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B20 Women in Business Chair to Asharq Al-Awsat: We Seek to Empower Women, Increase Access to Employment Opportunities

Chair of the B20 Women in Business Action Council, Rania Nashar.
Chair of the B20 Women in Business Action Council, Rania Nashar.
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B20 Women in Business Chair to Asharq Al-Awsat: We Seek to Empower Women, Increase Access to Employment Opportunities

Chair of the B20 Women in Business Action Council, Rania Nashar.
Chair of the B20 Women in Business Action Council, Rania Nashar.

Rania Nashar, Chair of the B20 Women in Business Action Council, underlined the need to promote equality between men and women in the work field, noting that the Council was seeking to adopt policy measures that would encourage women’s participation in the business world.

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Nashar said the Council had submitted five recommendations to the G20 pertaining to women’s employment policies.

In this regard, she noted that the Saudi Business Group recorded the largest percentage of female participation in work teams compared to former presidencies. Saudi Arabia is the current chair of the G20.

“The participation rate of women reached 33.4%, most of them are Saudi, and the percentage of heads of work teams is 43% for the first time in the history of the business group,” she stated.

Nashar, who is also the CEO of Samba Financial Group, touched on a number of challenges and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on working women, in addition to solutions that enable them to advance their career.

She noted that the B20 Women in Business Action Council was aimed at addressing a number of issues, including gender inequality and the means to increase women’s participation in the business field, particularly in leadership positions across the countries.

“The Council’s priorities include advancing reforms in the equal treatment of women in a way that contributes to highlighting their full potential in the work field, creating a favorable environment for women entrepreneurship, in addition to adopting an approach that focuses on promoting effective cooperation between stakeholders,” she told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The work of the Women in Business Action Council has a great importance in terms of contributing to policy recommendations for the G20, Nashar emphasized.

Asked about her evaluation of the participation of Saudi women in the B20 meetings, she said: “The Saudi Business Group made sure that women in all G20 countries had a platform to express their views. In line with our commitment to provide a role model for others, the Saudi Business Group recorded the largest percentage of female participation in work teams compared to any previous presidency.”

She continued: “For the first time in the history of the business group, a council for women in business was established and worked to develop a road map to enhance the role of women in a number of fields. The Council has also sought to make women’s participation vital, to empower them in the career path and increasing their access to fair employment opportunities.”

Asked about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on working women, Nashar said: “Hundreds of millions of people around the world faced severe restrictions due to the direct repercussions of the emerging coronavirus. Women were particularly affected by it, knowing that they are more vulnerable to the repercussions of this pandemic in the long term.”

Relying on recent data and statistics, Nashar said that women have been more at risk of contracting the virus, as they constitute 70 percent of workers in the health and social sectors at the global level. In addition, more women work in low-paid jobs that lack security and social protection.

“In addition, many of the staff dismissals that take place around the world specifically target the service sector, including the retail, hospitality and tourism sector, which employs a large proportion of women,” she underlined.

The chair of the B20 Women in Business Action Council said that women have faced many challenges during the pandemic, including the closure of schools and the implementation of distance learning, which increased the burden of home care.

“Female business owners are also facing difficulties in financing their businesses; and given the current economic slowdown, they will face the risk of closure or bankruptcy,” she warned.

According to Nashar, one of the important steps in alleviating this problem is the establishment of a crisis response fund for women owners of micro, small and medium enterprises, and the adoption of clear legislation that eliminate all forms of gender-based discrimination and bias in decisions related to dismissal from jobs during the current pandemic and future crises.

Asked about the solutions that can help women advance their career, Nashar said that women’s access to equal employment opportunities would contribute to positive business and economic outcomes.

“It also increases economic output by reaching a wider pool of talent and fostering innovation and corporate productivity,” she noted.

She added that the Council was seeking to speed up government procedures to ensure solidarity in the field of business between men and women.

On the means to advance levels of gender diversity in business environments, bridge the existing gender wage gap, and eliminate discrimination, Nashar said: “We focus on bridging the existing gender gap, which will continue to widen if no action is taken today, as companies and policymakers must work together to ensure equal opportunities and pave the way for more success stories.”

She added that based on this reality, the Council was preparing policy recommendations that address the urgent and medium-term priorities resulting from the outbreak of the pandemic in the G20 countries.

“Our policy recommendations also aim to support the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Driven by this commitment to implement the gender equality agenda and bridge the wage gap, the Saudi Business Group has ensured that women in all G20 countries have a platform to express their views,” Nashar said.

She also told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Council has issued in July a special report for the G20 that included a six-point plan aimed at combating the current global epidemic and laying the necessary foundations to confront the resurgence of the disease in the future, including a possible second wave.

The report was prepared in collaboration with business leaders and multilateral organizations around the world, she said.

The Saudi Business Group also sought to reach a consensus on how governments can better support the private sector during the crisis, protect the economy and prepare for future crises. More than 750 business leaders from the G20 countries and beyond provided their opinions, including leaders of multinational corporations and SMEs, Nashar explained.

She also revealed: “Besides the immediate response to the pandemic, we cannot disregard the long-term issues that must be addressed. In this context, all the work teams of the Saudi Business Group and the Council are finalizing policy recommendations, which will be submitted to the G20 Presidency at the end of this month. Those include a number of sectors and issues that affect the international business community and require government partnership and close cooperation.”

The chair of the B20 Women in Business Action Council concluded by saying: “The emerging coronavirus crisis imposed a new business model on governments and companies around the world, and pushed them to take unprecedented decisions and measures, such as distance learning and remote work. This has contributed to the development of a new environment for both systems.”

“These measures will help moving towards a future dependent on digital transformation and will facilitate the process of gradually returning to the pre-pandemic lifestyle.”

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Interviews

Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
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Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich has told Asharq Al-Awsat that the US does not plan to withdraw its forces from Syria.

The US is committed to “the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with,” he said.

Here is the full text of the interview.

Question: Mr. Goldrich, thank you so much for taking the time to sit with us today. I know you are leaving your post soon. How do you assess the accomplishments and challenges remaining?

Answer: Thank you very much for the chance to talk with you today. I've been in this position for three years, and so at the end of three years, I can see that there's a lot that we accomplished and a lot that we have left to do. But at the beginning of a time I was here, we had just completed a review of our Syria policy, and we saw that we needed to focus on reducing suffering for the people in Syria. We needed to reduce violence. We needed to hold the regime accountable for things that are done and most importantly, from the US perspective, we needed to keep ISIS from reemerging as a threat to our country and to other countries. At the same time, we also realized that there wouldn't be a solution to the crisis until there was a political process under resolution 2254, so in each of these areas, we've seen both progress and challenges, but of course, on ISIS, we have prevented the reemergence of the threat from northeast Syria, and we've helped deal with people that needed to be repatriated out of the prisons, and we dealt with displaced people in al-Hol to reduce the numbers there. We helped provide for stabilization in those parts of Syria.

Question: I want to talk a little bit about the ISIS situation now that the US troops are still there, do you envision a timeline where they will be withdrawn? Because there were some reports in the press that there is a plan from the Biden administration to withdraw.

Answer: Yeah. So right now, our focus is on the mission that we have there to keep ISIS from reemerging. So I know there have been reports, but I want to make clear that we remain committed to the role that we play in that part of Syria, to the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with, and to the need to prevent that threat from reemerging.

Question: So you can assure people who are saying that you might withdraw, that you are remaining for the time being?

Answer: Yes, and that we remain committed to this mission which needs to continue to be pursued.

Question: You also mentioned the importance of humanitarian aid. The US has been leading on this. Are you satisfied with where you are today on the humanitarian front in Syria?

Answer: We remain committed to the role that we play to provide for humanitarian assistance in Syria. Of the money that was pledged in Brussels, we pledged $593 million just this past spring, and we overall, since the beginning of the conflict, have provided $18 billion both to help the Syrians who are inside of Syria and to help the refugees who are in surrounding countries. And so we remain committed to providing that assistance, and we remain keenly aware that 90% of Syrians are living in poverty right now, and that there's been suffering there. We're doing everything we can to reduce the suffering, but I think where we would really like to be is where there's a larger solution to the whole crisis, so Syrian people someday will be able to provide again for themselves and not need this assistance.

Question: And that's a perfect key to my next question. Solution in Syria. you are aware that the countries in the region are opening up to Assad again, and you also have the EU signaling overture to the Syrian regime and Assad. How do you deal with that?

Answer: For the United States, our policy continues to be that we will not normalize with the regime in Syria until there's been authentic and enduring progress on the goals of resolution 2254, until the human rights of the Syrian people are respected and until they have the civil and human rights that they deserve. We know other countries have engaged with the regime. When those engagements happen, we don't support them, but we remind the countries that are engaged that they should be using their engagements to push forward on the shared international goals under 2254, and that whatever it is that they're doing should be for the sake of improving the situation of the Syrian people.

Question: Let's say that all of the countries decided to talk to Assad, aren’t you worried that the US will be alienated in the process?

Answer: The US will remain true to our own principles and our own policies and our own laws, and the path for the regime in Syria to change its relationship with us is very clear, if they change the behaviors that led to the laws that we have and to the policies that we have, if those behaviors change and the circumstances inside of Syria change, then it's possible to have a different kind of relationship, but that's where it has to start.

Question: My last question to you before you leave, if you have to pick one thing that you need to do in Syria today, what is it that you would like to see happening today?

Answer: So there are a number of things, I think that will always be left and that there are things that we will try to do, to try to make them happen. We want to hold people accountable in Syria for things that have happened. So even today, we observed something called the International Day for victims of enforced disappearances, there are people that are missing, and we're trying to draw attention to the need to account for the missing people. So our step today was to sanction a number of officials who were responsible for enforced disappearances, but we also created something called the independent institution for missing persons, and that helps the families, in the non-political way, get information on what's happened. So I'd like to see some peace for the families of the missing people. I'd like to see the beginning of a political process, there hasn't been a meeting of the constitutional committee in two years, and I think that's because the regime has not been cooperating in political process steps. So we need to change that situation. And I would, of course, like it's important to see the continuation of the things that we were talking about, so keeping ISIS from reemerging and maintaining assistance as necessary in the humanitarian sphere. So all these things, some of them are ongoing, and some of them remain to be achieved. But the Syrian people deserve all aspects of our policy to be fulfilled and for them to be able to return to a normal life.