Turkey: Women 20 launched to promote gender equality

Business and political leaders from the world's 20 biggest economies have launched the Women 20 (W20), which is an outreach group under the G20 dedicated to promoting gender-inclusive economic growth.

The W20 group, proposed by Turkey’s G20 presidency and comprising 20 women leaders from G20 nations, will host its first summit in October of the year in Istanbul; the group is fully committed to achieving a gender inclusive global economic growth in the G20 countries through the economic empowerment of women.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu spoke at the launch event for W20 in the capital Ankara on Sunday.

In his speech, Davutoglu said that the prosperity of a country could be best understood by the smiles of its women.

"There are two indications of a country’s happiness: Whenever you reach a country, look at its airports; if its airports are dynamic, moving, people are coming and going, then it means there is stability and there is prosperity [in that country]."

“Second indication is the face of women in that country. If you walk in the streets of that country, look at the faces of women; if they are smiling, you can be sure that that country is happy…happiness [of a country] can be seen on the faces of women in that country," he said.

The Turkish premier said that the W20 meeting would be written in history. "Not the history of G20 but in the history of humanity. Without women participation, there can be no future of global economy," he added.

He also said that inclusiveness was needed to overcome the ongoing global economic and political crises.

"Inclusiveness is a remedy for many problems of today. Why we have political problems, for example, in Syria or Iraq? [It is] because UN Security Council was not able to take necessary decision on time. Why? Because five permanent states in the UN decide what will happen."

“And these five states are not paying the price for what is happening in Syria and Iraq; as a neighbor of these countries, we are paying the price. Those two million refugees did not go to the five states. They came to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan…. There should be an inclusive process of the resolution, a peace making system in UN," he said.

He also warned G20 leaders, which collectively account for 80 percent of world trade, about the growing issues of youth unemployment and inequality.

"Youth employment is the biggest problem for all of us. All countries are having political turmoil, where youth unemployment is high. Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, even Greece and Ukraine," he said, adding: "I call on all G20 leaders to work together to reduce young unemployment not only in their country, but globally; if there is no remedy for young unemployment, be sure that these young people will be migrants or refugees in advanced economies to find a job."

He said that international peace could be achieved through economic cooperation and interdependent economic relations.

"We are living a global village. Nobody can feel safe in the capitals of advanced economies with high income if there is a huge gap between those economies and low-income developing economies….We should not think about just egocentric ways [about just] myself, my country, my company. But we should say 'our country, our world, our company, our future and our destiny'. ..We all have the same destiny,” he said.

-More than words for women

In her speech to G20 business leaders, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde said that mere words were not enough for women and implementation of promises was needed.

"This can be a game-changer for the global economy. But the promise can only be fulfilled if words become actions...We need to work together—the G-20, the W-20, the IMF's 188 member countries—to transform aspiration into reality," Lagarde said.

She emphasized that education and employment were the key drivers for women empowerment.

"Education is essential—but it is part of a larger package. What else is needed to help women find work? First, removing legal barriers is vital....The second barrier is women’s pay. Third, infrastructure can be an obstacle; and fourth, there is unequal access to finance," she said.

Lagarde also said that at a country level, Turkey’s own experience with girls’ education was instructive.

"The proportion of Turkish women with graduate degrees who have jobs is very high—it exceeds 70 percent. ... But just 17 percent of women can find work. Indeed, it is estimated that adding one year of preschool education in Turkey could increase female labor force participation by 9 percent. The message is clear: girls’ education is probably the single best investment a country can make," she said.

At the summit meeting last November in Australia, G20 countries pledged to reduce the gap in women’s labor force participation by 25 percent by the year 2025—which would have the benefit of creating an estimated 100 million new jobs for the global economy.