The G20 group of the world’s 20 most powerful economies and the African and European Unions has a group dedicated to women empowerment – the Women 20 (W20). Set up in 2015 to promote gender equality and women’s economic empowerment, it’s one of 13 official engagement groups in the “Sherpa track” of the G20. It advises governments on how they can promote women’s economic empowerment and gender equality. Narnia Bohler-Muller, a legal specialist and gender equality researcher, was the head of South Africa’s delegation to the W20 in 2025. She discusses some of the gains and setbacks the W20 experienced under this year’s South African presidency.

What were the priorities of the 2025 G20 working group on women?

This year, the W20 organised work around interconnected thematic areas. These were: entrepreneurship and financial inclusion; the care economy; women in science, technology, engineering and maths; health equity; climate justice; and violence against all women and girls.

South Africa’s was the first African G20 presidency. So we adopted a theme grounded in ubuntu philosophy (which says people are only human through others). Our theme, “Women in Solidarity towards Sustainable Socio-Economic Development” explicitly addressed modern slavery in global supply chains, recognising how forced labour intersects with women’s economic empowerment.

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This was a first for the W20 and reflects South Africa’s commitment to confronting uncomfortable truths about exploitation in global supply chains. US$468 billion worth of goods imported by the G20 are at risk of being produced by forced labour. Over half of all modern slavery victims are exploited within G20 borders. The W20 called for countries to coordinate action against this, beyond fragmented national responses.

The W20’s focus on the care economy addresses the problem of women performing 76.2% of total unpaid care work globally, more than three times as much as men.

The health equity work centred on the systemic underfunding and under-research of women’s health. Maternal deaths occur every two minutes globally and only 4% of biopharma research and development spending is directed towards women’s health issues.

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On climate justice, the W20 insisted that women must lead in decision-making bodies. This must happen from global to local levels. Managing the world’s natural resource and making sure that societies become more resilient to climate change can only be done if those most affected by the climate crisis – women – play a leading role.

For the first time ever, the W20 also recognised the effects of war on women, calling for more women’s leadership in peacebuilding and peacekeeping.

What women’s issues did the G20 countries agree most on?

The W20 achieved remarkable consensus around moving beyond talk, to taking actions that could be measured.

For example, all countries in the W20 agreed that gender issues cannot only be discussed in the W20. They must become part of every G20 discussion. In the W20, we also insisted that finance ministers must consider how monetary policies affect women differently, and that government discussions about building new infrastructure must include a focus on women’s mobility and safety.

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The W20 also said that all trade negotiations must make sure that any new policies are suitable for women entrepreneurs.

The care economy emerged as an area of particularly strong agreement. Women perform 76.2% of total unpaid care work globally, more than three times as much as men. W20 delegates recognised that this represents a massive, unvalued economic contribution from women, who are also left with less time to do paid work.

What was the biggest disagreement?

The W20 produced a consensus communiqué. This was an agreed declaration by all countries in the W20. But tensions emerged around scope and ambition. In other words, some delegates advocated for bold, transformative targets that would fundamentally restructure economic systems. Others preferred small improvements within existing frameworks.

There were differences with the Russian delegation about the word “gender” and the various meanings assigned to it. This included a tussle over recognising the rights of the LGBTQI+ community.

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Eventually the compromise position was to refer mostly to “all women (and girls)” when talking about women, in other words not referring to gay or trans or intersex women specifically. This was not ideal, but the word “all” can be interpreted broadly.

There were also some countries who questioned whether the W20 was the correct place to discuss modern slavery but agreement was reached on this.

What concrete steps need to be taken to advance the agreed areas?

The G20 Leaders Declaration 2025 did not end up mainstreaming gender equality or women’s rights as hoped. This was perhaps due to the leaders having to adopt a compromise position.

However, there was progress in some areas.

First, around the care economy (both paid and unpaid care): it was agreed that women and men should share unpaid care work responsibilities and that governments must invest in childcare, eldercare, and disability support services. It was also agreed that care work must be professionalised and paid fairly.

Second, the G20 agreed that making progress in including women in all aspects of the economy means eliminating laws that discriminate against women. Digital financial services also have to be expanded to include women and ways of funding women entrepreneurs must be set up.

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Third, there was agreement to wipe out gender-based violence and femicide by improving laws, putting more government resources into safe houses and other survivor services and doing much more about awareness with men and boys. Just as the G20 summit was set to begin, tens of thousands of South African women drove this point by holding a countrywide shutdown.

Fourth, the private sector must move beyond supporting projects that include women only through corporate social responsibility rhetoric. Business needs to embed gender equality into their core practices. For example, corporations must look into their supply chains and make sure there is no forced labour taking place. They need to close any pay gaps between men and women and make sure that women are represented in leadership positions.

Fifth, civil society must continue monitoring implementation and holding both governments and corporations accountable. The women who participated in W20 South Africa represent a powerful constituency for sustained pressure.

Finally, future presidencies should maintain the momentum of consecutive global south leadership to enhance civil society influence on government commitments. However, this is unlikely as the US takes the helm as 2026 G20 president.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Narnia Bohler-Muller, Human Sciences Research Council

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Narnia Bohler-Muller receives funding for researcn from numerous organisations. She is affiliated with the Human Sciences Research Council.