Rania Nashar

The B20 Saudi Arabia’s Legacy for Women Around the World

الاحد - 25 أكتوبر 2020

Sun - 25 Oct 2020



The MENA region is often categorized as a place where women have little opportunities, but we are breaking those stereotypes, starting at home. Our region has made huge progress in driving economic empowerment of women, many of whom are leaders in the private and government sectors, as well as in their entrepreneurial ventures. But, as with the rest of the world, there is still a huge amount of work to be done to reach true equality.

The World Bank’s report on ‘Women, Business and the Law 2020’ placed Saudi Arabia as the world’s top reformer in advancing women’s economic participation for 2019. This is a recognition of the country’s legislative policies established to increase female participation in the workforce from an average of just under 20% to over 40% as part of Vision 2030.

This also includes support to female entrepreneurs as they realize the dream of being business owners. Further, we have 35,000 Saudi women currently studying abroad in 60 countries on government scholarships fulfilling the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 based on the role of women and youth.

There’s been remarkable progress so far at home and I am confident that this is just the beginning of our journey. However, as we work towards our goals, we also need to understand, and collaborate on, the global inequality issues many women still face.

The latest global research continues to paint an alarming picture on the gender gap in the workplace. A study commissioned by UN Women found that women still earn 23 cents less for every dollar earned by men, and the World Economic Forum found that only 55% of women (aged 15-64) are engaged in the labor market as opposed to 78% of men.

This picture only becomes more depressing when we look at the number of women in leadership or entrepreneurial roles, indeed this year, there were only 37 female CEOs in the Fortune 500 companies list.

Representing 70% of frontline healthcare and service workers, women are demonstrating their critical role in addressing one of the largest crises in recent history, yet, the Covid-19 pandemic and road to recovery is expected to widen the gender pay gap even further.

However, there is cause for optimism as countries, governments and businesses across the world are not just recognizing the need for equality, they are seeing the very real and tangible rewards of it. New analysis by Boston Consulting Group shows that if women and men participated equally as entrepreneurs, global GDP could rise by approximately 3% to 6%, boosting the global economy by $2.5 trillion to $5 trillion.

Given the current economic crisis the entire world is facing, , we cannot afford to ignore the benefits gender equality can offer.

In this year’s G20 Presidency of Saudi Arabia, the B20 established the inaugural Women in Business (WIB) Action Council and it has been my honor to serve as Chair. This role has re-fueled my optimism as leveling the playing field for women in the workforce has been central to all our work across the B20.

The B20’s role as the business voice of the G20, is to identify the most pressing priorities impacting all business – large and small – in the developed and developing world. It's important to note that the WIB Action Council is the first initiative of its kind in the history of the G20 and B20. And we’ve broken records, with women constituting 33.8% of the overall taskforce and action council members, and 43% of the chairs.

Over the past year, the B20 engaged with more than 650 business leaders across the G20 and beyond through its six taskforces and WIB Action Council to ensure an inclusive and action-oriented process. Together we developed 25 recommendations to make to the G20 that we believe will help restore and reinvigorate the global economy. These recommendations have now been submitted and will be considered at the G20 summit in November.

The WIB Action Council recommendations call on the G20 to take the necessary action to unlock the advancement and full leadership potential of women by driving reforms, fostering an inclusive environment, ensuring fair and equal pay and encouraging new ways of flexible working.

We also recommended promoting female business ownership by creating an enabling environment for female-founded start-ups and eliminating barriers to expertise and finance, and asked for a comprehensive Women in STEM roadmap to be implemented to increase the pipeline of women in high-skilled jobs.

Finally, we are calling for a diverse cross-section of women to be included in all stages of policy design, national policies on equality to be evaluated and amended to ensure they protect the rights and equal opportunities of women, and the implementation of policies for employers that set goals and transparent disclosure requirements to increase women in leadership positions.

As Saudi women, we have made history and will undoubtedly leave a legacy for future B20s. To advance, we must collectively encourage and support the G20 to make these recommendations a reality to ensure we leave a lasting legacy for future generations of women, and men, across the world.

Rania Nashar is Chair of the Women in Business Action Council at B20 Saudi Arabia, the voice of the private sector to the G20. She is one of the prominent leading women in Saudi Arabia, was highlighted as the first Saudi woman to lead a banking group in Saudi Arabia by becoming the Chief Executive Officer of Samba Financial Group. Alongside her position as the Chief Executive Officer, she also serves on the board of SambaCapital, Samba Bank Limited in Pakistan and Samba Global Markets Limited Company. In addition, Ms. Rania was appointed as member in the Advisory Committee of the Capital Market Authority (CMA), a member of the Board of the Institute of International Finance (IIF), a member of the board of the Saudi Space Authority. A Board Member of the National Center to measure the performance of public agencies. And the Chairperson of the Audit Committee of the Future Investment Initiative Institute.

The 25 policy recommendations outline an action plan to reinvigorate the global economy submitted to the G20 as part of a report entitled Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century for All.