From Policy to Power: Reimagining Women’s Economic Agency under the G20 Agenda
Title: From Policy to Power: Reimagining Women’s Economic Agency under the G20 Agenda
Date: Thursday, 17 July 2025
Time: 10:00 – 14:00 (SAST)
Venue: Auditorium, Johannesburg Business School, 69 Kingsway Ave, Auckland Park, Johannesburg, 2092
To RSVP: https://forms.gle/3tKn2Mo5EfcJRgj86
Online: Via Zoom
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ugqBrrf3RK6efmdEapxUgw
Invitation: Join us for a high-level roundtable inspired by the first G20 Empowerment of Women Working Group meeting under South Africa’s presidency. With a focus on closing workforce gender gaps, eliminating gender-based violence, and fostering women’s leadership, this dialogue asks a crucial question: What structural changes are needed to transform empowerment rhetoric into real economic agency for women in the Global South? Despite progress, women across Africa and other emerging regions remain excluded from formal employment, leadership, and financial systems. Informal work dominates, with over 740 million women engaged in precarious, unprotected labour. Meanwhile, gender-based violence continues to be a major, yet often overlooked , barrier to economic participation. This Global South-led roundtable critically examines whether current G20 frameworks can rise to the challenge of supporting women as informal traders, gig workers, caregivers, and survivors of violence. It is a call to reimagine economic inclusion through bold, intersectional, and justice-oriented strategies.
Ms Zoliswa Ntsoko (South Africa) is the Institute’s Administrative Assistant who assists with general administration and research. She is a seasoned professional with a background in Disaster Management. She holds an Advanced Diploma in Management from Milpark Business School, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Management from Regenesys Business School. She also holds certificates in Project Management, and in Disaster Management. Previously, she has worked as a Disaster Management Specialist at the City of Johannesburg – Disaster Management Centre.
Ms Cecilia Lwiindi Nedziwe-Moyo is the Research Coordinator at the Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation. She previously served as a Regional Coordinator at the Centre for Peace Initiatives in Africa (CPIA) in Zimbabwe between 2007 and 2013. She completed her master’s degree in International Studies, Peace, and Conflict Resolution at the University of Queensland in Australia as a Rotary Peace Scholar. She has just completed her doctoral studies at Rhodes University. Her areas of interest include: gender, foreign policy, regional organisations and conflict resolution.
Ms Thembeka Somtseu is a seasoned professional with a background in the textile and construction sectors. She holds a National Diploma in Business Administration from the Durban University of Technology, and studied Development Communication and Media Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. She worked as a corporate communications specialist for more than ten years, serving in both local and multinational companies.