An important area of the communique that was released on Thursday at the W20 Summit in Mamallapuram near Chennai, called for a focus on women’s education, skill development and labour participation.
The communique asked for all research regarding health, medical devices and pharmaceuticals to include women at all stages of their development, including pregnancy, as this influences future generations as well.
It also called on G20 leaders to commit to increase funding for “a universal basic care basket”. Countries should allocate 0.7% of GNI (gross national income) to develop and improve care infrastructure and implement policies that protect and improve maternity/parental benefit and support gender equitable care responsibilities, including family leave programmes.
In an interview with The Hindu Shamika Ravi, member, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, and chair of the W20 communique, elaborated on these issues. “Gender issues are widespread and global. Women are disproportionately, badly impacted in climate change. They are largely missing from consultations or negotiations or decision-making bodies. Women as entrepreneurs are doing a great deal and we want them recognised. It has to do with capital and financial instruments,” she said. According to Ms. Ravi AI algorithms are biased in favour of men. This must be addressed, she said.
“Women-led development is the overarching theme for us, and we are pushing for 30% quota for women at all levels of governance in member countries. This is largely based on India’s success with Panchayati Raj, where we are effectively close to 50%,” she said.
Care economy
On the demand for a care economy Ms. Ravi said, “Care is disproportionately on the shoulders of women. And [it] is not adequately recognised or rewarded, definitely not supported in the policy,” she said, adding: “But beyond that it has to do with improving women’s labour force participation and improving skills and education.”
She called for a care strategy that would involve public and private financing, resources and training. “We have around 120 million people over the age of 60, so it is a large market. We are taking the lead as a country largely from the gender perspective and the motivation is from a woman. This has to be a women’s movement,” she said.
Another focus area is disaggregating data to understand women’s needs. “While we have been talking about policies, the actual evidence has been very weak. If you have the data you will have the magnitude of the problem, you will be able to understand the severity and complexity of the problem. You will see how it systematically varies by gender and then we can enact the right policies to take care of it,” Ms. Ravi explained.
