Friday 19 / April / 2024
New Delhi : Keeping in view the increasing need for women empowerment, the inception meeting of the G20 Empowerment and progression of the Women's Economic Representation (EMPOWER) group of the Ministry of Women and Child Development was held recently.
Empowerment and women's rights were the key areas of discussion. During the G20 Empower Inception meeting on Saturday, Union Minister Smriti Irani highlighted the three focus areas under India's G20 Presidency. These three areas include -- "Women's Entrepreneurship: A win-win for Equity and Economy", "Partnership for promoting women's leadership at all levels including at grassroots" and "Education, the key to women's empowerment and equal workforce participation".
"G20 Empower Inception Meeting was held in Agra today. Historically, women have been accorded immense honour & respect in India. In line with our civilisational ethos & Women-led Development as envisioned by PM @narendramodi Ji, @g20org will further bolster @g20empower. #G20India," tweeted Irani, Minister of Women and Child Development.
The Vision of G20 EMPOWER is to "Be the most inclusive and action-driven alliance among businesses and Governments to accelerate women's leadership and empowerment across the G20 countries."
India's G20 Presidency is inclusive, equitable, ambitious, decisive and action-oriented pushing forward transformative changes for women's economic empowerment.
"G20 Empower under India's G20 Presidency will focus on Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Education among women. Today's Inception Meeting in Agra was themed on the importance of Digital Skilling and Future Skills to empower women towards leading across sectors. #G20India," added Irani.
The G20 EMPOWER 2023 under India's Presidency is prioritizing the shift from women's development to women-led development. It aims to transform challenges into opportunities accelerating the shift towards women-led entrepreneurship and greater inclusion of women in the workforce.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development is India's nodal ministry for G20 EMPOWER. Dr Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd is the Chair of EMPOWER 2023 during India's G20 Presidency.
Under India's G20 Presidency, EMPOWER will host three meetings in February, April, and June 2023 at Agra, Thiruvananthapuram and Bhopal respectively.
The consensus that emerges from the thematic discussions in these meetings would form part of the Communique for the G20 EMPOWER 2023 and would be provided as recommendations to the G20 leaders.
G20 EMPOWER 2023 will focus on women's entrepreneurship, as a win-win for equity and the economy; creating a partnership for promoting women's leadership at grass root levels and on education, as a game-changing pathway for women's empowerment. Digital skilling will be a cross-cutting theme across the three focus areas.
The inception meeting on February 11th-12th at Agra, Uttar Pradesh welcomed women leaders from G20 nations, guest countries, international organisations and the private sector. The theme of the meeting was "Empowering Women to Lead across Sectors: Role of Digital Skilling and Future Skills".
Efforts of the G20 EMPOWER are an important step towards galvanising women-centric policies across G20 countries. Closing the digital gender gap is imperative, fostering digital gender inclusion and addressing the root causes of this divide will accelerate progress.
At the time of taking over the chairpersonship of G20 EMPOWER Indonesia, Dr Sangita Reddy, Chair of G20 EMPOWER emphasized that achieving gender parity in labour force participation and the G20 agenda of achieving "25 by 25" is a significant milestone that we need to pursue.
She urged all women who have held positions of power and men who understand the value of gender equity to step forward and help build an equitable world with collaborative and concerted action.
Education, training, digital skilling, sustainable financing and equal pay for equal work are some of the factors that will drive women employment, enhance entrepreneurship and help build a developed nation in the "Amrit Kaal (golden age)".
The website of the G20 EMPOWER will act as the information and resource centre for all EMPOWER activities and on focus areas during India's G20 Presidency.
The aim of the website is to take the EMPOWER message to the people - "Yatra Naryastu Pujyante Ramante Tatra Devata" or When Women are Honoured, Divinity Blossoms there.
