Gender equality and the G20｜Ayaka Matsuno, Director of SPF’s Gender Investment and Innovation Program

The G20 Summit in New Delhi, India, wrapped up earlier this month with a Leaders’ Declaration issued under the theme of “One Earth, One Family, One Future.” While much of the media coverage has focused on the geopolitical implications of the summit, this year’s declaration also made significant strides looking to gender equality and women’s empowerment, including a direct call for increased efforts to “close gender gaps and promote the full, equal, effective and meaningful participation of women in the economy as decision-makers.”   To take a closer look at how women’s empowerment was incorporated into the G20 process, we spoke with Ayaka Matsuno, director of the Gender Investment and Innovation Program at SPF. She also served as a co-head of the Japan delegation for Women20 (W20), an engagement group that advocates for the inclusion of gender-related issues in the G20 process.   Ms. Matsuno joined SPF World Views to look back on her work as co-head for W20 in Japan, discuss how gender equality initiatives were incorporated into the G20 Leaders' Declaration, and explore the ways that economic empowerment can accelerate progress toward gender equality.  You can read the full transcript of this episode on the SPF website.