Highlighting the plurality of women's agendas worldwide, Brazilian Minister Cida Gonçalves, at the opening of the last technical meeting of the G20 Working Group on Empowerment of Women, gave a powerful speech on the rights of girls and women and called for collaboration between countries towards a historic consensus. The meeting is taking place in Brasília, Federal District.
"It is not possible that women, being the majority of the world's population, are not recognized, not respected and not included in the main global agendas. We know that development and the economy are the main agendas here. This is where we want to be and we're going to fight for it. That is why this Working Group is so important and fundamental, because our declaration contributes to the decisions of our countries at the Summit. It means that women will be included in these processes," said Brasil's Minister of Women at the opening of the last technical meeting of the Empowerment of Women Working Group (WG), held on Tuesday (8) in Brasília. The technical meeting concludes on Tuesday 9th, heading to a side event on the intersectionality of the gender issue in the other forum's agenda.
In her speech, the minister also addressed the issues that permeate political gender violence, citing the Brazilian electoral scenario this year, in which many candidates were threatened and suffered misogynistic attacks in attempts to discredit their candidacies. Moral attacks and sexual injuries were recurring practices.
As a result of this scenario and the lack of social incentive for women to participate in spaces of power, Cida also addressed the low number of women elected in the first national round (about 85% of the elected mayors were men), a scenario that does not differ from the international context. The G20 has never been chaired by a woman in its history. "We aren't in positions of power, we aren't in the spaces of public policy, because hatred against women has been extreme in the world. And I'm not just talking about spaces of power such as the Presidency of the Republic, but also of leadership in communities, such as Indigenous or quilombola territories," said the minister. Preventing violence against girls and women is one of the priority axes of the WG.
Cida concluded her statement by calling for collaboration between the countries towards a consensus that would allow for the Group's first-ever declaration, recalling that "guaranteeing respect for all women is guaranteeing human dignity" and recalled the role of women in the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty. The Brazilian initiative at G20 is also open to other countries that do not constitute the forum but seek to contribute and access resources and knowledge for implementing public policies and social technologies proven to be effective in reducing hunger and poverty worldwide. Data from the United Nations (UN) indicate that 70% of the hungry population in the world is female.
Making history at G20
The Women WG was announced under India's G20 presidency (2023) and is meeting for the first time in Brasil. A video was produced covering the history of the incorporation of women's agendas in the forum up to the creation of the Group and the meetings in Brasil's federal capital. Watch it:
