G20 Johannesburg: Womens rights essential for growth and stability

by | Nov 24, 2025

As the G20 Summit approached, women all around the country demanded to be heard, and now that the proceedings have concluded, have they been? 

  • The G20 declaration was adopted, uncontested. 
  • Priorities for equality, growth, and safety for women were highlighted. 
  • For South Africa, concerns about implementation are significant. 

From climate change to debt relief, the declaration highlighted some of the most pressing global challenges. 

With the theme of sustainability, equality, and solidarity, President Ramaphosa reiterated in his opening that a “solid plan” will leave “no person, community, or country behind.” 

Yet, lingering was the concern of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) in South Africa. 

G20 women’s agenda 

Deviating from tradition, President Ramaphosa asked the G20 leaders to adopt the declaration at the start of the summit, rather than at the end. By a show of hands, the statement was adopted by every present country without objection.  

In doing so, each country represented committed to prioritising gender equality and attempting to end all forms of violence against women. This includes greater access to financial, economic, and market resources to support entrepreneurship and women-led businesses; and adopting the revised Brisbane-eThekwini Goal to reduce the gender labour gap by 25% by 2030.

Wits Vuvuzela spoke to Professor Narnia Bohler-Muller, head of the delegation for Women20 South Africa, who explained that “the G20 Leaders’ Declaration places women’s rights and safety at the centre of inclusive growth.  For South Africa, this directly intersects with the fight against Gender‑Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF), declared a national disaster by President Ramaphosa.” 

Session one of the G20 Leader’ Summit on 23 November 2025. Photo: Jairus Mmutle/GCIS

Despite the prospective positive impact of these proposed areas of priority, Argentina expressed concern about the language used – specifically, “gender” and “all women”, fearing that the terms include gender identities beyond the biological male and female. Daily Maverick reported that this linguistic debate took away from strategic discussions.  

When the nation spoke  

Leading up to the summit, Women for Change National Shutdown turned the country purple, from lit up buildings, to social media profiles, support for women was immense, even the jacarandas joined.  

Following the shutdown, and just before G20 proceedings, President Ramaphosa declared GBVF a national crisis, and later, a National Disaster.  

Bohler-Muller highlighted that this means that “South Africa must treat violence against women with the same urgency as a pandemic or flood – unlocking emergency powers, funding, and accountability to save lives and restore dignity.” 

In this effort, the government plans to strengthen existing policies rather than create new ones. “Our policies and plans are good. Implementation sucks,” Bohler-Muller said. 

The youth perspective

Y20 delegate and Wits student, Jamiela Suliman, expressed that “the overall event seemed tokenistic, exclusionary, and elitist,” referring to the T20 and G20 social summit. 

“The experience of Women for Change was poor. They were invited to give a speech at the Social Summit for 10 minutes. They funded the trip themselves, had their speaking time abruptly cut down to three minutes, and the Minister of Women, Children, and People with Disabilities walked out before they started speaking,” she said.

GBVF is not only a national disaster, but also an international one.  

On November 19, the World Health Organisation (WHO), released a report highlighting that an estimated 840 million women around the world experience partner or sexual violence.

So, with global cooperation, will declarations’ priorities for women be implemented, or will they be the ones left behind? 

FEATURE IMAGE: Media room live footage of President Cyril Ramaphosa addressing the G20 leaders. Photo: Ekta Seebran.

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