The plenary session of the second G-20 EMPOWER meeting of the Ministry of WCD began today in Thiruvananthapuram with the theme 'Women's Empowerment: A win-win for Equity and Economy'.<br />''  <br />'' In his inaugural address, Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Dr. Munjapara Mahendrabhai called for working towards creating an ecosystem that nurtures women's entrepreneurship and leadership. MoS urged to focus on promoting women-led development with an emphasis on entrepreneurship, STEM education, and grassroots women's leadership. The Minister further stated that under the G20 Empower, India envisages the creation of a global mentoring and capacity-building platform, establishing a sustainable financing model and setting up an e-marketplace to support and promote women-led businesses.<br />''  <br />'' In his address, Secretary, WCD, Shri Indevar Pandey emphasised that in keeping with the Prime Minister's vision of including women as active agents in the growth story of all G20 nations, India leads by example by focusing on women's issues in the life cycle continuum approach.<br />''  <br />'' In her welcome speech, G-20 EMPOWER Chair, Dr. Sangeeta Reddy highlighted that  43% of STEM graduates in India are women – which is one of the best in the world; India has one of the world's best community programs in place (with nearly 4 lakh Self Help Group (SHG)  and digitization is bringing about a massive change enabling financial and economic inclusion of women.<br />''  <br />'' The second G20 EMPOWER meeting under India's presidency underscores the vital role of gender equality and women's economic representation in achieving sustainable development. The two-day meeting will witness panel discussions on various key topics such as 'Advancing Women's Entrepreneurship through Mentoring and Capacity Building, Market Access and Financing, Role of STEM Education and Innovation for Scaling up Businesses, Enabling Leadership at all Levels including Grassroots, Increasing Investment for Quality & Reach of Education, Digital Skilling and Jobs for Future.<br />''  <br />'' EMPOWER is the G20 Alliance for the Empowerment and Progression of Women's Economic Representation that endeavours to be the most inclusive and action-driven alliance among businesses and governments to accelerate women's leadership and empowerment across G20 countries. The G20 EMPOWER 2023 under India's presidency aspires to align with Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's vision of women-led development agenda.