Honolulu Hawaii, June 29-30 2017

Women Fast Forward

In June 2017, Council members President of the Marshall Islands, Hilda Heine, and Former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Dame Jenny Shipley attended the inaugural “Women Fast Forward” Asia-Pacific consultation dialogue at the East-West Center in Honolulu. This event brought together current and former heads of state, government officials, academic experts, and business and civil society leaders. Together these participants released a communiqué of policy recommendations to help the G20 address several of the most pressing areas on ongoing disparity in women’s economic status throughout the Asia-Pacific region and the world. These recommendations are based around five key aspects of women’s economic empowerment: legislative barriers, women in leadership, financial inclusion, digital inclusion, and women in supply chains. Council Secretary General, Laura Liswood, also participated in the dialogue.
 
A draft of the recommendations was communicated via Canada’s delegation to the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, and a final version will help inform the Women 20’s formal input into the 2018 G20 summit in Argentina. Dame Jenny Shipley, stated, “Integrating W20 recommendation into the G20 is both a huge opportunity and a massive challenge. Women confront these questions in the context of the G20 is a breakthrough.”

​Watch a short clip from the event here.