The Summit comes just ahead of the G20 Ministerial Conference on Women Empowerment
The G20 EMPOWER Summit to be held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, on August 1-2, 2023, will highlight the theme of 'Woman-Led Development: ensuring a sustainable, inclusive, equitable global economic growth'.

EMPOWER stands for the G20 Alliance for Empowerment and Progress of Women’s Economic Representation. It is a private sector-led initiative under the Sherpa Track, with the aim to accelerate women’s leadership and empowerment in the private sector, across G20 countries. The Summit comes just ahead of the G20 Ministerial Conference on Women Empowerment.

The event will include participation of delegates from G20 nations, guest countries, and international organisations, along with global experts, policymakers, and stakeholders.

Under G20 EMPOWER 2023, two international-level meetings were held in February and April 2023 in India. The outcomes will be given in the EMPOWER Communiqué, and will be provided as recommendations to G20 leaders. The G20 EMPOWER 2023 has also organised Jan Bhagidari (Citizen’s Connect Program), which includes various engagements at the national level on a wide range of topics related to Empowerment and Progression of Women’s Economic Representation.

The Summit will mark the culmination of the multitude of international engagements and deliberations held under the EMPOWER agenda during India’s G20 Presidency with announcement of tangible outcomes, pledge to strengthen the private sector contribution in achieving gender equity and key recommendations for the private sector leaders and government for consideration of the G20 Leaders.

The nodal ministry for the event is the Ministry of Women and Child Development. Union Minister for Women and Child Development and Minority Affairs Smriti Zubin Irani will inaugurate the summit. This session will launch the key outcomes under the G20 EMPOWER agenda this year, such as the G20 EMPOWER Tech Equity Digital Inclusion Platform, the Best Practices Playbook, the KPI Dashboard, and the adoption of the G20 EMPOWER Communiqué 2023.

Tech Equity is an aggregator platform which attempts to the bridge the gender digital divide by providing women with the digital skills and knowledge they need to thrive. It has been developed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India. It is available in more than 120 languages, and is now open for registration for women from the G20 nations.

The inaugural event will be addressed by Munjpara Mahendrabhai, Minister of State for Women & Child Development and AYUSH, India; Indevar Pandey, Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development, India; Lakshmi Shyam Sunder, Vice-President, World Bank; Sima Bahous, Executive Director, UN Women. The Chair, Sangita Reddy, will talk about the journey of EMPOWER under India’s Presidency and the tangible outcomes achieved.

The Summit will include a number of sessions. “Leading the Change: Women Redefining Leadership” will discuss the transformative role of women in leadership positions and how they redefine the norms and expectations of leadership. The session on “Leveraging Digital Public Infrastructure to Advance Financial Equality for Women” will highlight different experiences in developing and implementing various constituents of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).

The session on “Closing the Gap: Achieving Tech Equity for Women” will discuss ways to bridge existing gaps and bring women into the realm of technology and will showcase the Tech Equity platform. The session on “She-preneurs: Harnessing the Power of Women-Led Enterprises” will focus on overcoming the barriers faced by women-led enterprises and breaking stereotypes. “Leadership Unplugged: Empowering Stories by Inspirational Leaders” will consider inspiring stories of women leaders from across fields.

Special arrangements have been made for the visitors to experience the culture, cuisine, and touristic attractions in Gujarat.

The G20 EMPOWER Summit is a landmark event that underscores the critical role of women in driving global economic growth and will help to create a more inclusive and equitable world.