"We must address the root of the problem, which is misogyny," said the Minister of Women at the debut of the Women's Empowerment WG at the G20
The Women's Empowerment Working Group made its G20 debut on Wednesday (17), with participation from the Minister of Women, Cida Gonçalves, and Brasil's First Lady, Janja Lula da Silva. The meeting, attended by member countries, WG guest countries, and international organizations, aimed to align priorities and develop a work plan for 2024
Inaugurating the work of the Sherpa Track in 2024, the Women's Empowerment Working Group (WG) debuted on Wednesday (17). It is the first meeting of the group, which was formed during India's presidency of the G20 in 2023. This year, the Brazilian Ministry of Women is in charge of coordination. The meeting took place via videoconference at the G20 headquarters in Brasilia.
Reinforcing the importance of this moment in the history of the G20, both the Minister for Women, Cida Gonçalves, and Brasil’s First Lady, Janja Lula da Silva, opened the proceedings by welcoming the representatives of the member countries and emphasizing the priorities of the Brazilian presidency of the group.
"I have argued that we must tackle the root of the problem, which is misogyny - hatred of women, and the central point of all other gender discrimination," said Cida Gonçalves, who intends to build consensus and collective results during this year in front of the WG. At the beginning of the week, the minister gave an exclusive interview to the G20 Brasil website, detailing the central topics of the group and the challenges that still exist in the world when it comes to gender equality.
“In our unequal reality, the countries of the Global South are the ones that have suffered the greatest material and human losses. But today we can already see that the countries of the North and the richest countries have also noticed the increased impact on their territories and populations. In this scenario, women are even more at risk and suffer disproportionately from the damage caused by the crises"
Janja Lula highlighted the objectives of Brasil's presidency of the G20 and the need for a gender perspective when discussing inequalities. "In our unequal reality, the countries of the Global South are the ones that have suffered the greatest material and human losses. But today we can already see that the countries of the North and the richest countries have also noticed the increased impact on their territories and populations. In this scenario, women are even more at risk and suffer disproportionately from the damage caused by the crises," said Brasil’s First Lady.
With the participation of all G20 member countries, the meeting also included five of the eight countries invited by the Working Group (Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Norway and Portugal), as well as Bangladesh. In addition to government representatives, international organizations were also present on this first day of the meeting. They are the European Commission, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the United Nations Population Fund, UN Women, the International Labor Organization and the World Health Organization.
The meeting runs until Thursday (18). The Women's Empowerment Working Group will meet again in Brasilia on May 8 and 9, but this time in person.
In parallel
At the same time as the Women's Empowerment WG meeting, the first meeting of the Framework WG, from the Finance Track, was held via videoconference at the G20 headquarters in Brasilia. The discussion included structural economic issues and the relationship between macroeconomics, inequalities and climate issues.
Other news
