The inaugural Women-20 (W20) Summit was held Oct. 16-17, 2015, in Istanbul, Turkey, bringing together delegates from around the world to discuss policy recommendations that will support the G20 as it works to achieve gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.
GBA Chief Executive Inez Murray served as Co-Chair of the “Women’s Access to Finance and Productive Assets” task force during the event, alongside Esin Güral Argat, Vice Chair of Turkish company Gürallar. Together with several other task forces, their group developed the W20 Summit Communiqué, which was ratified and adopted by the W20 Oct. 17. The Communiqué comprises a set of 10 recommended areas for G20 policy focus, including ensuring women have access to financing and markets, supporting women-owned enterprises and innovation, and increasing the number of women in leadership roles.
Among other things, the Communiqué noted the success of peer learning networks that link financial institutions, women’s business associations and NGOs — like the GBA — in increasing women’s access to finance, market opportunities, and business and financial training. It also encouraged governments and the private sector to:
- Support platforms that share best practice business models;
- Address legal and financial system infrastructure constraints on women, such as access to collateral;
- Encourage public and private procurement goals for women-owned SMEs;
- Increase women’s entrepreneurial engagement with international trade associations;
- Support and further develop business associations that deliver education, enable peer-to-peer mentoring and advocate for policy change.
You can read the full text of the Communiqué here.
