G20 china_web

Structural reform and SMEs
$12TN
Growth that could be added to
GDP by gender parity by 2025
Global labour force
participation in 2015
76.1%
men
49.6%
women
Women as a global
growth generator
The G20 can stimulate the growth of women in the workplace and
benefit the global economy. Its Women 20 engagement group is an
important first step, writes Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Women's economic empowerment is
essential for sustainable development
G20 members need to address
women's unpaid work
The private sector must be actively
engaged in empowering women
When more women work,
economies grow. A
recent report from
the McKinsey Global
Institute argues that if
all countries match the historical progress
towards gender parity achieved by their
best-in-region country, $12 trillion could
be added to global gross domestic product
in 2025. But achieving this kind of growth
requires addressing the structural causes
of discrimination that women face, not
only in the labour market, but also in the
household and in society more broadly.
Women are half of the population.
Their economic security and independence
are directly linked to their educational
attainment and health, the welfare of
families and children, as well as to their own
voice, agency and community engagement.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development highlights these linkages
and clearly shows that gender equality
and women’s economic empowerment
are essential to achieving sustainable
development for all.
Gender gaps and segmentation in labour
markets mean that women are concentrated
in low-paid, vulnerable work. They also
have less access to social protection and
are more likely to live in poverty. In 2015,
women’s global labour force participation
stood at 49.6 per cent compared to 76.1
per cent for men, and 75 per cent of
women’s employment in developing
countries was informal and unprotected.
Globally, on average women are paid 24
per cent less than men and spend two and
a half times more time on unpaid care and
domestic work.
Redressing these gaps means expanding
women’s access to decent work through
active labour market policies, implementing
equal pay legislation, promoting genderresponsive
social protection and reducing
and redistributing unpaid care work
between women and men and between
households and the state, through improved
public services and social infrastructure.
It requires fostering a macroeconomic
environment informed by human rights
standards and concerns for the well-being
of all, rather than narrowly focused on areas
such as price stability and growth rates.
A tremendous opportunity
The formation of the Women's 20 (W20)
engagement group by the G20 represents
a tremendous opportunity to bring
gender perspectives to global economic
governance. This year, under the leadership
of the All-China Women’s Federation, the
W20 has drafted a robust set of policy
recommendations for endorsement by the
G20 towards fulfilling commitments to
gender equality. UN Women commends both
the G20 and W20 for adopting an ambitious
target of reducing the gender gap in labour
force participation by 25 per cent by 2025
and urging members to integrate gender
perspectives into macroeconomic policies
and global economic governance.
We invite the G20 to make further
commitments to recognise, reduce and
redistribute women’s unpaid care and
domestic work. Members need to increase
investment in public goods and address the
care deficit by promoting the care economy.
When care work is valued and adequately
paid, it benefits the care workers, through
increased access to decent work, and the
care receivers, through improved quality
and access to care.
G20 economies can stimulate the growth
of women-owned business through targets
and quotas for sourcing from women
suppliers and by creating workplace
116 G20 China: The Hangzhou Summit • September 2016 G7G20.com