Women delegates of a G20 meet in Goa on Monday laid emphasis on financial and digital inclusion of women across the globe to bridge the gender inequality gap.
They were participating in a panel discussion held ahead of the G20 third Development Working Group meeting in the coastal state.
Maria Fernanda Espinosa, former president of the United Nation’s General Assembly, participating in the discussion on “women-led development” said women, even today, constantly strive to prove themselves and conform to the ‘imposter syndrome.’ She said women in leadership positions need to set examples to break these stereotypes. There is a need to design institutions and systems that allow and welcome feminine leadership, she said.
“Sisterhood and brotherhood alliances with the feminist men are critical to that development,” Espinosa added.
Participating in the discussion, Baratang Miya, founder and CEO of ‘GirlHype -Women Who Code’ from South Africa, said women as users of large amount of digital content need to pioneer the algorithms that generate this content and completely understand the foundations upon which these are built.
She said tech literacy is a significant barrier to women’s participation in job markets today. “It can massively add to their self-esteem, help them understand, build and shape their own tech spaces,” she said, narrating the anecdotes on building GirlHype-Women Who Code (a not-for-profit organisation) Susan Ferguson, Country Representative, UN Women, said no one factor in silos can unlock the potential of women empowerment. “Violence against women at work, a safe working environment with gender responsive infrastructure and responsibility sharing are crucial considerations,” she said.
Ferguson said women’s skilling programmes must be complemented with institutional efforts towards supporting job matching, access to suitable transportation to work, safe working environment and engaging family support to women’s economic participation.
Kajal Ilmi, founder and CEO of Aviom India Housing Finance, said women culturally seem to have a very complex relationship with the understanding of money management and finance. “To enable women-led development, creating that understanding among women across socio-economic strata must be at the fulcrum of change,” she said.
Ilmi said promoting and supporting women’s financial literacy is a must for financial institutions to create a sustainable social impact channelled through micro-finance and women’s entrepreneurship.
