Having realized that, I totally believe that those women can contribute to the development if provided the means facilitating their logistical challenges. An online platform with the functions of linking job seekers with potential employers would ease the process In addition to that and considering the social barriers that some of the female job seekers face, the platform would focus on providing different types of jobs where the options of working from home or conducting online job interviews can be available. The platform should be also an interactive one where sharing views and networking or even one to one mentoring can be also available.

I am a sophomore studying Economics at Soka University of America from New Delhi, India. The believe the greatest economic challenge facing women in my community is the lack of training and resources that can foster women entrepreneurs both in the small and large scale industries. I believe that women entrepreneurship will not only give a boost to the economy by increasing the number of employed people and leading towards a more gender-equal growth, but it will also ensure the financial independence of women. Not being financially independent is one of the main factors that prove as a hindrance in self-empowerment of women, especially in patriarchal societies like India. The need for women entrepreneurship is inevitable because according to International Development Organization (ILO) the percentage of women entrepreneurs in India is 9% , which is half the rate of  male entrepreneurs in the country.  

While many would argue that the lack of education lies at the core of producing successful women in business, India certainly has a different story to tell. Even though the literacy rate (74.4% in 2011) of women in India is increasing, the same is not reflected in the number of women who actually join the workforce. What we need is the kind of education that goes beyond the walls of the classroom and implements theoretical knowledge into activities that are economically empowering. Lack of financial training and resource, besides other factors like restrictive cultural norms and limitations imposed by family are the reasons why educated Indian women have to go a long way before they can achieve the same success as their male counterparts. In order to combat this gap, I would like to call upon leaders, change makers, corporations and government to embark on the path of egalitarian development by suggest the following ideas:

To hit the problem at the core, we need to focus on the youth first. Connecting high school/college girls with corporations where they can intern and get training will provide them with a real-life experience of working in the corporate sector and equip them with skills and knowledge in entrepreneurship. Like the G-20 summit which aims to invest in the delegates via workshops and mentorship to help them create and launch their own social profit venture or support an already existing program in their community, these training and internship programs with big corporations will serve as a platform to launch new ideas. This will create a stream of youth who are not only passionate but are equipped with skills to become real change-makers.

The second important focus should be given to women who have skills and talent in a particular field but lack the business knowledge to set up their own start-up. By setting up a facility which provides basic knowledge about entrepreneurship like where to get the funding from, how to open a bank account, how to work online etc., we can hope to encourage more housewives and  rural women to turn their domestic activity into an income generating source. Along with that, micro-credit organizations which provide cheap loans should be increased to facilitate the process better.

Last but not the least; we need experts and professionals to provide technical knowledge to women and girls in fields which can be beneficial to communities at large. An example of this can be the inspiring Barefoot College started by Mr. Bunker Roy in India which teaches women how to make solar cells and solar powered lamps. By training women from Afghanistan, Africa and India in the field of photo-voltaic, he has helped rural communities becomes self-sufficient. Don’t forget to check out the film about his work:  “Solar Mamas”.

Click here to view the embedded video.

With this dual approach of by training the young girls and empowering housewives and rural women through entrepreneurship skills and knowledge, we can hope to economically empower women in India.

A major strength of the Summit is that it will allow me to get a global perspective on issues around the world. We can learn more than we think from other people and countries’ perspectives. If individuals start sharing point of view and ideas, we can achieve great things. This is one of the things I will be advocating for during the Summit. Each year, the G(irls)20 Summit delegates hear from world renowned experts and then use that knowledge and their own experiences to craft a communiqué with advice and solutions for the G20 leaders to economically empower girls and women. As a delegate for France, I will try to advocate for the importance of partnerships and alliances between people, big companies, governments along with the inclusion of girls and women of every community in order to close the gender gap that we are facing today. We cannot advocate for economic empowerment, if we do not include the women concerned in the debate, which is something that the G(irls)20 is helping achieve. By engaging thousands of organizations and companies to work alongside with girls from every country, we are changing the condition of women. The key to success lays in the involvement of many actors, at different level of society, which can all contribute in their own way to the economic empowerment of women around the world. By gathering in the same city for one week girls, women, big companies, speakers and world renowned experts, the G(irls)20 summit is setting the foundations to change the world. And I still cannot believe I will be a part of it.

If there are 3.5 billion ways to change the world, in that there are 3.5 billion girls and women on this earth, then there could have been 35 million more ways in China. As a result of pre-natal sex selection, infanticide and infant abandonment, China has a rising gender gap where there are 118 males for every 100 females as of the 2010 census. This phenomenon is evident of the gender disparity deeply embedded in China, which are translated into exclusion of women participation in the economic, political, and social sphere. This is evident not just in China, but also across other societies including Vietnam, India, and South Korea. It is estimated that 6 million girls are missing every year worldwide.

One of such disparity are that women have the “double burden” to take up the roles in both work and as a primary caregiver. The contributions women make to the national economies through their participation in the domestic sphere go unrecognized, leading to the lack of favorable policies toward women caregivers. Furthermore, women make up sixty percent of the working poor in developed and developing countries, while there are also gender disparities in working conditions, wage, and employment levels.

I believe we need to restructure our economy to better integrate the public and private sphere, as one cannot tackle the inequalities in the labour market without readjusting the inequalities within a household. To ease the women’s “double burden” of work and family, there needs to be a more equitable share of women’s and men’s domestic and community responsibilities. As proven, women invest 90% of their income back to their families and communities, as opposed to 30-40% for men. Through greater women’s participation in the labour market, it will enhance the decision-making power and social status that are beneficial to the economic development of our communities. Women must be recognized as significant building blocks to the holistic development of families and communities. We need to build our economies through a more gender-inclusive and integrative community-centered development process.

Mao famously said that “women hold up half the sky”. We need to make this truly half. First, in numbers. More importantly, this must be truly half in political, economic, cultural, and social spheres. Closing the gender gap is critical to the economic empowerment of girls and women globally.

As the delegate of China in the G(irls)20 Summit, I wish to use this opportunity to speak out not just for 3.5 billion girls, but also for the voiceless 35 million girls missing in China. I believe diversity fosters human creativity and progress, which means half of the human population must be in full participation to maximize this dynamic process. This starts with giving them an opportunity to do so in the local and global platform.

References
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mi/goals_2005/goal_3.pdf

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/02/chinas-great-gender-crisis

Thought #1. Statistics speak clearly, coinciding with what I heard in my interviews. There are 29 million women in Italy, more than half of which are unemployed. What makes me reflect is that our universities report a high female presence and that 40% of the not employed women are graduates with a final score higher on average than the men. It’s as if these talented just disappear! What the government and the political debate fails to focus on that disappearance of talent and how it represents an enormous loss for our country. A loss in terms of the amount of money that has been invested by their families (and the State) in their education and formation, which will never be recovered. A loss in terms of productivity, since it has been proved that that 5% of Italian firms which can count on a strong female presence in their executives, have registered a ROE that is higher by almost 20% than the average. A loss in national economy, as women tend to spend a larger part of their income on the household, at the benefit of markets.

Thought #2. Every single woman I spoke with made note of the difficulties around balancing work and family.  In Italy, this is due to the fact that an efficient welfare system is absent.  Women are granted almost no support during pregnancy and maternity. 20.5% of them leave their jobs in their early career. One of the reasons is that kindergartens (especially “asili nido”, for babies aged 0-3), do not provide sufficient coverage in terms of numbers of slots for children and hours of service. In fact they satisfy only about 12% of the demand. Giving birth to a life, seems not to be a right women have, but more of a burden or a luxury they cannot afford without sacrificing their career. There will also be huge side effects in the long term with respect to the fertility rate, which is already low.  It will likely sink further, with consequences for the future economic competitiveness of the country.

Thought #3. Putting women in decision-making positions in the private and public sector is crtitical to building a sustainable economic prosperous country. Women in leadership positions have proven to promote positive change in policies and cultural attitude, preparing the way for other women.

Perhaps one day, I will take on a leadership role.  I sincerely look forward to participating in the 2013 G(irls) 20 Summit so that I may share my findings and compare notes with my counterparts from around the globe.

To the G20 Leaders – I have a lot of ideas for you.

On the last day of applications, I gathered my courage, reviewed my application and “clicked”…who would have thought, the click of a mouse would open so many doors for women of my generation. Only after I had submitted my application, did I conclude that my fear of not being good enough is what kept me from submitting my application earlier.

I see this same fear and lack of confidence in women around me and in my community.  I believe the biggest challenge that girls and women face in Portugal and Europe in general, is a lack of confidence to act, which has meant an absence of participation in economics, politics and social sector due to this “non-risk” attitude.

I do not believe it is a problem about women’s rights, discrimination or lack of opportunities. I view it as women still relying in the stigma created thousands of years ago that they are weak and not supposed to take the same responsibilities as men do.  It is not about striving for equal rights, but a need to transform this next generation of girls into drivers of change.

We know that when women participate economically, it speeds up development, helps overcome poverty and reduces inequalities.  Women’s participation improves children’s nutrition, health, and school attendance. So imagine what the participation of the 3.5 billion of women in the world can mean.

To address this challenge, I have become active in my own community. Right now, I am working to engage youth by transforming teens into “Transformers.”

A transformer is a youth that overcomes any challenge with his/hers “superpower”. And I don’t mean a super-human power like an ability to fly, transport through space or have super-human-strength. A “superpower” is his or her passion, the strongest weapon to transform our communities!  I have joined the Transformers Project, and together we strive to empower youth to live their dreams!

I had to read the e-mail congratulating me for being selected to represent Brazil at the G(irls)20 Summit several times to believe that it was really true. A once in a lifetime opportunity to share new ideas, cultures, academic, social and life experiences with girls like myself – who want to make positive change. At the G(irls)20 Summit we will have the chance to have our voices heard and an opportunity to contribute to the economic and social empowerment of girls and from our country and the countries that are represented by the other delegates.

The biggest challenge of women in my country of Brazil is the economic and labor disparity between men and women. Brazil is a country in development, which means that the quality of life of women is increased in relation to the last years. Despite of women being the head of the family, leading big companies, having active participation in the universities, and we have even a woman as President of the Republic. That being said, it doesn’t mean that all of the Brazilian girls and women are living in this good of a situation.

Although girls and women represent over half of the Brazilian population and study more than men, we have less chance to occupy important positions on the market work. Studies show that we can earn up to 30% less doing the same job of men. Brazil occupies the 62^nd position in the inequality of gender raking elaborated by the World Economic Forum in 2012, and another study demonstrates that in the competencies evaluated (education, health, survival, political and economic participation), the political and economic participation of women were the competencies that had the worst evaluation.

This is what I aim to tackle at the G(irls)20 Summit.  To solve this problem, policies must be evaluated carefully.  We must look to ways to ensure women have the opportunity to grow economically without compromising the quality of life and education of their family.  I look forward to hearing from my counterparts how this is being solved around the world.  I encourage you to share your ideas with us on the G(irls)20 Summit facebook page.

As the Canadian delegate, I am proud to represent a country that continues to make strides in narrowing the gender gap in both opportunities and achievements. Canada, however, still has a long way to go – and we are at a crucial crossroads in ensuring that women are not left out of the fastest growing sectors: STEM fields.

In Canada, women still only make 85 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts – an income disparity that is dependent on education level but also on choice of occupation. That women are a minority in some of the most exciting fields today should be a concern for all Canadians: our global competitiveness increasingly depends on technology, and many top tech companies have recognized the importance of women in contributing the diverse perspectives that drive innovation.

Sadly, one of the reasons for this gap is self-selection. Due to external pressures or lack of exposure, most girls are opting out of technology-related career paths that are seen as non-traditional or unfriendly to women. For example, while 74% of middle-school girls express interest in STEM fields, only 0.3% of girls will go on to study computer science. Yet women remain the majority of tech-product users, demonstrating an innate ability to relate to technology.

Closing the income gap will take more than changing legislation or tackling institutional bias. It will take a major shift in what girls perceives as viable and exciting career options. We have to make sure girls learn the valuable skills that will make them competitive in a rapidly evolving job market, and that now includes coding.

While I hope that Canada will one day integrate programming into its school curriculum, there are myriad free and easy ways to empower yourself by learning to program the computers that have become ubiquitous in any workspace (my favorite right now is Code Academy).

It’s by promoting tangible solutions like these that the delegates of the G(irls)20 Summit in Moscow are going to change the world. You can help us by contributing to the campaign here: http://www.catapult.org/project/cultivate-new-generation-female-leadership.

This week, three of my extended family members passed away, and nothing else mattered more than our family’s need and ability to communicate instantly as each new wave of loss overcame us.

While travelling to my cousin Bobby’s funeral, we heard in transit that my Uncle James was in a coma after a heart attack, and then that night, my sister was consoling her children via Skype from our airport hotel because their grandmother, her mother-in-law, had died.  While travelling the next morning, we got the news that Uncle James had slipped from his coma to death.

With so much happening at once, our family’s best way to cope was to share and reminisce – so this has been a week of storytelling. That’s what happens next when someone passes, we tell their stories to each other: “Remember Bobby singing “Chantilly Lace?” and “G.L.O.R.I.A.!” ”Remember how he stood on stage and told the entire cruise ship that he loves his wife!” “Remember Uncle James dancing to ‘Call Me Maybe’ at Mom’s 80th birthday party? ” “Remember how grandma loved us so much?” Even though great distances separated us – we needed that ability to share, to communicate, to love – and because of social media, Internet, email, mobile, and more, we were able to do that, and do it immediately.

At the funeral, Bobby’s elder brother David stood at his memorial service and told one wild story after another so that the standing room only crowd at the Marrietta First Baptist Church shook with laughter as tears glistened.  But behind that event, the main gathering place for sharing stories had actually been online, as friends and family posted photos and videos, supported family and friends with messages and letters, and also found others whom they barely knew and gathered them in as “friends”.

Memorial service websites have become active social media environments, linking to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  This week I needed stories to reaffirm that my lost loved ones lived joyfully, lived meaningfully, and were loved – and I found those stories shared through technology.

Another funeral also happened this week: a young women, who no doubt was independently unique in so many ways, but was only known by her story – a young girl, intoxicated, gang raped, filmed, and the criminal porn produced published via social media technologies. Here – the beginning of this online story overwhelmingly tortured that child until she ended her life.  She erased her life because she could not erase her story.

But now the greater social media world has picked up her story, and now I know her story and you know her story and by listening, the story is changing, the story is being revised and the empathy and compassionate response of the millions of people who now know her story, infuses and rebuilds what the story means. It washes clean the shame of victimization, and calls for carrying forward the story in a new light. There will be laws named for this woman.   Her name will be written in the books of law and live in courts of justice for the rest of history. But… it’s not enough.

I lined up this morning at airport security and just ahead of me was a young man, maybe 22.  He wore a t-shirt with block letters “HANDS UP!” over a photo of a girl, her dress pulled down to her hips, her hands just covering her nipples and a large gun pushed in between her naked breasts.  We were sardined in a snaking line up of maybe a hundred people and I didn’t know what to do.

I felt angry and sad.  I felt that if I called him out on his hate crime of a t-shirt, he’d just laugh and snicker with his friends at the old lady who couldn’t take a joke.   I thought, what if I tell security that I object to this shirt, would they make him change clothes?  Does he have any change of clothes in his carry-on bag?  And I started thinking like a mother.  He’s young. He’s on a trip with his friends.  He doesn’t know that his t-shirt tells a story to me that is not a joke, and it’s hateful.

And a part of me also acknowledged – here too is social media – it just doesn’t happen to be online.  The shape of the story came from the choices of the storyteller – not the medium it was presented in.

Technology has given us the power to publish our own stories and to share forward the stories of others – to add meaning to the understanding of another’s life, or for the destruction of it. What we have to remember is that the true power of media is in how we choose to use it, and not the medium itself. As another person’s story passes through our hands to our friends and listeners, what role do we play in writing it?

Delegate representing Indonesia

Each year, the G (irls) 20 Summit brings together one girl, aged 18-20, from each G20 country to look at the G20 Leaders agenda thru the lens of girls and women globally.  Together, these girls identify issues, come up with solutions and make recommendations to be shared with the G20 leaders by way of a communique.

I was allowed this precious opportunity when I was selected as the delegate from Indonesia this year.

One of the big issues in Indonesia is unemployment that eventually leads to poverty.  Our large population, faced with limited job availability has caused increased unemployment.  A problem growing with each year.  Girls or women have a role to play – and are leaned on – whether it be as mother, wife, and daughter in a family, or in some cases as a provider.

The solution, not stand-alone, but a contributing solution to the problem of unemployment is promotion of economic opportunity through entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship can provide income, jobs and will reduce unemployment.  It is an avenue by which women can turn their ideas into businesses.  After all, there are 3.5 billion girls and women in the world – who better to provide them with products and solutions to their every day needs than other women.  All it takes is a bit of support and innovation.

I want to see more Indonesian women become entrepreneurs, allowing them to maintain their roles in the family, they can still  work-at-home or even run a small business close to home.  This way they do not have to choose between being mothers and providers – they can be both.

Earlier this year, I attended Womenpreneur Summit 2013 and met girls from each universities in my country at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs in January.  I was inspired by the impact women can have when they become entrepreneurs – they gain confidence, learn financial responsibility and exhibit innovation.

I see entrepreneurship as a mirror of self-reliance, especially for women. Women should be the first, be the best and be different. At the G(irls)20 Summit 2013, I will work to share my experience and learnings with my fellow delegates – perhaps this is a solution that will help them at home as well.

I hope to see more and more emerging organizations (Government or NGO) and companies (like Google, Norton Rose, Kinross, Nike Foundation, etc) to take charge and take notice of the potential of girls and women.  So many of them are front and centre, providing opportunities to women entrepreneurs – through financial aid, coaching, mentorship and so much more.  All because they too see the valuable contribution of girls and women can make to our society and world economies.  We are changing the world.