed to accelerate the action of empowering and representing women's economic access not only for female workers who work in large companies but also for women, both as business owners also include workers who work in the SME sector as a driver of economic growth. We are also very proud of the support that continues to flow with the increasing number of G20 EMPOWER advocates consisting of business leaders, associations, and organizations in supporting and promoting the goals of G20 EMPOWER both at the national level and in countries that are members of and outside the G20."
“The G20 EMPOWER Alliance will continue to function differently from other G20 working groups, bringing together and strengthening collaborations of government and private sector representatives to share best practices, discuss challenges and opportunities for women's economic empowerment and access to leadership, in the midst of the dynamics of the transformation of health, the economy, the global energy transition, to recover together, rise stronger” explained Rina further.
During the G20 Indonesia Presidency, the issue of women's empowerment became one of the priority issues discussed, both in working groups and engagement groups. In this regard, the G20 EMPOWER and W20 specifically discussed the issue of women's empowerment in various forums and have produced communiqués. The results of the discussions have been presented at MCWE 2022, including their respective recommendations to the government. Furthermore, several best practices and lessons learned about Indonesian women's empowerment programs have also been delivered by selected Indonesian private sectors.
In addition to the ministerial level meeting, this activity was also complemented by an exhibition of MSME products in which participants of the XL Axiata Sisternet program participated in it. Cultural exploration and excursions were also organized as side events for the participants. The participants, especially the delegates who attended, were also presented with a special session with the theme Various Indonesian Experiences. Because the issue of women's empowerment is very important in the lives of Indonesian people, in this session they are invited to significantly understand how collaborative efforts between the government and their business alliances can be carried out effectively and have a positive impact on women. Of course, by applying real experiences or events in Indonesia.