The G20 has long failed to walk the talk on gender equality. But could that be about to change?
Yesterday, it was reported that the twenty largest economies in the world, the G20, will be aiming to reduce the gender pay gap by 25%.
This is a noble and worthwhile cause and part of me couldn’t help but exclaim “hooray hooray! Finally some interest from the power elite!” but then another part of me was a bit sceptical.
The G20 nations have long supported gender equality yet they have not actively progressed this interest.
Only four of the heads of government are women. Only one of the central bank chiefs is a woman. And no G20 nation has a finance ministry led by a woman.
That means of the sixty people who officially comprise the G20, five are women.
That’s 8.3%. This is nowhere near a tipping point in order to get more women involved.
While I vehemently support the G20 in its attempts to contract the gender pay gap across their economies, I am cynical.
Can this, the ultimate boys club which I’ve previously labeled the ‘Guys 20’, solve gender equality?
The G20’s action on gender equality should start with themselves. How are these men supporting gender equality in their own immediate spheres of influence?
The men who are in charge should heed their own advice and close the gender gap in their own cabinets.
Take Australia, Julie Bishop is our first female foreign minister and we’ve never had a woman treasurer. While Penny Wong has been our finance minister, which is the closest we’ve had a woman involved in our national budget.
Usually, women make their way to political leadership via social policy. Australia is making in-roads in changing this, but we still have a fair way to go.
The G20 needs to walk their talk on this. As successive G20 meetings are held, more women need to be present.
We simply can not accept that G20 members are adequately using the talents of women effectively when so few women are in leadership.
Following the Brisbane summit next week the G20 members will go back to their respective nations and will have to advocate to business and society on gender equality. This will be tricky.
It would be well within the bounds of business to call out hypocrisy. The G20 can say a lot about gender equality but seems to do very little.
The G20 should be aiming to set the example as well as enforce it.