IBSA Women’s Forum 2021 Calls for Economic Empowerment of Women
16 July 2021
Beena Pandey
Research Associate, RIS
Background
In
the run-up to the forthcoming IBSA Summit in 2021 to be hosted by India, the
Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, convened the
Sixth IBSA Women’s Forum Meeting virtually on 16 March 2021 along with the IBSA
member countries. The Chair of the 6th
IBSA Women’s Forum, Hon’ble Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister of Women and
Child Development, India, led the deliberations and delivered the Inaugural Address.
She highlighted how the year 2020 witnessed rights of women and girls gaining
prominence all over the world. Ms Damares Alves, Minister for Women, Family and
Human Rights of the Federative, Republic of Brazil and Ms Maite
Nkoana-Mashabane, Minister for Women, Youth and People with Disabilities of the
Republic of South Africa, expressed strong support for IBSA and shared their valuable
perspectives on the subject. [1]
It
may be noted, that IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa) brings together large
developing economies, located in three different continents. It is a
distinctive international trilateral development initiative to promote
South-South cooperation among these countries which was formalized way back in
2003. The Forum is committed towards inclusive development for the well-being
of the citizens. All IBSA member countries are multi cultural, multi-ethnic and
multi-religious democracies. This year in 2021 IBSA Summit is supposed to take
place after almost a decade with renewed commitment for the partnership,
particularly in a post-pandemic world under new geo-political realities.
Inclusive social sector development has received highest priority in IBSA and
the Women’s Ministerial Forum may be seen in that light.
Gender Issues in IBSA
The
Declaration of the first IBSA Roundtable on Women’s Development held in
Johannesburg in 2007, had highlighted the complex linkages between
macro-economic policy, gender equality and poverty eradication and called for
coordinated responses from the member countries to tackle these issues. This
meeting was a landmark in the history of IBSA because it launched the IBSA
Women’s Forum which recognized the participation of women in social, cultural
and economic development in the respective countries. [2]
The
subsequent IBSA Women’s Forum held in Brazil, 2010, recommended that the
benefits of welfare and developmental schemes for poor households should be
routed through women, as there are evidences that cash transferred to women is
always spent on the welfare of the family and particularly for expenses related
to education, health and nutrition. Emphasis was also placed on sharing successful
experiences for fostering economic empowerment of women and ensuring gender
equality. Later in 2011, at the Women’s Forum held in South Africa, it was again
emphasized that this Forum should be considered as a most significant step in
realizing IBSA’s vision of women economic empowerment and protection of their
rights. [3]
The
Women Ministerial Forum 2021 discussed the issues that have contributed in
transforming the lives of women. Initiatives, policies, and best practices
which the countries initiated for gender inclusive economy to transform and eliminate
the gender-based discrimination and violence against women were highlighted. This
in turn would help in understanding each member country’s systems, policies and
programmes for women empowerment. Based on the understanding, they would be
able to create a strategic roadmap to promote the gender equality agenda to
achieve the SDGs. There was also emphasis on the need to raise meaningful voice
on various multilateral fora to highlight the development priorities of the
IBSA member countries and the forum stressed on presenting gender equality from
an economic perspective
The Joint Statement
The
Joint Statement of IBSA Women’s Forum 2021, , recognized that gender equality,
particularly women’s economic empowerment, is critical in promoting economic
growth, productivity, health, education and nutritional well being of women and
children. There is need to stand united to accelerate the agenda of global
gender equality. It is crucial that IBSA countries should undertake strategic
initiatives towards promoting gender inclusive economies to eliminate gender
based discrimination and violence against women and girls. Further, the Forum
reaffirmed their commitment to work together through an IBSA think-tank on
women’s development and for their empowerment by sharing best practices and strengthening
cooperation for conducting women centric research for ensuring gender equality.
[ 4]
It
is evident that IBSA has nurtured a common approach towards gender equality and
women empowerment through Women’s Forum. The Forum is committed to ensure socio-economic
development of women. In this regard, there
is immense potential in IBSA countries for achieving Sustainable Development Goal
5 by 2030 pertaining to gender equality in their respective countries. It is
timely that IBSA makes concerted efforts to scale newer heights by empowering
the women and girl child through direct linkages with communities to utilize
local expertise and must collaborate to advocate for stronger international
efforts through various multilateral fora.
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[1]https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1705296
[2] https://mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/5917/TSHWANE+IBSA+summit+declaration
[4] http://ibsa-trilateral.org/Media/Joint%20statement%20for%20IBSA%20Women%27s%20Forum%2016.03.2021.pdf
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