More than declarations, multilateralism can help build caring societies
The G20 is an influential global policy space that has proven effective in addressing the disproportionate amount of work that typically falls on women to care for people and run households.
The group’s member countries represent approximately 80–85% of global GDP, over 75% of global trade and two-thirds of the world’s population. Each year, the G20 Leaders’ Declaration sets the tone for international priorities — shaping national policy agendas, mobilizing global attention and investment and signaling where collective action is most urgently needed.
South Africa’s 2025 G20 presidency marks the fourth consecutive year of leadership from the Global South — following the presidencies of Indonesia in 2022, India in 2023 and Brazil in 2024. The November 2025 G20 summit will be especially historic as the first-ever held on African soil. This moment offers a powerful opportunity to anchor Southern leadership, elevate agendas like unpaid care work and gender equality and reimagine global governance from the perspective of all of those who will be impacted by its outcomes.
In 2015, the launch of the Women 20 (W20), as an engagement group to advise the G20, was a pivotal moment. Gender equality and women’s economic empowerment were no longer peripheral concerns but seen as central to inclusive growth and sustainable development. For example, some countries, like Brazil and South Africa, made strides in bringing more women into the labour force, thanks to the Brisbane Goal aimed at reducing the gender gap in labour force participation by 25% by 2025. Yet, 10 years later, the goal is expected to remain unmet: at last year’s W20 conference, only half of the G20 members were expected to achieve the target. One key reason is that care work continues to be invisible in economic governance. Without addressing inequality in the care economy as a systemic barrier, women’s economic empowerment will remain aspirational.
Transforming care from a private burden to a public good
IDRC has spent the last decade positioning care as a cornerstone of development policy. Using evidence from our research investments, we have supported efforts to embed care and gender equality into G20 dialogues and fostered South-South collaboration so that these commitments translate into meaningful change.
Through Southern-led research, policy engagement and strategic partnerships, we have sought to transform care from a private burden to a public good, placing it squarely on the agenda of multilateral economic spaces like the G20. We were at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in July 2025, where care gained ground as an investment priority, and at the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean in August 2025, where care was the central theme.
Why multilateralism is an effective space to advance change
In a world facing climate disruption, rising inequality, democratic backsliding, war and destruction, multilateralism may seem slow and uneven. Although they are shaped by power asymmetries, these spaces remain one of the few fora where countries can co-create norms, share accountability and build collective solutions to problems that no nation can solve alone. National leadership often inspires regional and global momentum. At the same time, countries that are lagging can be nudged forward through international commitments.
When commitments are made, they build shared benchmarks that movements can use to hold governments accountable. Advocates can say: “You signed this. Others are acting. Why aren’t we?” This dynamic — where global norms reinforce national action and national leadership shapes global agendas — is the engine of transformative multilateralism.
What we need now is not just more multilateralism, but one that is inclusive, feminist, care-centred and rooted in solidarity. One that enables peer learning, amplifies Southern leadership and supports civil society in driving change from the ground up.
When care was included in G20 declarations or other conference outcome documents, it created political legitimacy. Momentum is building. Countries like Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay have passed national care laws and policies that embed care into social protection systems. Measures include programs that provide services to reduce unpaid caregivers’ load and improve conditions for domestic workers. A national care policy is before cabinet in Kenya, having gone through a broad participatory development process led by the country’s State Department for Gender and Affirmative Action. It is slated to be the first of its kind on the African continent. These legislative advances are increasingly informed by cross-regional learning and multilateral engagement.
IDRC investments and partners including the Global Alliance for Care connect policymakers, researchers and advocates across regions to share lessons, co-create solutions and build solidarity.
The power of South-South exchange
On October 10, 2025, just before the W20 Summit in South Africa, IDRC convened a South-South peer-learning workshop that brought together policymakers, researchers and advocates from across Latin America and Africa. While care agendas are advancing in both regions — through innovative laws, policies and service delivery models —, progress often unfolds in isolation. By creating space for mutual learning, the workshop sought to accelerate policy design and foster a shared vision for change.
Participants explored how to interpret and apply data across diverse contexts, generate political will for care-centred reforms and scale innovations like Colombia’s care blocks. These innovative municipal service centres — offering free education, professional training and wellness counselling to caregivers for them to gain respite and autonomy — are now being adapted in Sierra Leone through research supported by IDRC and Global Affairs Canada.
We need an era of renewed multilateralism defined by co-creation, accountability and shared learning. The journey to embed the principles of caring societies in global governance is far from over, but the momentum is undeniable. Care is no longer invisible. And equality in the care economy is a political, economic and moral imperative.
For more on IDRC’s work in this space, explore:
Share this page