Co-hosted by the Government of India and UN Women, a Ministerial Roundtable was organised along the sidelines of the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women on 12th March, 2025 at UN Headquarters in New York.
The Roundtable spotlighted the critical importance of digital and financial inclusion to women’s empowerment and leadership. By emphasizing investments in women’s education, health, and economic autonomy, the event underscored how bridging gender gaps can drive development, overcome poverty, and nurture leadership across sectors.
The event provided a global platform for experience sharing on emerging issues and strategies to implement the 12 critical areas of concern in the Beijing Platform for Action, through two Ministerial Roundtables on interconnected themes of: “Digital Public Infrastructure to accelerate women-led development ” and “Financing inclusion – Criticality of Core Resources.”
The roundtables brought together Ministers and high-level representatives from around the globe, including members of G20 countries across three continents such as Australia, South Africa and Indonesia as well as Small Island Developing States such as Panama. The Ministers shared best practices and discuss strategies for leveraging technology to advance women-led development.
In Session 1: Sharing experiences on leveraging Digital Public Infrastructure to accelerate women-led development, Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smt. Annpurna Devi highlighted how India has instituted social protection measures leveraging DPIs, such as social assistance, disability support, universal health coverage with specialized focus on women’s health needs, maternity benefits to nearly 38 million mothers, real-time tracking of nutritional, health and growth needs of over 100 million women, children and adolescent girls through POSHAN tracker, and much more.
“In today’s technologically advancing world, there is a need for balanced regulation for the safe and responsible use of technology, especially in leveraging e-governance for social protection systems. Digital Public Infrastructure should be a Bridge, not a Barrier!” says Minister WCD, echoing the call of Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi.
In Session 2: Sharing experiences on financial inclusion, investment in women, and criticality of core resources – best practices by Governments, the Union Minister for WCD mentioned how we have successfully empowered millions of women entrepreneurs with businesses of all sizes, from street vendors to agri-preneurs to start-ups, through a bouquet of tailored financial policies and schemes, to nurture their growth, from inception to scale.
She added that India supports not only the incubation of new entrants to the business world but also the growth of the businesses of women entrepreneurs. Notably at the Ministerial roundtable, along with the Union WCD minister, the sessions were attended by H.E. Parvathaneni Harish, Permanent Representative of India to the UN, H.E. Sima Bahous, UN Women Executive Director.
H.E Parvathaneni Harish, Permanent Representative of India in his remarks, elaborated on the transformative impact of India’s foundational ID Aadhaar, particularly in the sphere of women’s empowerment. Executive Director of UN Women, Ms. Sima Bahous, Deputy Executive Director Ms. Kirsi Madi and G20 Women Task Force Member Smt. Nayana Sahasrabuddhe also spoke on the occasion.
Ms. Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, stated that in India, we have seen the power of Digital Financial Inclusion through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), digital payments have increased women's employment and autonomy.
The roundtable witnessed active participation from Ministers from Indonesia, Morocco, Australia, Panama, and Qatar, who shared their respective nations’ experiences and perspectives on advancing women’s rights.
The roundtable served as a crucial platform for fostering dialogue and collaboration among nations, reinforcing the global commitment to advancing women's rights and promoting women-led development.