G20 Johannesburg Summit Backs Gender Pay Gap Target, Women's Employment and Financial Inclusion Reforms
By Beenish Rashid — SCN NEWS
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, November 22, 2025 — Leaders of the Group of 20 major economies endorsed new commitments on women's employment, pay equality and access to financial resources on Saturday, adopting targets aimed at narrowing economic disparities between men and women as South Africa placed gender equality among the priorities of its historic Johannesburg summit.
The Johannesburg Leaders' Declaration supports reducing the gender gap in labour force participation by 25 percent by 2030 compared with 2012 levels and encourages participating economies to work toward reducing the unadjusted wage gap between men and women by 15 percent by 2035, using 2022 as the baseline. The commitments reflect concerns that unequal access to jobs, earnings, financing and care services continues to restrict women's economic opportunities.
The declaration also calls for reforms to improve women's access to economic resources, financial services and markets, including support for women-led businesses and cooperatives. Leaders backed greater investment in the care economy and measures to address barriers that prevent women from participating fully in economic and public life.
The agreements come during the first G20 Leaders' Summit held on African soil, under South Africa's presidency and its theme of solidarity, equality and sustainability. President Cyril Ramaphosa's government has sought to make inclusive economic development a central part of international discussions, arguing that growth cannot be considered broadly shared when large sections of the population remain excluded from economic opportunities.
The revised employment commitment, known as the Brisbane–eThekwini Goal, builds on an earlier G20 undertaking agreed in Australia in 2014. That commitment sought to reduce the gap between men's and women's labour force participation by 25 percent by 2025, relative to 2012 levels.
By extending the target to 2030, leaders acknowledged that further progress is needed. The declaration also places greater emphasis on the quality of employment, including pay equality and the barriers women face in obtaining secure jobs and advancing into leadership positions.
The wage-gap commitment provides an additional benchmark. Leaders encouraged G20 members and invited countries to progressively work toward a 15 percent reduction in the unadjusted difference between men's and women's earnings by 2035, measured against 2022 levels.
An unadjusted wage gap compares average earnings without accounting for every difference in occupation, working hours, experience or other characteristics. Reducing that gap may require policies addressing unequal pay, occupational segregation, limited access to higher-paying jobs and the disproportionate care responsibilities carried by women.
The International Labour Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development have been asked to assist in monitoring progress toward the employment and wage targets. Their involvement is intended to provide a basis for evaluating whether national measures are narrowing disparities over time.
The targets are political commitments rather than legally binding requirements. They do not guarantee that every participating economy will meet the same outcome, and implementation will depend on national legislation, labour-market conditions and government policies.
South Africa's presidency has also emphasized the economic significance of unpaid care work, including the time spent looking after children, older relatives and family members requiring assistance. Such responsibilities can limit opportunities for paid employment, training and career advancement, particularly where affordable care services are unavailable.
The declaration calls for substantially greater investment and social protection in the care economy. It welcomes a proposal for G20 members to develop comprehensive care policies, strategies, roadmaps and action plans by 2030, drawing on the International Labour Organization's framework for decent care work.
That framework emphasizes recognizing, reducing and redistributing unpaid care responsibilities, while rewarding and representing paid care workers. Its objective is to improve working conditions in care services and address inequalities in the distribution of domestic and family responsibilities.
Expanding access to childcare and other support services can help women enter or remain in paid employment. It can also create jobs in education, healthcare and social services, although the quality of those jobs depends on adequate funding, labour protections and fair compensation.
Women employed in the care sector can themselves face low wages, insecure working arrangements and limited career progression. The G20 commitments therefore connect the availability of care services with efforts to improve the economic position of workers providing those services.
Financial inclusion is another major element of the agreement. Leaders committed to pursuing reforms that would strengthen women's access to financing and markets, recognizing that women entrepreneurs often face obstacles when seeking credit, investment capital, business networks and commercial opportunities.
Those barriers can include limited collateral, differences in access to property and assets, gaps in financial information and difficulties obtaining financing on affordable terms. For small businesses and cooperatives, restricted access to credit can prevent expansion, investment in equipment and entry into larger supply chains.
The declaration encourages the World Bank's Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, known as We-Fi, to promote women's entrepreneurship in the care sector during South Africa's G20 presidency. The initiative seeks to help address financing constraints and other obstacles affecting women-owned businesses.
Support for entrepreneurship forms part of a wider approach that links financial services, skills development and market participation. Access to a bank account alone may not be sufficient if business owners cannot obtain working capital, participate in procurement or reach customers.
The Johannesburg commitments follow months of discussions through the G20 Empowerment of Women Working Group and the Women20 engagement group, which brings together representatives and advocates focused on gender equality and women's economic participation.
South Africa identified three major priorities for its women's empowerment agenda: advancing the care economy, expanding financial inclusion and confronting gender-based violence and femicide.
The Empowerment of Women Working Group's ministerial meeting on October 31 discussed those issues but did not reach consensus on a final ministerial declaration, according to its official chair's summary. The summary nevertheless recorded substantial discussion of economic inclusion, care responsibilities and measures to prevent violence.
The leaders' declaration adopted on Saturday represents a separate political agreement at summit level. It endorses a series of commitments on women's economic participation while reaffirming opposition to discrimination and violence against women and girls.
Gender-based violence is treated as both a human rights concern and a barrier to equal participation in society. The declaration calls for accelerated action against violence, sexual harassment and abuse in public and private settings, including online.
Violence and harassment can undermine women's ability to travel safely, pursue education, participate in employment and maintain financial independence. Effective responses require functioning legal systems, prevention measures, support services and accountability for perpetrators.
The G20 leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted at the 1995 United Nations conference on women. Its 30th anniversary provides a backdrop for renewed attention to progress and continuing gaps in gender equality.
Women's participation in political, economic and public decision-making is another focus. The Johannesburg declaration supports full, equal and meaningful participation and leadership at all levels, recognizing that representation can influence decisions affecting employment, public services and economic policy.
The Women20 group has separately advocated action on education, digital inclusion, health, climate justice and access to land and agriculture. Those recommendations reflect the range of conditions affecting women's economic prospects, particularly in developing countries where access to infrastructure and essential services can be uneven.
Digital technology presents both opportunities and challenges. Mobile financial services and online commerce can expand access to customers and payments, but gaps in connectivity, digital literacy and access to devices may leave some women unable to benefit from those developments.
South Africa's presidency has sought to connect women's economic empowerment with broader questions of development and inequality. For African economies, improving women's access to productive resources, education and markets is closely linked to efforts to create jobs and strengthen household incomes.
However, the declaration does not create a universal wage law, establish a mandatory global financing fund for women entrepreneurs or require every country to adopt identical care policies. Its targets provide common benchmarks while leaving governments responsible for designing and implementing measures suited to national circumstances.
The commitments will ultimately be assessed through changes in employment participation, earnings, access to finance and the availability of care services. Reliable data will be important in determining whether progress reaches women working in informal employment, rural communities and other groups that can be overlooked by national averages.
As the Johannesburg summit continues, leaders have placed women's economic participation among the measurable elements of their development agenda. The challenge now is to translate the targets on employment and pay equality into policies that expand opportunity, reduce economic barriers and improve the daily lives of women and girls.