Reduce digital gender gap, increase women's role in climate change mitigation: G20 Declaration

The declaration acknowledged that commitment extends to empowering women and girls economically and socially, fostering their full, equal, and meaningful participation in decision-making processes to address global challenges inclusively.

Commitment to reducing by half the digital gender gap by 2030, eliminating gender-based violence, and acknowledging the disproportionate impact of climate change on all women and girls to accelerate climate action are some of the pledges of the G20 Declaration. The New Delhi Leaders' Declaration also emphasised on women-led development and declared a new Working Group on Empowerment of Women to support the G20 Women’s Ministerial which will have its first meeting during the Brazilian G20 presidency. 

The G20 leaders reaffirmed their commitment to achieving the Brisbane Goal to reduce the gap in labour force participation by 25 per cent by 2025. The leaders said that they were committed to “implementing the G20 Roadmap Towards and Beyond the Brisbane Goal ‘25 by 25’” and asked the ILO and OECD to report progress annually. 

“The G20 reaffirms that gender equality is of fundamental importance, and that investing in the empowerment of all women and girls, has a multiplier effect in implementing the 2030 Agenda,” the Declaration read. 

To promote higher participation of women, the leaders said that they would ensure equal access to “affordable, inclusive, equitable, safe and quality education” and support higher “enrollment, participation and leadership” of all women and girls, including those with disabilities, in STEM fields and in emerging digital technologies.

The leaders said they were committed to bringing down the digital gender divide by 50 per cent by 2030, by addressing gender norms and barriers to accessibility, affordability, adoption, and usage of digital technologies.

Other steps include promoting regulatory policy frameworks that enable the active participation of women, identifying and eliminating all potential risks that women and girls encounter from increased digitalisation including all forms of online and offline abuse, and welcoming initiatives to support women empowerment in the digital economy.  

To address the unproportionate effect of climate change on women, the G20 leaders said that they will support and increase women’s participation, partnership, decision-making and leadership in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and disaster risk reduction strategies and policy frameworks on environmental issues.

Supporting gender-responsive and environment-resilient solutions, including water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) solutions, to build resilience to the impact of climate change and environmental degradation was another pledge. 

The group also declared support for securing women’s food security, nutrition, and well-being, and declared support for investments in inclusive, sustainable and resilient agriculture and food systems, for accessible, affordable, safe and nutritious food and healthy diets in school meal programmes, and innovations for inclusive agri-value chains and systems by and for women farmers.