Women are less likely to be entrepreneurs and face more disadvantages starting their own businesses.
There is a persistent gender gap in access to finance for women to enter the workforce, including women-owned SMMEs. With greater access to finance working capital, many women entrepreneurs will see their businesses blossom, paving a road toward a better future for everyone.
Gender-based violence is a pandemic that impacts the lives of one in three women worldwide. Domestic violence and Inter-Partner Violence are the most common types of GBV. Violence takes many forms, including femicide - the killing of a woman because of her gender - sexual, physical, psychological and emotional violence.
Disabled women are more likely to experience GBV in their lifetimes, Disability inclusion is essential in polices, laws and programmes aimed at addressing this global scourge.
Bridging the Gendered Digital Divide can be achieved by accessing, using, and leveraging science, technology and innovation that would promote inclusion in spaces traditionally dominated by men.
The factors with the most significant impact on the use of new technologies and the participation of women in STEM are gaps in education, social and cultural barriers, and gender stereotypes.
Equity can be achieved by equal access to education, an increase of women and girls in STEM, the prevention of technological gender-based violence and more inclusive strategies with greater participation from governments, educational entities and societies.
The care economy – both paid and unpaid care work - sustains current and future generations. However, care work, mostly left to women, receives scant attention in policies and laws worldwide due to gendered perceptions of care.
Unpaid care work, if compensated, would represent 9% of global GDP, yet the social and economic value of the care economy remains mostly invisible.
The WEF recommends prioritising the care economy at macroeconomic, policy social and cultural levels from a holistic perspective to build equitable and sustainable growth on a global scale.
The ‘triple planetary crisis’ of climate change, pollution and nature loss, directly impacts on food and water security, health, development and the right to life. Gender, place of living, livelihood and socioeconomic situation determine the gravity of this crisis and levels of resilience.
Women are underrepresented in the male-dominant decision-making process regarding climate response. While women and girls are the most affected by climate change, women hold barely one-third of leadership positions in climate-related negotiations.
As long as women face structural barriers to land, technology, financial services, education and skills development, they are at higher risk during disasters.
Women must be represented and be leaders in decision-making bodies from global to local level ensuring better resource governance, greater resilence, improved environmental outcomes and the just transition to renewable and clean energies.
Women’s health is deprioritised, underfunded and under-researched, leading to significant challenges while widening gender gaps and social and economic disparities. According to the World Bank 800 maternal deaths occur every day – one every two minutes – due to child pregnancy and childbirth complications.
Today, only 4% of all biopharma R&D spending goes toward female-centric issues, leading to a lack of understanding of women’s health issues.
The more we invest in women’s health, the more we contribute to the safety, health and well-being of the family, the community and the country. Improved access to women’s health services can help achieve sustainable development goals and reduce hunger and poverty, promote healthy lives and well-being, ensure primary education and achieve gender equality, women empowerment and sustainable economic growth.
Women face a plethora of challenges in accessing and owning land. Rural and indigenous women especially face numerous forms of oppression. Globally, many rural women are the key role players in and custodians of food security. They fulfil the roles of food producers, consumers, and food managers.
However, rural women still face challenges such as limited access to ownership of land, patriarchal, social, cultural and traditional stigmatisation, a lack of access to support networking and limited access to finance.
Worldwide, 43% of agricultural workers are women who don’t have access to the same resources as men. Women represent only 15% of all landholders and women are less likely than men to have legal title to the land they cultivate.
As little as 8% of overseas aid goes to projects focused primarily on gender equality and only 1.7% of all climate finance reaches small-scale producers in developing countries. Governments and donors bypass women’s livelihoods and expertise when planning and funding rural development programmes and climate change adaptation efforts.
The Women20 (W20) engagement group of the Group of 20 (G20) is celebrating its tenth year under South Africa's presidency, marking a significant milestone in the global pursuit of gender equality and women's economic empowerment. As the first African nation to lead the G20, South Africa's presidency emphasises themes of solidarity, equality, and sustainability.
The W20's decade-long journey has been instrumental in advocating for policies that enhance women's participation in the economy, promote financial inclusion, improve women's health, include women in climate change decision-making and close the digital gender divide.
Every year W20 releases a Communique at its Summit, building on the successes of previous years and finding expression for the emerging challenges that women face. This celebration not only highlights the progress made but also reinvigorates the commitment to creating a more inclusive and equitable world for all women, which should remain a pressing global priority.
