June 09, 2020
Alexandra Rutsch

EMPOWER is an alliance tasked by the G20 to focus on the advancement of women in the private sector. We are proud to have an active role in this high-level initiative with Dr. Petra Jantzer representing Switzerland in her capacity as Advance President and Managing Director of Accenture together with Prof. Dr. Gudrun Sander, Director Competence Centre for Diversity and Inclusion, and Sylvie Durrer, Director Swiss Federal Office for Gender Equality.

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The goal of the G20 EMPOWER initiative is to unleash access to opportunities for women because it has been widely recognized that this is integral to all dimensions of sustainable and inclusive growth and will help women achieve their full potential in the 21st century.

Strongly committed to keeping up momentum

EMPOWER stands for ‘Empowerment and Progression of Women’s Economic Representation’. In line with the Sustainable Development Goal 5, the Saudi G20 Presidency is strongly committed to keeping up the momentum built under previous G20 presidencies and make concrete progress to empower women and girls. To this end, country delegates are mandated to take stock of the current state of women’s representation on all levels in the private sector. Secondly, the task is to source concrete best practices that have an impact on women’s advancement and gender diversity in business.

best practices shall accelerate impact

At the core of EMPOWER are best practices from all G20 countries on ‘what works’. They will be consolidated and published in a report to be shared internationally. With close to 110 corporate members, Advance together with the Competence Centre for Diversity and Inclusion and the Federal Office for Gender Equality is in an ideal position to deliver concrete use cases that will make a real difference.

“Together we can pave the way forward”

Petra Jantzer, Gudrun Sander and Sylvie Durrer have been present at the virtual kick-off meeting. Asked about her expectations of this G20 initiative, Petra Jantzer states: “First of all, I was truly impressed by the leadership of Rania Nashar, who is chairing this panel under the Saudi G20 presidency. There is a very clear plan in place, we have high-level representatives from the world’s leading nations at the table together with representatives of the OECD and the International Labor Organization (ILO). These are excellent conditions to deliver powerful results. – Indeed, together we can pave the way forward.”

advance will play a key role

When it comes to sourcing best practices on ‘what works’ to empower women and create inclusive gender diverse workplaces, Advance has an important role to play. With a high number of companies in their membership base that are very advanced in this respect, there is a unique and rich pool of best practices to choose from. Gudrun Sander is convinced that it is very attractive for companies to submit compelling cases and see them published internationally on such a high-level platform. “In connection with the Advance & HSG Gender Intelligence Report, we have already started to approach candidates for best practices that we will include in our own report. So, this is a fantastic opportunity for a win-win.”
Gender Intelligence Report 2019