Johannesburg: AfricUpdate – News Desk
Despite progress in recent years, women worldwide continue to face significant barriers to economic empowerment and gender equality. Many women still lack access to financial resources, equal opportunities, and a safe environment, hindering their ability to contribute fully to socio-economic development. This challenge is particularly pronounced in areas such as financial inclusion, gender-based violence, climate justice, and the digital divide.
To address these challenges, women leaders from diverse backgrounds worldwide will converge in Johannesburg for the Women20 South Africa (W20SA) Summit from 12–14 October 2025, said the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). Women20 (W20) is an official engagement group of the Group of 20 (G20) over which South Africa presides this year. The group was established by the G20 in 2015 to promote gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.
As the official G20 engagement group dedicated to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment, W20 aims to mainstream gender considerations into G20 discussions and translate them into policies and commitments that foster equality. Guided by the principles of unity, multilateralism, mutual respect, and inclusivity, the summit aims to guarantee the inclusion of W20 recommendations in the Leaders’ Declaration, honour ten years of W20, and promote people-centric advocacy.
As the first G20 summit on African soil, the W20SA Summit will highlight African issues and those of the Global South. It will include a session on the climate-care nexus in partnership with the Witwatersrand University, and the Walk Free Foundation session will feature five survivors of modern-day slavery.
The summit will also feature panels on young women’s outreach, amplifying women’s roles in invisible economies, and a facilitated discussion on positive masculinities. Themed “Women in Solidarity towards a Just Future,“ the summit will bring together global leaders, researchers, policymakers, and civil society representatives to advance gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.
Delegations from countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe are expected to attend. The thematic areas for the W20SA Summit include financial inclusion and the care economy, gender-based violence and femicide, climate justice and the environment, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the digital divide, health equity for women and girls, and women, land, and agriculture.
According to Professor Narnia Bohler-Muller, the head of delegation and chair of the W20SA, W20 continues to reaffirm its commitment to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 5 – to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls – as a catalyst for sustainable development. The W20 was first launched in 2015 in Turkey to provide a platform for women’s voices to be heard in G20 decision-making processes.
