The W20, the G20’s gender engagement group, launched in Ankara on 6 September 2015. I was privileged to be in attendance; for most participants, it felt like a historic moment for three reasons.

Taking Women Seriously in the Global Economy

First, the W20 grouping represents an entirely new space in economic governance. It is a group tasked with the mission of promoting global gender-inclusive economic growth by presenting policy recommendations to leaders. It could be the economic equivalent of the UN Security Council’s Women Peace and Security agenda (Resolution 1325). There is the potential for agenda-setting and new perspectives, and being taken seriously.

Second, in terms of G20 representation, there have been many, many photos of rooms full of navy suits. I myself have been guilty of making jokes about more palm trees than women at the G20 finance ministers meeting in Cairns 2014 [LINK photo]. There is a strong argument that economic governance should reflect the citizenship of member states, and that diverse teams will make better decisions.

Third, there is a clear opportunity for the W20 to monitor and ensure accountability for the G20’s past commitments to women. The W20’s mandate includes helping achieve progress on the G20 commitments to “women’s full economic and social participation” made in the Los Cabos Leaders’ Declaration in 2012, “women’s financial inclusion and education” in the St Petersburg Leaders’ Declaration in 2013, and “reducing the gap in participation rates between men and women by 25 percent by 2025” in the Brisbane Leaders’ Declaration in 2014.

Turkey’s Priorities

The secretariat has identified eleven policy priorities to promote growth under the Turkish agenda for the Antalya Summit. There is a poll open now where anyone can have their say. The W20 Summit will be held from 7-8 October in Istanbul.

The W20 has a clear preference towards business women, both at the small and medium enterprise and entrepreneur level as well as women in global corporations. There has been significant buy-in from important women’s organisations in Turkey.

The Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey (KAGIDER) was selected to Chair the W20 and act as Secretariat throughout the Turkish Presidency. The W20 Steering Committee also includes the Women and Democracy Association (KADEM) and the Turkish Businesswomen Association (TIKAD).

It is likely that China will continue Turkey’s investment in the W20. The Chinese representatives to the W20 are the All-China Women’s Federation, the Chinese Women’s Research Society and the China Association of Women Entrepreneurs. China just hosted a successful APEC Women in the Economy Forum with discussions on women and green development; and women and regional trade. China has plenty of experience and comfort in this space and my prediction would be that China’s focus will be on promoting women’s involvement in clean technology and the digital economy.

The Potential and Challenges of the W20

The W20 represents the potential of fresh thinking and new solutions for the current G20 agenda, casting a gender lens over infrastructure, anti-corruption, trade, financial regulation, development and tax. The group can challenge mainstream economic thinking where the differentiated gender impacts of macroeconomic and microeconomic policy are not sufficiently considered. It can add balance to, and highlight the lack of, female membership in national chambers of commerce, or finance ministries or in certain industries.

The challenge is to be strategic and to add value to the diffuse and crowded G20 policy space.  As Hannah Wurf writes: ‘the W20 will now need to work out how to elevate some of these issues from the domestic policy space to the G20 level’. There is no reason the W20 cannot work with or enhance the policy work of the other engagement groups. The C20 has a gender focus, the L20 has been pushing on the G20’s female labour participation target and both the B20 and T20 are proposing a global skills accelerator. The W20 should be making sure the young women involved in the Girls20 and Y20 feel there is a pathway into the economic governance space.

The key issue is dealing with the structural exclusion of women from the formal economy. Economists talk of women as a resource to be better ‘utillised’, but others (including myself) try to focus attention on the structural and cultural barriers to participation in the formal economy. Women experience more obstacles in accessing land, financial services, technology, information and markets. In many countries, legal, social and cultural barriers to joining the labour market restrict women’s options for paid work. Women’s unpaid work in the care economy is not valued or measured by mainstream economic theory. The solution is to recognise and value women’s dual roles as breadwinners and caregivers and to provide incentives for further participation in the formal workforce.

The ‘size of the prize’ for G20 economies for investing in gender equality in growth terms is very large, as well as the potential for sustainable and more equal growth. At the launch, Christine Lagarde called this an ‘economic no-brainer’.  The W20 represents a grouping that sees women as crucial actors in economic governance, not just an unrealised economic asset.

Associate Professor Susan Harris Rimmer is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow in Griffith Law School and an Adjunct Reader in the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at the Australian National University. She is one of Australia’s representatives to the W20, along with Anne Fulwood. This article can be republished with attribution under a Creative Commons Licence.