ROME/RIYADH — The G20 Empower this year, under the Italian Presidency, identified concrete actions to be taken across three key areas of focus: the measurement of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to improve companies’ Diversity & Inclusion policies and actions, the creation of a more resilient and sustainable women talent pipeline, and the development of STEM and soft skills and of leadership opportunities to enable women to face and lead the challenges and companies of the future.

The G20 Empower Alliance disclosed the results of this year’s work by delivering its communiqué to Italian Minister for Family and Equal Opportunities Elena Bonetti and G20 Sherpa Luigi Mattiolo — representing Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

Co-Chair of G20 Empower and the Private Sector Representative for Saudi Arabia Lubna S. Olayan shared the communiqué with the Saudi Sherpa Office and all members of the Saudi private sector.

The Alliance brings together representatives of the private and public sectors of the G20 countries with the common goal of accelerating women’s leadership opportunities and empowerment in the private sector. This unique alliance was set up in 2020 during the G20 Saudi Presidency, after Japan and Canada supported and advocated for its creation in the preceding year.

The Alliance is intended to report on its progress and concrete efforts undertaken at the G20 Leaders’ Summit, where it delivers its recommendations on the measures and policies that the governments and private sectors of the G20 countries should take to accelerate leadership opportunities for women.

The main outcomes, embedded in the Alliance Communiqué, represent the commitment of companies and government to promote change to address the gender gap in the workforce and in leadership positions which the official data very clearly evidences.

In this Communiqué, the G20 Empower Alliance highlights that evidence:

• Women’s global labor force participation is only at 38.8%. 


• Women occupy only 27% of all managerial positions.

• Women sit on just 26%3 of seats on Boards of publicly listed companies across OECD countries. 


• On an international scale, the pandemic has amplified the already existing inequalities. 
In contrast, the pandemic did not affect the speed of the progress towards gender equality in Saudi Arabia.

According to the General Authority for Statistics, women’s labor force participation rates increased from 17.4% in the first quarter of 2017 to a record high of 33.8% by the second quarter of 2021; their employment rate also rose by 13% during that period. This rate of acceleration may be at least partly attributable to the efforts of the Saudi government that has the economic inclusion of women as an essential goal in its Vision 2030.

Paola Mascaro, chair of G20 Empower and president of Valore D, explained: "The document we have delivered is the result of the collaboration between the representatives of companies and institutions from the G20 countries, and is characterized by an action-oriented approach, indicating in detail the methods and steps that should be adopted to achieve tangible results.

“The work carried out in the past months enables companies to immediately start implementing the priority measures and KPIs we have identified to provide a clear roadmap for the advancement of female leadership.

“The presence of women in leadership positions is fundamental for the economic growth of any country, and for this reason we have asked the World Economic Forum and the International Monetary Fund to consider women's leadership as a key indicator to assess countries’ competitiveness."

In collaboration with Boston Consulting Group, the Alliance was pleased to launch its 2021 Best Practices Playbook, “Empowering Women to Lead the New Normal World,” on Monday, Oct 11, with the participation of different private sector leaders within the G20 countries.

The report gathered over 150 best practices from 23 countries and various industries, providing live examples of policies and actions adopted by the private sector to strengthen the advancement of women as leaders.

“Women must have the opportunity to gain financial independence through equal access to any job or position of their choosing, with talent and work ethic determining their career trajectory, rather than gender, “ said Lubna S. Olayan, the co-chair of G20 Empower and the Private Sector Representative for Saudi Arabia.

“That is true gender parity. And that is fair, that is necessary, and that is good for business and society. Personally, I look forward to my grand children never hearing that a woman was the first to serve in a role or to achieve something, because theirs is a future where true gender parity is the norm,” she added.

The 2021 best practices report focuses on three fundamental axes of work to close the gender gap at leadership positions: measuring to improve, building a women's talent pipeline, and enabling women to lead the future.

Of the best practices analyzed in the survey conducted by BCG, the most common area of focus is building a women talent pipeline (68% of the 134 organizations analyzed), then enabling women to lead the future (19%) and measuring to improve (13%).

In a panel discussion titled: "Stories from the Best: What Leaders Do to Empower Women," the Olayan Saudi Holding Company shared their 20-year Diversity experience and emphasized the importance of having precise KPIs accompanied by solid engagement lines with all relevant stakeholders.

This 2021 Playbook builds on the practices collected in 2020, during the Saudi Presidency, supported by the OECD, ILO, and McKinsey, that led to the publication of the G20 Empower report “Policies and Practices to Promote Women in Leadership Roles in the Private Sector.”

It aims to be a living knowledge sharing platform for organizations and leaders working on accelerating women’s leadership and empowerment in the private sector and beyond. — SG