Women20 W20, the G20's official engagement group on women's empowerment, is pressing leaders at the ongoing meetings in South Africa to mainstream gender considerations across fiscal, monetary, and trade policy. But what does gender mainstreaming look like in practice, and why should world leaders attending the G20 support it?
Gender mainstreaming "is the embedding of gender perspectives across all working groups, not just the one explicitly focused on women's issues," according to UN Women ."This means finance ministers considering how monetary policies affect women differently, infrastructure discussions evaluating women's mobility and safety, and trade negotiations assessing impacts on women entrepreneurs," it notes in an explainer.
The UN agency says the G20 offers a unique platform to get world leaders to take decisive action on gender mainstreaming. "In a world of countless international forums, the G20's influence is unmatched. When G20 countries commit to closing gender gaps in labour force participation or expanding women's access to finance, the ripple effects shift global economic patterns and influence international norms far beyond G20 borders."