This May, the Women-20 (W20) Meeting under the auspices of the G20 Summit was hosted by the All-China Women's Federation in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Under the slogan “Equal Participation, Innovative Development,” the meeting adopted the Women-20 Meeting Communiqué, proposing a series of suggestions on general equality and women empowerment.

That advice includes integrating gender mainstreaming into macroeconomic policies, eliminating the gender wage gap, increasing female labor force participation and enabling the digital economy to benefit women and young girls.

The G20 Hangzhou Summit, held early September, also gave emphasis to women’s important role in boosting employment through innovation and entrepreneurship, hoping that on this basis, women can be more involved in technological innovation, manufacturing and related service industries.

Regarding agriculture, food security and nutrition, since women are more susceptible to climate change, the G20 will give special attention to the group while aiding farmers and grain systems to cope with present and potential challenges like climate change, and promoting sustainable development in agriculture.

The G20 Leaders' Communiqué from the Hangzhou Summit also pointed out that the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion is devoted to expanding the benefits brought by financial services, so that underserved groups, especially youth and women, can handle financial institutional challenges and legal uncertainty confronting small- and medium-sized enterprises in financing.

Meanwhile, the G20 promised to enact relevant measures to ensure that female and young entrepreneurs, female-led companies as well as small- and medium-sized enterprises can benefit from the global value chain.

The Hangzhou Summit at the same time gave importance to the implementation of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, gender equality and rights of both children and women, among which the gender mainstreaming as well as women empowerment in both politics and economy were prioritized.

Increasing women’s engagement in economic development and reducing gender inequality in entrepreneurship and employment not only are conducive to global economic growth, but exert profound significance in the sustainable development of gender equality and women’s empowerment. The UN Women-20 is willing to join the G20 in creating an equal and harmonious world.

(The author is UN Women China Country Program Manager.)