India to create e-platform to Mentor Women of G-20 countries

By: WE Staff | Friday, 14 April 2023

For promoting women’s leadership at all possible heights, India is going to take a lead in setting up global mentorship for the G20 Countries by providing knowledge exchange through an online platform among women. 

The NITI Aayog's platform for women's empowerment would house the portal. The issue was covered at the second working group meeting on women's empowerment, which took place last week in Thiruvananthapuram. There were 18 nations represented, including the United States, Japan, South Africa, Turkey, Italy, and France. There were also representatives from international organizations such as the UN Women, the World Bank, the IMF, the UNICEF, the World Trade Organization, and the ILO.

According to a statement from the Women and Child Development Ministry, the e-platform will act as a worldwide mentoring and capacity-building gateway that enables organized knowledge-exchange among women mentors and mentees of G-20 countries.

Accelerated success

In the release, it was stated that "women entrepreneurs in small, medium, and big firms, as well as grassroots leaders, will enjoy accelerated success through the mentorship, networking, knowledge-sharing, capacity development, and best practices given by this platform. Moreover, it would serve as an amalgamator of already-established mentorship portals that focus on particular fields, such as Science, business leadership, and entrepreneurship.

At the meeting, the gender gap in digital abilities as well as education and skilling that have impacted women's capacity to excel in many fields were also covered. The report stated that the discrepancy was especially wide in the case of STEM, the sector that offers the highest-paying professions and quickest job growth, excluding entrepreneurial options.

The availability of finance and market access are the two biggest obstacles for women entrepreneurs, which were also covered by the G-20 empowerment group. It suggested long-term gender-inclusive financial models such as loan guarantees, pooled credit funds, and promoting gender-responsive procurement in the public and commercial sectors through the use of a "proudly owned by women" seal, among other things. The goal was to develop a thriving ecosystem for female entrepreneurs.