We’re told that the G20 and the B20 are two of the most powerful economic forums in the world. They’re the game-changing collaborative conferences that can alter economies.
Australia is in a fortunate position to have these forums on our shores this year, with the B20 kicking off late last week in Sydney and the G20 in Brisbane in November.
The summits see decision-makers with global influence coming together to try and set the world up for a less raucous route. And as the events of last week showed, this is both a privilege for economic and political leaders, but also an important responsibility.
But it we look at the mix of who’s attending the forums, it is easy to become disenchanted with what such events can deliver. Rather than the Group of 20 or the Business 20 it would be better to call them the Guys 20 and the Blokes 20.
The photo above shows the state of gender diversity at the B20 summit. We can expect photos take at the G20 later this year to look similar.
In both the G20 and B20 summits, women are grossly underrepresented. Women, however, fare much better at spin-off events including the Youth 20 (Y20) and Civil Society 20 (C20) summit.
When G20 leaders gather they are discussing the economy first and foremost. Some of them and their advisers will realise backing women and supporting women’s empowerment initiatives is not only the right thing to do, but will ultimately benefit the GDPs of the countries they represent. But history shows that logic and rationality cannot always be expected on these issues.
In the B20 Australian Leadership Group, an established who’s who of corporate Australia, women make up just one fifth of the members. The sad reality is that this is actually an overrepresentation of women in executive leadership ranks.
Access to decision-making should not be determined by gender at all, there are plenty more talented women who could have been included in the B20 Leadership Group who were not. Tony Abbott and the wider G20 directorate could have made a statement here.
Gender diversity in political and economic roles, such as pre-eminent international forums, is important. It goes to the heart of representative democracy and it is about the effectiveness of organisations.
Not having women represented at this level means decisions are made without the fair input of women. While this does not diminish the relevance or wider impact of such decisions, we do have to wonder whether we could have better outcomes.
Often these conferences are positioned as mere talkfests. If they are going to have actionable and accountable outcomes, more representation from women would help.
Julie Bishop, Australia first female foreign minister, is a good leader and negotiator but we need more than just one woman at those tables. It has been heralded for a long time that the international relations circuit is a boys club, as Madeleine Albright discussed in her TED talk.
The G20, and it spinoff events, give us an opportunity to foreshadow the next steps for our economy. This cannot be left to the blokes and guys alone.