cap Claire Poyser will represent Australia at the second G(irls) 20 Summit, and intends to focus the agenda on women's education. Photo: Penny Stephens
A MELBOURNE teenager representing Australia at the G(irls) 20 Summit in October is hoping to put women's education front and centre in the run-up to November's G20 summit of world leaders.
Claire Poyser, 19, beat hundreds of other applicants for the chance to represent Australia at the summit in Paris - the second such gathering - and she's excited to help shape a women's development agenda on the international stage.
''I think far too often people try and make policy for people they don't understand,'' she said.
''The same has happened for women and girls - especially in developing countries. A lot of leaders are men … so I think it is very important to bring young girls together. We think like other young women across the globe and we have the same kind of priorities.''
The summit is the brainchild of Canadian politician Belinda Stronach, whose charitable foundation is the major supporter.
The first G(irls) 20 Summit was held in Toronto last year to coincide with the 2010 G20 summit. Ms Poyser said she first heard about the summit at high school, but did not apply to attend Toronto because she was in the middle of her VCE.
This will not be her first taste of international diplomacy. In Year 10, the Balwyn teenager began attending United Nations Youth Victoria events and fell in love with advocacy and diplomacy.
''I did want to become a doctor actually, for a while there, but I went to [the UN Youth Victoria] state conference and it was a model United Nations. I represented China and I just loved it so much. So I thought: 'No, I want to stick with it','' she said.
Since then, Ms Poyser has attended a model UN conference at The Hague and will attend another at Harvard University early next year. But for now, she's focused on the potential of women, and how best to improve conditions in developing nations.
''My main focus is education. It's the way to solve so many problems. Education means a woman knows how to keep her family healthy. It means she can earn up to $2000 more for every year she stays in education,'' she said.
Ms Poyser is hoping that the G20 will embrace the resolutions of the G(irls) 20 Summit.
''At the end of the conference we actually present a communique to the G20 leaders and if any of those recommendations are heeded that will be the biggest milestone,'' she said.
The summit runs from October 18 to 21 in Paris, and for Ms Poyser it can't come soon enough.