W20 Communique South Africa

W20 strongly urges G20 Leaders to act on the following priority areas for all women and girls:

Entrepreneurship and Financial Inclusion. Improving gender balance in entrepreneurship could have a 6% return on investment up to $5 trillion. This will increase local job creation, tax revenues, boost innovation, drive macroeconomic gains and contribute to community well-being by reinvesting in education, health, and family welfare.

1. Accelerate entrepreneurship ecosystems with inclusive legal, policy, and regulatory frameworks to provide enhanced opportunities for women entrepreneurs from start-up to scaling through growth. Secure equal rights to asset ownership and finance. Develop tailored programs for women in business training centers to include education and mentoring in finance, entrepreneurship, and emerging sectors (artificial intelligence, blue and green economies, care economy, and space).
2. Expand access to finance. Unlock more local currency debt and equity financing for women-led SMEs and growth startups by working across financial service providers, regulators, development banks and ecosystem actors and deploying blended finance, fiscal incentives and innovative financing approaches enabled by sex-disaggregated data. Increase adoption of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative’s WE Finance Code and expand its scope.
3. Promote public procurement and market access by setting, implementing, tracking and communicating progress on national targets for public procurement from women-led businesses, and expanding and tracking women’s access to local and international markets through e-commerce, trade fairs, networks, and value chains.

The Care Economy. The provision of care is unequal and gendered, yet for every dollar invested in care services, global GDP could increase by an average of 3.76 dollars, benefiting women, care recipients, and the economy. A coordinated, multi-stakeholder approach is required for the provision of inclusive, high-quality, and accessible care that addresses systemic inequalities.

1. Increase investment in comprehensive care and support systems to 10% of national income by 2030, integrating education, healthcare, and social services. This should be done by increasing public investment, optimising macroeconomic policy tools to mobilise fiscal resources, leveraging public-private models, and adopting innovative technological solutions.
2. Promote the overall reduction and equal redistribution of unpaid care work

   to reduce the unpaid care gap by 35% by 2035 through government policies that address harmful social norms and encourage co-responsibility in caregiving and domestic work. This includes increasing paid parental leave and childcare services to close the childcare policy gap by 35% by 2035.

3. Recognise, measure, and evaluate women’s care work contribution to GDP, particularly unpaid and informal care work, through the systematic collection and analysis of comparable disaggregated data (e.g., time use surveys). This data substantiates the economic value for paid and unpaid care, contributes to better understanding of care delivery models, and informs new areas of the care economy.
4. Reward paid care work and promote and protect the dignity of care workers

   through the adoption of international labour standards and national policies that up- skill, prevent violence against all women and girls, and improve working conditions with fair employment and pay, decent work, and inclusive social protection.

Education, STEM and the Digital Divide. Closing the usage gap across G20 countries is estimated to add at least USD2.3 trillion to GDP by 2030 while closing the gap in mobile internet adoption for women across all low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is estimated to add USD1.3 trillion to GDP. Yet despite G20 commitments to halve the digital gender gap by 2030, implementation and financing gaps persist. These gaps are underpinned by harmful social stereotypes and norms that impact women and girls at all levels of education, especially in the STEM fields, as well as in an increasingly AI-driven digital economy.

1. Implement fully funded national digital inclusion programmes that equip especially rural and underserved women and girls with basic and advanced digital skills, while addressing handset and data affordability and access to connectivity through subsidies, innovative financing, and inclusive policy reform in consultation with the private sector and civil society.
2. Mandate targeted national scholarships and funding schemes for women and girls -especially those from marginalised communities – pursuing high-growth STEM fields such as AI, electronic engineering and informatics, and digital innovation spanning the course of education to employment.
3. Develop a Global Index on AI and Gender Equality to track, report progress and drive accountability across G20 countries. National governance frameworks should be based on principles of responsible and ethical AI, address inclusive and gender-representative data for AI, drive women’s participation in AI development and decision making, and include assessment of gender impacts throughout the AI lifecycle.

Climate Justice, Environment and Food Security. G20 nations have committed to reducing emissions and accelerating the transition to renewable energy with a gender perspective. At the same time, women’s contributions to climate action, food systems and the circular economy are often underrecognised and underfunded. Climate action, net-zero, and zero hunger targets can only be achieved with the inclusion of women as users, landowners, producers, innovators, leaders and decision-makers.

1. Deploy an inclusive Just Transition to increase women’s full and equal participation in energy value chains to 50% by 2030. Promote investments in innovation, technology, infrastructure, mining and minerals beneficiation, and manufacturing critical to decarbonisation and transitioning to renewable energy, with measurable outcomes for women’s participation.
2. Recalibrate finance architectures, to increase the efficiency of funding for women to reduce disaster risks, strengthen adaptive capacities, enable a just energy transition and food security. Allocate targeted financial resources and engage women in funding governance and processes.
3. Develop technological and nature-based solutions, by leveraging women’s untapped leadership and knowledge to achieve sustainable food systems and a just energy transition, e.g., biofuels derived from aquaculture and agricultural waste and regenerative farming.
4. Advance land rights for women. Strengthening laws to secure land ownership would unlock women’s economic empowerment by enabling access to carbon markets which would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mobilise climate finance.
5. Support gender-responsive blue economy policies and financing that promote women’s economic empowerment as well as recognise and invest in women’s leadership, livelihoods, and knowledge in sustainable ocean-based sectors.

Health Equity for Women and Girls. Investing in health equity for women and girls can generate up to US$1 trillion in annual economic returns by reducing healthcare costs, boosting workforce productivity, and ensuring appropriate access to prevention and care. Ensuring equal health opportunities empowers women and girls to participate fully in society and the economy, fueling sustainable growth and long-term fiscal stability.

1. Institutionalise gender-responsive health systems for smarter investment.

   Endorse sex- and gender-based analysis in all health policies, programmes, and innovations. Adopt disaggregated data, inclusive clinical research, and equity in AI and digital health. Conduct systemic evidence-based research to identify gaps in health systems – including diagnosis and treatment plans – to reduce inefficiencies, improve outcomes, and increase returns on health spending.

2. Guarantee universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) to unlock human capital. Provide funding to ensure universal access to comprehensive SRHR as per the definition of the World Health Organisation (WHO) by removing legal, financial, and social constraints; strengthening primary healthcare; and prioritising access for all women and girls to reduce preventable deaths and boost education and workforce participation. SRHR must be fully integrated into national policies and programmes, ensuring all people have access to the information and services they need to make informed decisions.
3. Address the mental health of women and girls to strengthen workforce resilience. Integrate mental health into universal health coverage through community-based, trauma-informed, and scalable models. Address root causes – violence, poverty, HIV stigma, unpaid care – to improve intergenerational well-being, school retention, and economic resilience.
4. Harness environmental and digital health Innovation by aligning national policies and budgets to ensure women and girls benefit from climate-smart technologies, clean environments, and safe, inclusive digital tools.

Eradicate Violence Against all Women and Girls (VAWG). VAWG is not only a personal tragedy, It weakens the social fabric, impedes progress, and drains up to 3.7% of global GDP. It is a collective crisis demanding urgent, united action. G20 member states must urgently pass and enforce comprehensive legislation that not only holds perpetrators accountable but also ensures survivors are met with justice, care, and dignity. VAWG must be treated as a public health emergency.

1. Invest in protection, care, support, and healing systems and services for women and child survivors of violence: Significant increase in funding for safe shelters, trauma-informed counselling, legal aid, and comprehensive trauma- sensitive healthcare, including in cities, rural, marginalised, and underserved areas.
2. End Technology-Facilitated Violence Against Women and Girls. Formally recognise online and digital forms of VAWG as crimes in their own right by criminalising cyberstalking, image-based abuse (including deep fakes), online harassment, and enforce existing laws. National legal frameworks must be aligned to prevent jurisdictional loopholes that allow perpetrators to evade accountability across borders.
3. Advance women’s leadership in conflict, migration, and humanitarian crises. Ensure the consistent, and meaningful implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325. Women’s full participation and leadership in peace processes, and humanitarian crises is essential for building inclusive and sustainable solutions that serve everyone.