Official Response to the 2020 G20 Declaration

G(irls)20 brings young women from around the world each year to advocate for the G20 to take an intersectional gender lens on key commitments. In October 2020, we outlined our recommendations in our Communique: https://girls20.org/summit2020

These recommendations have been endorsed by 808 young women from the G20 countries. Over the past month, we also met with 6 countries’ G20 teams and UN Women for endorsement and recognition of the G(irls)20 Communiqué.

The world leaders came together, online, on Nov 21-22. We are encouraged that they have recognized the unique challenges facing girls and women in a COVID recovery, and that their declaration aligns to our values and policy demands, including: 

• Section 25: Women’s Empowerment - affirming the importance of women’s and girls’ empowerment as a cross-cutting issue in all aspects of our policies and recognize that women are a key driver of economic growth.

• Section 23. Access to Opportunities — Endorsing the G20 High-level Policy Guidelines on Digital Financial Inclusion for Youth, Women, and SMEs

• Section 24: Employment — Recognizing the importance of protecting and promoting decent jobs for all, especially for women and youth.

• Section 26: Education — Implementing measures for inclusive, equitable and quality education for all, especially for girls.

These gains cannot be celebrated without acknowledging the tireless work of advocates and activists pushing for change through the G20 mechanism. 

Looking ahead to the 2021 G20 in Italy, our hope is that gender is mainstreamed through every section of the Leaders’ Declaration in order to achieve our global goal of achieving #SDG5.

As a community, we are eager to work with world leaders to ensure these commitments are realized nationally over the next year. An equitable world is within reach when we ensure the voices of young women and the most vulnerable are reflected in our highest-level aspirations.