The Speaker of the Federation Council addressed a public meeting of the Women’s 20 at the Third Eurasian Women’s Forum
Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko has addressed a public meeting of the Women’s 20 (W20). The event was held in St. Petersburg as part of the Third Eurasian Women’s Forum.
The Federation Council Speaker noted that the activities of women leaders under the umbrella of the association are evidence of the growing role of women in global politics. The Women’s 20 is making a significant contribution to shaping the G20 agenda, and many of its recommendations have been reflected in decisions taken at G20 summits. “This is important for Russia, as the decisions that have been adopted are in line with our national priorities,” Valentina Matviyenko said.
The Speaker of the Federation Council noted the extensive partnership between the W20 and the Council of the Eurasian Women's Forum and described that fact that both organizations were founded in September 2015 as symbolic.
Among the main areas outlined by Valentina Matviyenko were expanding women’s participation in the economy, business and the high tech sector, and increasing women’s financial literacy. “The post-COVID economic recovery and increasing the role of women in that process have been added to the list of priority objectives.”
Valentina Matviyenko noted that, according to a Russian study, 16% of women entrepreneurs have expanded their business in recent years, and 93% intend to continue to run their business despite the difficult circumstances at present. According to the Speaker of the Federation Council, these figures do not make it any less important to take measures to reduce the pandemic’s negative impact on women and increase their role in the economy as soon as possible.
The Speaker of the Federation Council proposed holding discussions on advancing cooperation between the Eurasian Women’s Forum and the Women’s 20 on a more regular basis. “One possible form of cooperation could be a permanent coordination mechanism based on the Forum’s platform that brings together active W20 participants.”
According to Valentina Matviyenko, the public meeting format allows participants to develop proposals for solving the most urgent problems and present them to international organizations, heads of state and citizens.
Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Galina Karelova described the meeting as highly constructive. “The proposals put forward will be presented to the G20 leaders along with the decisions of this year’s Rome summit. Valentina Matviyenko’s suggestion to create a coordination mechanism for interaction between representatives of the Women’s 20 using the platform of the Eurasian Women’s Forum was met with a lively response and received support.” The deputy speaker was confident that this mechanism could become a focal point for participants from all over the world who are actively promoting the women’s agenda.
The main goal of the Women’s 20 under the 2021 Italian presidency has been to draw up concrete proposals for G20 leaders in order to ensure women’s participation in the digitalization of the economy, develop women’s business, and create the conditions for women to develop their careers and work safely.
The speakers and experts present at the meeting discussed the priorities of the Women’s 20, including under the Italian and Indonesian presidencies of 2021 and 2022 respectively. Proposals were also made as part of an outreach format to improve the role of women and provide equal opportunities in the context of full-scale digitalization. Issues concerning the consolidation of international organizations, governments, business and citizens to improve women’s economic opportunities were also addressed.
Organizers of the Third Eurasian Women’s Forum: Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Operator of the Forum: The Roscongress Foundation.
Official website of the Third Eurasian Women’s Forum: 2021.eawf.ru/en.
General Partner of the Forum: Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation; strategic partners: Promsvyazbank, Otkritie Bank and RZD Medicine; Official Partner: Arconic Corporation.
Business programme partners: Russian Export Center, KFC and Rostelecom; Environmental Platform Partner: Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO.
