Statement on Backtracking on Equality

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) reports that the G20 Empowerment of Women Working Group (EWWG), under South Africa's Presidency, failed to achieve a joint Ministerial Declaration due to a lack of consensus. Despite the majority of the 18 member states present agreeing, one country blocked the text by objecting to terms such as 'gender' and 'unpaid care', requesting 'sex-based' terminology instead. This impasse resulted in the issuance of a Chair's Statement rather than a formal declaration. The IEJ highlights that this failure occurs amidst systemic global barriers, including the fact that women perform 76.2% of unpaid care work globally and nearly 1.4 billion adults remain financially excluded. The document calls for the institutionalisation of progress to protect gender equality gains from political shifts and supports the development of National Care Strategies by 2030.

• The G20 Empowerment of Women Working Group (EWWG) failed to reach a consensus on its final ministerial declaration under South Africa's Presidency, resulting in a Chair's Statement being issued instead of a joint declaration.
• The failure to reach consensus was primarily driven by one country that opposed established women's-rights framings and multilateral agreed text, specifically objecting to the terms 'gender' and 'unpaid care' and requesting 'sex-based' terminology.
• Global structural barriers persist for women, with the International Labour Organization reporting that women perform 76.2% of total unpaid care work compared to 23.8% for men.
• Significant global challenges regarding financial exclusion and violence against women remain, with nearly 1.4 billion adults financially excluded and approximately one in three women worldwide subjected to physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.
• In South Africa, unpaid care work creates a significant gender disparity in labour market participation, with approximately eight women unable to participate for every one man in the same position.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2025). Statement on Backtracking on Equality. https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/statement-backtracking-on-equality/

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. Statement on Backtracking on Equality. 2025. https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/statement-backtracking-on-equality/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=Statement on Backtracking on Equality |date=3 November 2025 |url=https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/statement-backtracking-on-equality/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{instituteforeconomicjustice2025statement, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{Statement on Backtracking on Equality}}, publisher = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2025}, month = nov, url = {https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/statement-backtracking-on-equality/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }