W20 Brazil: Building a just world for women and girls everywhere

By Tamara Dancheva
Head of the EU Delegation at W20 Brazil, Co-Chair of the W20 Brazil Women in STEM Working Group and Senior Manager, International Relations at the GSMA

As part of my role as Head of the European Union’s W20 Delegation, I will soon be attending the W20 Brazil International Summit in Rio de Janeiro, alongside fellow EU delegate Lucia Martinelli. 

W20, which stands for Women 20, is the official engagement group of G20 dedicated to driving progress on issues relating to women’s and girls’ empowerment. The core objectives of the group are to prepare the annual W20 Communiqué, which includes policy recommendations focussed on women’s empowerment and gender equity, and to advocate that the Communiqué recommendations are referenced in the G20 Leaders’ Declaration. 

This year, the W20 Communiqué will be presented directly to the G20 President, which in this case will be President Lula of Brazil. The hope is that this will elevate the policies presented in the Communiqué, driving progress across the five priority themes for W20 2024:

Women in STEM

Women have long been underrepresented in the world of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and, while the gap is narrowing, a worrying gender divide persists globally. Data from the World Economic Forum shows just 29% of STEM jobs are filled by women across countries in the OECD (the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), versus 49% in non-STEM fields; meanwhile at the leadership level, women make up just one-in-eight of the top executive spots at STEM organisations.

The gender divide in STEM deprives companies of the creativity and differing perspectives of a diverse workforce, while also fuelling the gender pay gap and skills shortage. With similar trends noted in emerging fields set to have significant economic and societal impact – only 22%of careers in artificial intelligence (AI) are held by women – it is vital that action is taken to increase female representation in STEM. In Europe, projects like Girls Go Circular have been introduced to spark interest in STEM among young girls from an early age; meanwhile, Horizon Europe has mandated that any organisations awarded research & innovation funding must have implemented a Gender Equality Plan to facilitate  women’s participation in research projects. 

In an effort to halve the digital gender gap by 2030, W20 will champion policies that target barriers to digital inclusion and aim to dismantle normative barriers to gender equality in STEM. Building on the policies presented in the EU’s AI Act, W20 will also call for G20 to support research and collaboration that builds gender-equitable AI and adopt ethical guidelines to the technology’s use, to ensure every woman and girl can benefit.

Gender-based violence

Violence against women remains one of the most widespread human rights violations globally, and governments must act to put a stop to gender-based violence and support victims. While the number of victims has gone down in the last decade, progress is still slow and education will be the key to change.

Most victims of gender-based violence are only seen by healthcare professionals, and never report their abuse to the authorities. EU-funded projects such as VIPROM, which develops training materials for medical professionals to identify and support victims of domestic violence, are promising approaches to close the knowledge gap of first-line responders. 

Online violence, which also forms gender-based violence, has escalated rapidly in recent years as digital technologies have become more readily available. Online violence includes cyberstalking, sexual harassment and online impersonation; safety & security now represents the third most commonly cited barrier preventing women from using mobile internet globally.

There is an urgent need to protect and uphold women’s rights both in the physical and digital worlds, to ensure they feel safe and empowered to live their lives without fear. To this end, the W20 EU delegation will push for a G20 fund – similar to existing EU policies – to support measures to prevent and end gender-based violence in all forms, whether at home, work or in the digital world; what’s more, Technology Facilitated Gender-Based Violence will be recognised as an individual issue on the W20 agenda for the first time this year.

Entrepreneurship 

Women founders are scarcely represented in the start-up ecosystem; a studyfrom Boston Consulting Group and Sista, for example, found less than one-in-four startups created in 2023 were founded or co-founded by a woman. To make matters worse, women face an uphill battle to secure funding, with data from Pitchbook revealing female-founded start-ups accounted for just 2% of venture capital funding in Europe and the US last year, and 1.5% in Africa. The European Innovation Council has implemented a number of projects aimed at promoting and supporting women in the EU’s entrepreneurial community. This  includes the Women Leadership Programme which provides coaching and mentoring to  EIC-funded women entrepreneurs.  

At W20 Brazil, the EU delegation will advocate development banks, commercial banks, FinTechs and governments, in a bid to make capital more accessible for female entrepreneurs. Recommendations will include a call to introduce transparency measures that track and disclose sex-disaggregated data on credit and finance, as well as providing economic- and tax-based incentives for investors that invest in women entrepreneurs and critical sectors. 

Care Economy

Prevailing gender norms mean women and girls are disproportionately performing care and domestic work, with the International Labour Organization estimating three-quarters of unpaid care work falls to women. In addition to taking a heavy toll at an individual level – caring duties are a round-the-clock responsibility – the prevalence of these stereotypes is holding millions of women back from fulfilling their potential on the labour market, fuelling inequalities such as the gender pay gap.

Investing in care as a sector improves the human capital of a country, enables more women to participate equally in the workforce and contributes to the overall growth of the economy. The European Care Strategy sets out a vision for quality, affordable and accessible care services across the EU to improve conditions for care receivers and those caring for them, whether professionally or informally. Building on this, W20 will push for the recognition of the Care Economy as a formal economic sector globally, addressing unpaid and informal work through meaningful and sustained investment.

Climate Justice

The poorest and most vulnerable sections of society are  often hit hardest by climate change, and invariably women are  disproportionately affected. Women have been key actors in addressing climate  change, from global policy and advocacy to grassroots movements and scientific  research. Recognising   this, organisations such as SPARK – a consortium of 20 organisations across 13 European   countries, supported by the EU’s Development Education and Awareness Raising   Programme – are working to raise awareness of climate justice through   marches, petitions and online actions. 

The W20 EU Delegation will champion the adoption of policies that put equity, justice and human rights at the centre of decision-making around climate change mitigation. This includes the integration of gender equity into climate challenges to ensure that all women – particularly those from ethnic minorities and indigenous populations – have an active voice and opportunities to participate in leading climate actions; W20 will also call for investment in gender-just climate finance and the implementation of direct funding to women-led climate projects.

Laying a foundation for change

Gender inequalities persist in every country and economic sector. Addressing them will benefit countless individuals, societies and economies while also helping to achieve many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

The W20 Communiqué policy recommendations will provide a springboard for further progress across the five priority  themes of W20 Brazil and, by extension, the G20 Brazil Presidency; however, none of these initiatives will go anywhere if governments do not prioritise funding and ringfence budget for their implementation. 

Given the scale of the challenge, it’s clear that no individual stakeholder will be able to achieve gender equality or equity on its own. Rather, concrete progress will be reliant on collaboration between governments, business, the international development community, grassroots organisations and more. The EU  Delegation of W20 will continue to work and advocate on these priority themes.

 About The Author  

For over a decade, Ms Tamara Dancheva has worked in various roles in global organizations, with a primary focus on gender equality, human rights and international relations. In her current role as Senior Manager, International Relations within the External Affairs and Industry Purpose department at the GSMA, she is responsible for leading on GSMA’s strategy in the international digital gender inclusion space. She also leads on GSMA’s partnerships with UN Women, the EQUALS Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age, the Generation Equality Innovation and Technology Action Coalition and the Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network among others. Ms Dancheva is currently a Co-Chair of the EQUALS Skills Coalition, a Co-Chair of the Women in STEM Working Group under the W20 Brazil Presidency and the Head of the European Union Delegation to the W20 Engagement Group of G20. Additionally, Ms Dancheva has extensive experience in political party systems and democracy stemming from a previous role as Head of the Human Rights Programme for Liberal International. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Business from Rockhurst University (Kansas City, MO, USA) and a Master’s Degree in Politics and Government in the European Union from the London School of Economics (London, UK).