W20 South Africa Summit Issues Bold Call to G20: Prioritise Women’s Rights & Equity

The W20 group was established under the G20 umbrella in 2015 to provide a formal mechanism for gender-focused engagement, advocacy, and policy input.

The Women20 (W20) South Africa Summit, held from 12 to 14 October 2025, has culminated in a powerful call to action for the G20 leaders—urging them to put the lives, voices, and rights of women and girls at the very centre of global policy and governance. As South Africa presides over the G20 this year, the summit’s closing communiqué outlined a comprehensive set of concrete recommendations across vital sectors: entrepreneurship, financial inclusion, the care economy, education and STEM, climate justice, and combating violence against women and girls.

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From Summit to Strategy: What the W20 Communiqué Demands

The W20 group was established under the G20 umbrella in 2015 to provide a formal mechanism for gender-focused engagement, advocacy, and policy input. This year’s summit, held during South Africa’s G20 presidency, stressed that the moment presents a pivotal opportunity for the Global South to shift power in global governance in favour of more equitable outcomes.

Key Thematic Priorities

1. Entrepreneurship & Financial Inclusion Summit participants urged G20 leaders to remove barriers that disproportionately constrain women entrepreneurs—such as limited access to capital, credit, and markets—and to invest in gender-responsive financial systems. They called for policies that encourage venture capital for women-owned enterprises, microfinance schemes tailored to women, and digital banking innovations that reach underserved women.

2. Care Economy Recognition & Support The communiqué emphasised that unpaid or underpaid care work—child rearing, elderly support, domestic labor—continues to fall heavily on women. It called for social protection schemes, public investments in care infrastructure (such as childcare, eldercare, and community-based care services), and policies that value care work in national accounting and labour laws.

3. Quality Education & STEM Access Delegates stressed that women and girls must have equal access to education, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The communiqué recommended scholarship and mentorship programmes aimed at girls in underserved or rural communities, curriculum reforms to remove gender stereotypes, and incentives for female representation in research, innovation, and tech leadership roles.

4. Climate Justice & Environmental Resilience Recognizing that climate change disproportionately affects women—especially in vulnerable areas—the W20 urged that G20 climate action integrate a gender lens. This includes investing in women-led adaptation and mitigation projects, providing climate finance with a gender-responsive framework, and supporting women’s land rights, access to clean energy, and climate-smart technologies.

5. Preventing Gender-Based Violence (GBV) A recurring and urgent call in the communiqué is for G20 nations to scale up prevention and response efforts for violence against women and girls. Measures include strengthening legal frameworks, funding survivor services, promoting education and community awareness, digital and physical safety innovations, and data systems for monitoring GBV.

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From Johannesburg to Global Policy: What Next?

On the final day of the summit, the communiqué was formally handed over to Thembisile Simelane, South Africa’s Minister of Human Settlements, with instructions to channel it to the Departments of International Relations and Cooperation, Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, as well as the Presidency—all with a view to delivering it to G20 heads of state.

Minister Simelane emphasised South Africa’s unique position: as the only permanent African G20 member, the country carries “a unique and special responsibility” to shape the G20 agenda in a way that elevates the Global South’s priorities. She sees this year as an opportunity to reposition global governance around issues of equity, dignity, and solidarity.

The summit’s closing plenary featured prominent voices from across the women’s empowerment and development spectrum. Among them were:

• Aleta Miller, UN Women Representative in South Africa

• Dr. Okito Wedi, of Crtve Development

• Yvonne Chaka Chaka, cultural icon and founder of the Princess of Africa Foundation

They underscored the urgency of turning rhetoric into measurable outcomes, and of enabling the voices of women and girls from communities to inform policy.

Delegation & Participation

Delegates from more than 20 countries participated, including representatives from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Egypt, the EU, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, Lesotho, Zambia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Zimbabwe. Their presence underscored the global nature of the commitments and the ambition to embed gender equality in every facet of G20 discourse.

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Why This Matters

• Policy leverage with the G20: As a formal engagement group, W20’s recommendations are intended to feed directly into the G20’s political agenda, giving gender equality a louder voice among heads of government.

• Closing the implementation gap: The communiqué is not merely aspirational—it calls for measurable commitments, financing, and accountability mechanisms to ensure real-world impact.

• Amplifying the Global South: Under South Africa’s presidency, there is a concerted effort to integrate African and Global South perspectives—highlighting gender justice in contexts often marginalized in global decision-making.

• Interconnected urgency: The priorities interlock—economic empowerment, care work, climate justice, and safety are mutually reinforcing elements of gender equality. Holistic attention is crucial.

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Looking Ahead: What Can G20 Leaders Do?

1. Adopt gender-responsive budgeting across national policies in line with W20 recommendations.

2. Allocate dedicated finance (grants, concessional loans, innovation funds) for women-led enterprises, care infrastructure, climate adaptation, and GBV response.

3. Set binding targets and dashboards especially around women’s representation in STEM fields, labour force participation, and elimination of GBV.

4. Institutionalise accountability by requiring periodic reporting to the W20 or a G20 gender observatory.

5. Engage civil society and grassroots voices—ensure that the recommendations reflect the lived realities of women across regions, including rural, indigenous, and marginalized communities.

 

The W20 South Africa Summit has delivered more than a communiqué—it has issued a clarion call: that the empowerment of women and girls must shift from a nod in speeches to a central driver of global governance. The next critical step lies with the G20 leaders—who must take these recommendations and transform them into laws, investments, and systems that reshape opportunity for half the world’s population.