Just before this year's G20 Summit in Mexico, where the leaders of the world's biggest 20 economies will be focusing on a variety of issues, another summit had been held. Young women all over the world looked at the G20 agenda through the lens of the economic empowerment of girls and women.

The third annual G(irls) 20 Summit brought together one girl, aged 18 to 20, from each of the 20 participating countries – plus a representative from the African Union – to focus on the opportunities that can be gained when women are economically empowered.

They met from 24 to 31 May in Mexico City, focusing on solutions girls and women can bring to the worldwide economic challenges facing G20 leaders. The summit ended with a press conference and communique, providing a blueprint on how the G20 leaders can utilise and engage girls and women throughout the world.

Farah Mohamed, president and CEO of the G(irls) 20 Summit, explains the concept behind the event: "The G(irls)20 Summit is about showcasing how girls and women can impact a country's economic prosperity, political stability and social innovation.

"To be in a position to provide G20 leaders with advice, the 21 delegates need a variety of skills and training. The customised leadership training offered by Norton Rose made an enormous difference during the summit, but more importantly for these young women when they return home."

girls-summit-day-1-1Our support

Norton Rose Group is one of the founding partners of the G(irls) 20 Summit, and is the only legal practice to be involved with the initiative. As well as our role as a founding partner, we also drew on our experience in running leadership training to run a pre-summit leadership session for the delegates at this year's event. Carolann Edwards, our director of learning and organisational development, developed and tailored the session specifically for the occasion.

She explains our approach. "Effective leadership is at the heart of economic and social empowerment for change. The girls participating in the event have all, in their own different ways and contexts, shown leadership.

"Nevertheless, it is a truism that leaders do as leaders know. Thus, the case for leadership education is a strong one.

"We worked with the girls to develop their knowledge and skills to become even better leaders. We did this by giving them access to world-class research and knowledge on leadership performance and effectiveness.

"With the help of psychometrics, we also highlighted the pivotal role that self-awareness and coaching play in improving leadership skills and achievement.

"It is our strong belief that the time we spent on developing the leadership capabilities of these girls will echo around the world as they individually and collectively act as role models and catalysts for change."

We first got involved in the initiative thanks to Canadian partner Ava Yaskiel's role as a member of the Advisory Board of the G(irls) 20.

Our involvement has evolved over the years as we have been keen to find opportunities to add more than simply our voice to the campaign. I attended the second edition of the G(irls) 20 Summit in Paris in October 2011, where we hosted a session entitled If I Knew Then What I Know Now. Various high-profile women gave honest feedback to the delegates about life, love and careers.

During the course of the summit, I got to speak personally to many of the delegates. I listened with interest as each of them presented herself, her achievements and aspirations.

I was amazed by the depth of collective experience a group of 18 to 20-year-olds could have. Their poise and ambition was inspirational and they truly stood out as the leaders of tomorrow.

I am also the mother of two girls and want the best for them: we should get to the point where being a woman or a girl is a non-issue as regards rights and access to health, education and jobs.

This is still not the case in too many countries. My six and nine-year-old daughters attended part of the G(irls) 20 Paris Summit and they were empowered by the idea that girls can have their voice heard through such an amazing platform. They returned home with all sorts of questions and although being exposed to knowledge of issues such as child brides may be disturbing to them, I am proud that they were able to listen to and empathise with girls speaking up on this topic.

Challenges ahead

Our partnership with the summit is aligned with the our diversity and inclusion policy, something we've spent significant time and effort on developing and putting into practice in recent years.

It is no secret that the law is not a profession with a particularly stellar diversity tradition, but we (along with many other international firms) continue to work hard to change the pattern. It is a mission that is being undertaken in a variety of ways – there is no silver bullet. It is about raising awareness, getting out there and making sure it is not an issue anyone can ignore.

It is about the right training and development strategies, for young female lawyers and for the wider legal community, to make sure everyone has the tools needed to address the problem.

And above all, it is about grassroots engagement, helping the female lawyers of tomorrow believe that this is a profession where they can achieve success.

Of course, this is not a new focus for the industry, but we are seeing results already. For our part, nearly half (44%) of our partner promotions this year across the group were women.

It is a testament not only to the high-calibre female lawyers we have in the group, but also to the success of the wider efforts across the whole legal community to address the diversity issue. Top-level engagement is also key. Our support of the G(irls) 20 Summit is something Peter Martyr, our own group chief executive, is firmly behind.

He says: "This is an important initiative that we're extremely proud to support. The debates and negotiations at the leadership level of the G20 can have a profound impact on all levels of life throughout the world. It is important that such decisions are not made in isolation.

"Ensuring there is an open platform for girls and women to feed in to these issues is vital. We believe the G(irls) 20 Summit is an important step in achieving that."

We all have a role to play in empowering girls and women. Getting behind the G(irls) 20 Summit is one way you can make a difference.

Tara Pichardo-Angadi is of counsel in Norton Rose's Paris office.