JOHANNESBURG, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Sindisiwe Chikunga on Friday urged governments, business, and civil society to build systems that work for women, calling for concrete action instead of rhetoric.
Delivering a keynote address at the G20 Women to Africa event in Johannesburg, Chikunga said the gathering was "not for dialogue alone, but for action, capital, and accountability," stressing that women must be placed at the center of Africa's economic transformation.
"The priorities before us are clear -- globally, continentally, and here at home," she said, outlining three areas under South Africa's G20 presidency: the care economy, women's financial inclusion, and ending gender-based violence and femicide.
Chikunga called for "three bold shifts," including financing the "missing middle" of women entrepreneurs, positioning women at the frontier of new industries, and institutionalizing accountability beyond conferences.
"Conferences do not change the world -- systems do. That means setting measurable targets, enforcing fair payment norms for women-owned businesses, tracking progress publicly, and embedding zero tolerance for gender-based violence in every workplace," she said.
Chikunga also warned that continental projects such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) would only succeed if they worked for women. "If AfCFTA does not work for women, it will not work for Africa," she said.
"The G20's legacy will not be written in communiques ... but in whether women across our continent gain access to capital, safety, and leadership," she added. ■