B20 Indonesia Women in Business Action Council (B20 WiBAC), one of the task forces of the B20 Indonesia Presidency, has held a B20-G20 dialogue forum with the theme Advancing Women in the Global Economy through the One Global Women Empowerment.

The dialogue aims to communicate the final B20 WiBAC Policy & Action Recommendation document and launch the blueprint for the One Global Women Empowerment (OGWE) platform to promote inclusive, resilient, and sustainable global economic growth through empowering women.

This activity was attended by live and online participants from all member countries of the G20 Presidency, including high-ranking government officials, business leaders, CSOs, philanthropists, women's platforms, and relevant stakeholders.

They included Airlangga Hartarto (Coordinating Minister of Economic Affairs, Republic of Indonesia), I Gusti Bintang Ayu Puspayoga (Minister of Women Empowerment and Child Protection, Republic of Indonesia), Smriti Zubin Irani (Minister for Women and Child Development Government of India), Baroness Deborah Stedman-Scott (Minister for Women, Government of UK), Nadia Burger (The Ambassador Canada designate to Indonesia & Timor Leste), Nicholle Manz-Baazoui (Director for Women’s Economic Empowerment), and others.

“Today, we present the work results of the B20 Women in Business Action Council, which is fronted by 150+ members of top business executives from various countries and industries. Following the Presidential directive, in addition to the final document of Policy Recommendations and Actions, we also announced the concrete results of the B20 WiBAC through the launch of the One Global Women Empowerment platform blueprint, to encourage women's empowerment in the business world” said Ira Noviarti, Chair of B20 Women in Business Council who is also the President Director of PT Unilever Indonesia Tbk.

Referring to the data from B20 WiBAC, equal gender participation in the global economy can increase $28 trillion in global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth by 2025.  However, many gaps in the equality of women's participation in the business world must be bridged to realise this potential. In particular, the lack of access, opportunity, and representation of women in strategic positions in the business world.

Shinta Kamdani, Chair of B20 Indonesia, conveyed, “As one of the leading G20 engagement groups, B20 sees various opportunities in the global economy that the business community can assist in its acceleration. One of them is the opportunity for global GDP growth achieved by bridging the gap towards equal gender participation in the business world. Thus, the Women in Business Action Council plays an important role in B20's mission to promote collaborative, innovative and sustainable economic growth.”

Through intensive discussions and various inputs from the 150 members of the WiBAC B20, there are three main themes in the final B20 WiBAC Policy and Action Recommendation document. The themes will serve as a guide for business communities in all G20 countries and the world in bridging the gap towards equal gender participation

They include empowering women entrepreneurs, by developing an ecosystem that can provide access to financial, legal, and technical assistance for business owners, enabling women’s digital and leadership capabilities, by accelerating women's access to the digital/STEM skills as well as increasing the capabilities needed to take leadership positions, strengthened by gender-based reporting and promoting safe and equitable workplaces, by improving job security for women workers in the informal economy sector, including in rural communities, as well as developing systematic policies to avoid gender-based violence and assist victims of violence.

As a concrete step to support the realisation of the Policy and Action recommendation, B20 WiBAC launched the One Global Women Empowerment (OGWE) platform to bridge the potential and challenges. The platform is designed to bring together parties who need and can assist in empowering women workers and entrepreneurs everywhere. It is hoped that the existence of OGWE can encourage the acceleration of women's involvement, which will impact global economic growth.

Further about the OGWE, Ira said “we believe that there are many women in the business world who want to advance, and there are many industry players and various institutions who want to contribute to the advancement of women. It is necessary to have a forum to bring the two parties together in a structured and conducive environment to obtain the optimum results. One Global Women Empowerment or OGWE will play this crucial role.”

“It is a proud moment for the Indonesian presidency to be able to produce concrete steps such as the OGWE blueprint from the B20 WiBAC. These actions will encourage the acceleration of women's involvement in the business world on a global scale,” added Shinta.

As an accelerator that equips women entrepreneurs and workers, B20 WiBAC has set five key goals as OGWE pillars.

They are Digital Capability, Knowledge Sharing, Funding & Investment, Technical Support and Supportive Policy.

In its implementation, OGWE will be run by a secretariat that is also technology-based in providing services called 5C - Crowdsource, Crowdfund, Curate, Clarify, and Communication - to all stakeholders involved.

“Through OGWE, B20 WiBAC seeks to encourage more women to lead, participate, and have access to better business and economic opportunities, increase entrepreneurial skills, and improve digital skills. We invite all elements from business actors and all other stakeholders to collaborate in supporting domestic economic growth and on a global scale through women empowerment. The better this cross-stakeholder collaboration is, the better the results of our efforts in bridging the various gaps towards equal gender participation in the world economy will be”, added Ira.