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The seventh summit of the Women's G20 was held in Rome. Created in 2015 to reduce the gender gap in employment by 25% by 2025, the forum aims to promote greater involvement of women in economic and political decision-making in G20 countries and around the world.

Amongst the key participants of G20 Summit in Rome are Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, UN Deputy Undersecretary Amina Mohamed. The main topics for discussion include women’s contribution to economic development, politics and business, as well as main challenges they may face in these spheres.

"Equal opportunities for all and strengthening the role of women in the global economy have been firmly on the G20 agenda in recent years. The W20 platform, established with Russia's active participation in 2015, has already proved its effectiveness. Many of the W20's recommendations, which are also in line with Russia's national priorities, were reflected in the decisions of the G20 Leaders' Summits," said Svetlana Lukash, Deputy Head of the Presidential Experts' Directorate and Russia's G20 Sherpa.

The Russian delegation of the Women's G20 was headed by Victoria Panova, Vice-Rector for International Relations at FEFU.

"First of all, we need a productive discussion of the key priorities of women's participation in global economy: financial, labor and digital integration, cultural changes and gender stereotypes, participation of women in decision-making processes," commented Viktoria Panova, Chair of the Russian delegation of the Women's G20, in the lead-up to her participation in the summit. "I think it is important to invite all speakers of the G20 Summit to take part in the Eastern Economic Forum (Vladivostok, September 2021) and Eurasian Women's Forum (St. Petersburg, October 2021). We all need not only to increase our influence on the overall G20 women's empowerment agenda, but also to improve our cooperation in development of creative industries, which are the main driver of the global economy in the digital age," she added.

The W20 essentially sets itself supervisory tasks: reminding G20 of its obligations, encouraging for accurate implementation of decisions made by the leaders, as well as consulting the Group to make new and specific commitments. It is planned that the discussion on equal opportunities, which started in Rome, will continue on the sidelines of the forthcoming EWF and WEF forums with the active participation of the Roscongress Foundation.

"We need a balanced approach in our cooperation with the W20's international partners: it is important to work with civil society striving to maintain already achieved results in ensuring equal rights for women and men. Gender equality is not only a question of eliminating discrimination. It is a pragmatic approach for ensuring economic growth. Increasing women's participation in the economy opens up new opportunities for development of our countries," believes Anton Kobyakov, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation.

"The pandemic has been a powerful blow to the global economy, multiplying the problems that need to be tackled by the whole world. Cooperation in international associations of women, in particular in the Women's 20, helps to formulate effective recommendations for the empowerment of women. I hope that holding another meeting of the association on the margins of the Third Eurasian Women's Forum will contribute to the development of constructive international cooperation and collaboration, which will allow us to successfully confront new challenges and move forward," said Galina Karelova, Vice Speaker of the Federation Council.

Joining forces with members of the Women's G20 at the upcoming Eastern Economic Forum and Creative Business Forum (Vladivostok, September 2021) and the Eurasian Women's Forum (St. Petersburg, October 2021) will be a priority for the Innosocium Foundation, the social platform of the Roscongress Foundation, and will promote mutual integration of initiatives aimed at accelerating the formation of gender equality.

‘We have a long-standing expertise in the implementation of several diverse and multidirectional projects in Russia. The agenda includes accessibility of jobs for girls and women as well as financial and digital services, improving the literacy in these areas, agricultural development in G20 countries - the so-called rural inclusion for women. The Innosocium Foundation has several formats for collegial, impactful international work. The joint development of indicators for the development of the creative component of the global economy by setting measurable and effective goals will allow civil society in our countries to improve mutual progress’, said Elena Marinina, deputy director of the Roscongress Foundation and director of the Innosocium Foundation and the Creative Business Forum.

15.07.2021