The Australian National Committee for UN Women welcomes the G20 Leaders’ commitment to closing the workforce participation gap between men and women by 25 percent by 2025.
This commitment, made over the weekend at the G20 Summit in Brisbane is landmark as it is the first time a specific commitment has been made by G20 leaders about women’s economic empowerment.
Welcoming the commitment, Executive Director Julie McKay noted, “Globally, despite progress which has been made towards gender equality, women continue to do two-thirds of the world’s work, yet earn less than ten percent of the world’s income.Traditional gender roles, inflexible employment models and the burden of unpaid care work all impact women’s ability to access decent work.”
“I want to acknowledge Minister Cash and Minister Bishop for their commitment to ensuring that women’s workforce participation was included in the G20 Agenda.”
“20 years after the Beijing Platform for Action was signed by UN Member States, making commitments to women’s economic empowerment, it is critical that leading economies ensure that women have access to decent work.”
“Commitment is an important first step. Defining the actions which will be taken to ensure women are able to fully participate in the workforce is the next important step and we look forward to supporting the Australian Government over the coming months
to define its plan,” she said.
