Indian Council of World Affairs

Under India’s G20 Presidency, member nations unanimously endorsed the creation of a Working Group on Empowerment of Women under the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration in September 2023.  The 1^st meeting of the Working Group was convened on 17–18 January 2024 under the Brazilian G20 Presidency. The operationalisation of the Working Group on this pertinent subject signifies the commitment of the G20 leadership towards supporting nations in advancing women’s rights by tackling gender inequality in different dimensions and promoting women's empowerment on a global scale. 

This paper explores how India’s G20 Presidency has shaped the concept of ‘Nari Shakti’ (women's power) by shifting the emphasis from women’s development to women-led development. It also discusses the importance of making gender equality a key pillar of foreign policy. 

G20 and Gender Equality 

Over the years, there has been an increased focus on gender equality being looked at through the lens of an economic priority rather than as a social security and human right. According to the World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development, published almost a decade ago, closing the gender gap is a core development objective as well as smart economics. Increasing gender equality has the potential to enhance productivity, improve development outcomes for the next generation, and make institutions more representative.[i]

Further, the connection between gender equality, women’s empowerment, and the faster economic growth of nations cannot be understated. The IMF estimates that raising the rate of female labour force participation by 5.8 per cent has the potential to boost the GDP of emerging and developing countries by 8 per cent over the next few years and substantially assist in recovering from the economic loss inflicted on countries by the pandemic.[ii] This reflects that the economic empowerment of women and reducing the gender gap are important prerequisites for lifting the global economy significantly and achieving substantial returns.

Despite persistent progress over the years, the COVID-19 pandemic had a regressive effect on the progress of gender equality. Apart from rolling back gains in women’s economic opportunities and social freedom and widening gender gaps, it also exposed other gender imbalances within sectors. These systemic and structural gender inequalities included sizeable gender pay gaps, a gendered digital divide, the double burden of job and unpaid domestic work,[iii] and unequal representation in leadership and decision-making roles. This demonstrates that the focus on labour force parity approach alone is insufficient to close gender inequality, thus requiring boosting women's empowerment in its different dimensions. 

Similarly, under the Brisbane Goal Action Plan (2014), the G20 nations agreed to promote greater women's participation in the labour market and improve the quality of women’s employment. Under the Action Plan, the nations committed to reducing the labour force participation rates between men and women by 25 per cent by 2025. They recognised that by bringing more than 100 million women into the labour force, the commitment would meaningfully boost global growth and reduce poverty and inequality. It also acknowledged that measuring progress required the support of international organisations such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). [iv]

In 2015, an official G20 engagement group known as ‘Women 20 (W20)’ was created under the Turkish Presidency. The W20 group promotes women’s economic empowerment as an integral part of the G20 process and seeks to look at translating the G20 discussions into policies and commitments that support Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-5 (achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls) and the Brisbane Goal. In parallel, an action-oriented and inclusive alliance of businesses and government, the ‘G20 Alliance for the Empowerment and Progression of Women’s Economic Representation-G20 EMPOWER’ was created during the Saudi Presidency (2019) to accelerate women’s leadership and development in the private sector.[v]

Further, the ‘G20 Roadmap Towards and Beyond the Brisbane Target’ committed to during Italy’s host year (2021) recognises that many factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, significantly hinder the participation of women in the labour market and the improvement of the quality of their employment.[vi] The Bali Declaration (2022) and New Delhi Declaration (2023) have further reaffirmed their commitment to the roadmap by paving the path for women’s empowerment with a holistic approach. The gradual progression in the G20 agenda of gender equality and women empowerment issues over successive Presidencies is noteworthy and the Indian Presidency’s focus on women-led development is a milestone. 

India’s Approach to Women-led Development 

India readjusted the ‘gender-sensitive lens’ by shifting the focus from ‘women development’ to ‘women-led development’ energised by ‘Nari Shakti’ (women’s power) during its G20 Presidency. The New Delhi Declaration reaffirmed the fundamental importance of gender equality and underscored that investment in women's empowerment has a multiplier effect on implementing the 2030 Agenda. Enhancing social and economic empowerment, addressing paid and unpaid work in care and domestic work, closing the gender pay gap, halving the digital gender gap, eliminating gender-based violence, and driving gender-inclusive climate action were the key commitments agreed to under the declaration. Under India's G20 Presidency, G20 EMPOWER 2023 prioritised the transition from women's development to women-led development.[vii]

Women-led development aims to channel the potential of women, representing half of the world’s population, for actively shaping and driving the economic, social, and political progress at all levels of governance. It also puts into focus the need to address generational inequality by eliminating gender stereotypes and departing from behaviours and norms that perpetuate gender inequality. This aligns with the Government of India’s vision of a ‘Developed India’ or a ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047, which underscores the vital role of women’s active contribution in the development journey rather than as passive recipients of development benefits. Reviewing economic, social, and financial policies to remove barriers to women’s participation or mainstreaming in various sectors is pertinent. 

For advancing women-led development, a multi-faceted strategy with a whole-of-government approach addressing a full spectrum of issues related to health, education, safety, employment, and entrepreneurship is being implemented to empower women. As underscored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “From financial inclusion to social security, quality healthcare to housing, education to entrepreneurship, many efforts have been made to put our Nari Shakti at the forefront of India’s development journey. These efforts will continue with even greater vigour in the coming times”.[viii] The Government of India has implemented various initiatives to advance gender justice, and equality and promote the active participation of women in shaping India’s political, socio-economic, and cultural fabric. 

To target the root causes of female feticide and related issues of women empowerment such as education, institutional delivery, and hygiene, the GoI implemented the Beti Bacho Beti Padhao (BBPP)[ix] programme in 2015. The programme resulted in an improved sex ratio at birth from 918 in 2014–2015 to 934 females per 1000 males in 2021–2022,[x] enrollment of girls in secondary education increased from 75.51% in 2014–2015 to 79.46% in 2020–2021, and improvement in institutional deliveries from 87% in 2014–2015 to 94.8% in 2020–2021.[xi] Further, adorning a gender-sensitive lens, changes were made in the education system under the recent National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.[xii] This included constituting a ‘Gender-Inclusive Fund’ to provide equal education to all girls, promoting gender-sensitive curriculum by including material on ‘gender equality’, and ‘gender sensitivity’ and removing any biases and stereotypes in school curriculum.[xiii] India underscored the above at a special event on the sidelines of the 68th annual Commission on the Status of Women stating that “Our education system promotes gender-sensitive curriculum and need-based education through the new education policy, resulting in parity in the gross enrolment ratio for girls and boys in higher education”.[xiv]

For the safety of women, a network of 769 One Stop Centres (OSC)[xv] providing integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence, both in private and public spaces, has been established at the district level. To enhance the dignity and ease of living for women, 69 per cent of the houses constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G) are solely or jointly owned by women; clean cooking fuel is provided at a subsidised rate under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), resulting in improving the environment and health of women; and the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is being implemented as a massive decentralised movement for providing accessible clean tap water supply to every household, with women at the core of planning, decision-making, implementation, and monitoring of JJM.[xvi] 

Under Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY), Stand-Up India and Start-Up India, women entrepreneurs are provided assistance to start greenfield enterprises and become job creators. Over 46 per cent of the recognised startups in India have at least a woman director and around 69 per cent of the loans under the MUDRA Yojana have been sanctioned to women entrepreneurs.[xvii] [xviii] Women hold over 55 per cent of the accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, which aims to increase affordable access to financial services such as bank accounts, remittances, credit, insurance and pensions.[xix]

Furthermore, digital literacy is being promoted via schemes under the National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) for providing digital literacy to at least one person per household and the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) targeting digital literacy in rural India. To leverage the potential of science and technology in rural development, women self-help groups are being trained to operate and repair drones for agricultural purposes such as the application of fertilisers and pesticides.[xx] The recently passed Women Reservation Bill or Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam is the latest in the series of initiatives for women's empowerment. It seeks to increase the number of women representatives by reserving one-third of the total number of seats for women in Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies. 

The Global Gender Gap Report 2023 stated that notable achievements have been made in women’s representation in local government globally. India (44.4%) is among the countries that have achieved over 40 per cent women's representation in local governance.[xxi] In his recent statement at the 3^rd Summit for Democracy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the 1.4 million grassroots-level elected women representatives the agents of change for women-led development.[xxii] Thus, India’s vision of women-led development can be summarised in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's words: “When women prosper, the world prospers. Their economic empowerment fuels growth, their access to education drives global progress, their leadership fosters inclusivity, and their voices inspire positive change”.[xxiii]

The International Dimension 

During its G20 Presidency, India modelled a vision for the progress of gender equality worldwide through consensus-building on the global stage. Over 300 delegates from 18 countries and 7 guest countries participated in 86 virtual international meetings and six impactful in-person conferences that India organised.[xxiv] The Presidency also emphasised the empowerment and recognition of women at the local or community level. For the first time, the G20 EMPOWER KPI (Key Performance Indicator) Dashboard 2023 edition included women's roles in small and medium enterprises. [xxv]

Additionally, the W20 engagement group actively discussed the role of women as first responders to climate change, aligning it with India’s G20 presidency theme of Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE). It underscored the importance of environmentally sustainable and responsible lifestyle choices and made gender equality a core principle for accelerating climate action. At the G20 Ministerial Conference on Women's Empowerment held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India expressed its willingness to assist G20 countries in developing a localised application of the Poshan Tracker for monitoring nutrition services and early childhood care service delivery.[xxvi]

The G20 Delhi Declaration acknowledged that for accelerating progress on the SDGs addressing the digital divide is significant. The G20 leaders committed to halving the digital gender gap by 2030 by promoting regulatory policy frameworks for enhancing digital literacy and skills, adopting safety-by-design approaches to digital tools and technologies, implementing gender-responsive policies, and supporting women's empowerment in the digital economy.[xxvii] A digitally inclusive platform, TechEquity, was operationalised under India’s G20 Presidency to bridge the digital divide by providing digital skilling and upskilling courses to girls and women in 120 plus languages.[xxviii]

Carrying Forward the India Focus: Brazilian Presidency 

Aligning with the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration, Brazil incorporated India’s G20 commitments on ‘Gender Equality and the Empowerment of All Women and Girls’ under the central themes of the Working Group on Empowerment of Women: Equality, Combating Misogyny and Violence, and Climate Justice.[xxix] In January 2024, the Brazilian G20 Presidency convened the 1^st meeting of the Working Group on Empowerment of Women and one of the suggestions was to include an axis specifically dealing with women’s economic autonomy. [xxx] Additionally, the Brazilian G20 Presidency is actively pursuing discussion on the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration on the imperative to “address the unequal distribution in paid and unpaid care and domestic work and to promote the continued participation of women in education and employment.”[xxxi] The next meeting of the Working Group on Women Empowerment is scheduled to be held on 8-9 May 2024. It will deliberate upon the mechanisms for taking forward the commitments made during India’s G20 Presidency. 

Conclusion 

Women-led development emphasising ‘Nari Shakti’ (women's power) became a clarion call for India’s participation in gender issues at the G20 forum. India’s commitment to promoting gender-equitable policies and targeted interventions with consensus and collaboration have paved the way for reimagining women as architects of progress and development rather than passive recipients. To continue the upward trajectory of championing women-led development, the Troika (India-Brazil-South Africa) and working group under the Brazilian Presidency must maintain the G20’s ‘continuity of commitment’ to enhanced focus on gender equality.

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*Avni Sablok, Research Associate, Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi.
Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal.

Endnotes

[i] Ana Revenga and Sudhir Shetty, “Empowering Women Is Smart Economics”, International Monetary Fund, March 2012. Available at: https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2012/03/revenga.htm#:~:text=Gender%20equality%20and%20development,-Gender%20equality%20is&text=Closing%20the%20gap%20in%20well,and%20improves%20other%20development%20outcomes. (Accessed on March 21, 2024).

[ii] Antoinette M. Sayeh, Alejandro Badel, Rishi Goyal, “Countries That Close Gender Gaps See Substantial Growth Returns”, International Monetary Fund, September 27, 2023. (Accessed on March 21, 2024).

[iii] Anu Madgavkar, Olivia White, Mekala Krishnan, Deepa Mahajan, and Xavier Azcue, “COVID-19 and gender equality: Countering the regressive effects”, McKinsey Global Institute, July 15, 2020. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/covid-19-and-gender-equality-countering-the-regressive-effects (Accessed on March 21, 2024).

[iv] “Brisbane Action Plan”, G20 Australia 2014, November 2014. Available at: http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/2014/brisbane_action_plan.pdf (Accessed on March 21, 2024).

[v] “G20 EMPOWER”, G20. Available at: https://g20empower-india.org/en (Accessed on March 21, 2024).

[vi] “G20 Roadmap Towards and Beyond the Brisbane Target: more, better and equally paid jobs for women”, G20 Italia 2021. Available at: http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/2021/G20-2021-LEM-Annex1_RoadmapBrisbane.pdf (Accessed on March 22, 2024).

[vii] Press Information Bureau, GoI, Ministry of Women and Child Development, “Inception meeting of G20 EMPOWER group of Ministry of WCD begins tomorrow in Agra”, February 10, 2023. Available at: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1897882 (Accessed on March 21, 2024).

[viii] Prime Minister’s Office, Press Information Bureau, “PM salutes Nari Shakti on International Women's Day”, March 8, 2022. Available at: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1803774  (Accessed on April 9, 2024)

[ix] Ministry of Women and Child Development, GoI, “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao”. Available at: https://wcd.nic.in/bbbps-chemes/about-scheme (Accessed on April 15, 2024).

[x] Press Information Bureau, GoI, Ministry of Women and Child Development, “BBPP (Beti Bachao Beti Padhao)”, WCD Dashboard. Available at: https://wcd.dashboard.nic.in/view_detail/eyJpdiI6InZXXC9wYUFSOFlUNDI1TnN6ZGxkZmp3PT0iLCJ2YWx1ZSI6InpkWGc3dW1IVklUVVZlK2NWcHA2XC93PT0iLCJtYWMiOiIyNTFkZDkyMjAxZjQzNTMwM2ViOWNkMGMwNTgxOTZiYjIyMGU5NjI2YmJlNWMyMzk1OGUxZmZlY2U2MzRkMThiIn0=/2 (Accessed on April 15, 2024).

[xi] Press Information Bureau, GoI, Ministry of Women and Child Development, “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Scheme Increases Awareness towards Valuing the Girl Child”, July 27, 2022. Available at: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1845380 (Accessed on April 15, 2024).

[xii] Ministry of Human Resource Development, GoI, “National Education Policy 2020”. Available at: https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/NEP_Final_English_0.pdf (Accessed on April 16, 2024).

[xiii] Ministry of Human Resource Development, GoI, “National Education Policy 2020”, September 1, 2024. Available at: https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/NEP_Final_English_0.pdf (Accessed on April 22, 2024).

[xiv] DD News, “Women-Led Development Integral To Vision Of “Viksit Bharat” By 2047: Ruchira Kamboj”, March 20, 2024. Available at: https://ddnews.gov.in/en/women-led-development-integral-to-vision-of-viksit-bharat-by-2047-ruchira-kamboj/ (Accessed on April 15, 2024).

[xv] Ministry of Women and Child Development, GoI, “One Stop Centre Scheme”. Available at: https://wcd.nic.in/schemes/one-stop-centre-scheme-1 (Accessed on April 15, 2024).

[xvi] Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, GoI, “Nari Shakti: From Women Development to Women-led Development”, March 7, 2024. Available at: https://static.pib.gov.inhttps://icwa.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2023/mar/doc202337167601.pdf  (Accessed on April 16, 2024).

[xvii] Press Information Bureau, GoI, Ministry of Women and Child Development, “Startup Scheme for Women”, July 21, 2023. Available at: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1941361 (Accessed on April 16, 2024).

[xviii] Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, GoI, Press Information Bureau, “Nari Shakti: From Women Development to Women-led Development”, March 7, 2024. Available at: https://static.pib.gov.inhttps://icwa.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2023/mar/doc202337167601.pdf  (Accessed on April 16, 2024).

[xix] Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Finance, GoI, “Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) - National Mission for Financial Inclusion, completes nine years of successful implementation”, August 28, 2023. Available at: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1952793#:~:text=It%20is%20heartening%20to%20note,Rural%20%2F%20Semi%2DUrban%20areas. (Accessed on April 16, 2024).

[xx] Press Information Bureau, GoI, Ministry of Women and Child Development, “Aim is to create 2 crore Lakhpati Didis; Women’s SHGs to power Drone Ki Udaan: Prime Minister”, August 15, 2023. Available at: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1948838 (Accessed on April 16, 2024)

[xxi] “Global Gender Gap Report 2023”, World Economic Forum, June 3, 2023. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-gender-gap-report-2023/digest/ (Accessed on March 20, 2024)

[xxii] “Remarks by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at the Leaders’ plenary of the 3rd Summit for Democracy”, Ministry of External Affairs, March 20, 2024. Available at: https://www.mea.gov.in/Speeches-Statements.htm?dtl/37727/Remarks+by+Prime+Minister+Shri+Narendra+Modi+at+the+Leaders++plenary+of+the+3rd+Summit+for+Democracy (Accessed on March 20, 2024)

[xxiii] PMINDIA, News Updates, “PM addresses G20 Ministerial Conference on Women Empowerment”, August 2, 2023. Available at: https://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/news_updates/pm-addresses-g20-ministerial-conference-on-women-empowerment/?comment=disable (Accessed on April 16, 2024)

[xxiv] Press Information Bureau, GoI, Ministry of Women and Child Development, “G20 Ministerial Conference of WCD Ministry on Women’s Empowerment inaugurated in Gandhinagar today”, August 2, 2023. Available at: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1945250#:~:text=The%20G20%20Ministerial%20Conference%20on,the%20G20%20and%20Guest%20countries. (Accessed on April 9, 2024)

[xxv] Ibid.

[xxvi] Ibid.

[xxvii] Ministry of External Affairs, GoI, “G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration”, September 2023. Available at: https://www.mea.gov.in/Images/CPV/G20-New-Delhi-Leaders-Declaration.pdf (Accessed on April 18, 2024).

[xxviii] Press Information Bureau, GoI, Ministry of Women and Child Development, “Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani to inaugurate the G20 EMPOWER Summit in Gandhinagar tomorrow”, July 31, 2023. Available at: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1944222 (Accessed on April 18, 2024).

[xxix] “Sherpa Track Women’s Empowerment”, G20 Brasil 2024. Available at: https://www.g20.org/en/tracks/sherpa-track/womens_empowerment (Accessed on March 13, 2024).

[xxx] “Framework and Women's Empowerment: WG proposals well received”, G20 Brazil, January 19, 2024. Available at: https://www.g20.org/en/news/framework-and-womens-empowerment-wg-proposals-well-received (Accessed on March 5, 2024).

[xxxi] Ministry of External Affairs, GoI, “G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration”, September 2023. Available at: https://www.mea.gov.in/Images/CPV/G20-New-Delhi-Leaders-Declaration.pdf (Accessed on April 19, 2024).