Final thoughts
When you live in a country where women’s rights are enshrined in legislation, where parental leave is a given and the biggest issue working women face is how to get to the top, not just how to get to work, it can be easy to forget that not every country starts in the same place.
For me, this year’s WEPs has been a reminder of how far we still have to go around the world. When women still cannot safely travel to their place of work, earn money without having to accept sexual harassment as just part of their day or have full control over their reproductive health, we will never have the same economic opportunities that men do. I hope that this will now become a priority for business and we’ll start to recognise that this is a societal issue, not a private one.
If you haven’t done already, do catch up on the main points on the Twitter hashtag and follow the WEPs for more information on future events.
Until next year!
Key advice on how to work with the next generation:
Make flexible working, specifically hours and location, a standard within business.
Consciously challenge, and attempt to break away from, society’s gender stereotypes.
Community development needs women, develop opportunities for women to engage locally and then grow from there.
Bring young female entrepreneurs into the conversations with business, help them and let them help you.
Key points
We need to engage young men in the debate around feminism as well, we need to explain to them why we need them to support young women and the role that they play.
If you have a platform make sure you use that platform as a force for good.
We need to make sure that we’re not having the same conversation in ten years time. In order to do that we need to teach young people about gender equality and how we achieve it, so that the knowledge isn’t lost.
If you want to build an equal society then you need to give opportunities to women, you need to make gender equality a habit.
We have to build young women’s skills and training, particularly in a world were there is less job security, so that they are capable of thriving.
Taking aim at 2030: the next generation of change agents
The panel for this session:
- Souphachanh Khansyla, Head of International Banking, ANZ Bank Laos Ltd.
- Tennile Amor, Singer/Songwriter and Co-founder, E.P.I.C. (Everyday People Initiating Change)
- Arrey Obenson, Secretary General, JCI (Junior Chamber International)
- Holly Ransom, Chief Executive Officer, Emergent
Session: childcare now on the agenda
Key takeaways: Win-win childcare solutions for employer and employees are essential. Communicate the business case for employer supported childcare.
Session: why women’s health in the workplace matters
Key takeaways: Women’s health and family planning is essential to women’s participation in the workforce. Additional data and evidence for the business case for women’s health is needed.
Updated
Session: accelerating gender equality in practice, middle managers’ role
Key takeaways: Cultivate male managers as role models for inclusive leadership. Develop empathy in managers. Encourage male middle managers to critically reflect on their actions.
Session: ending violence against women is everyone’s business - workplace action and responses
Key takeaways: domestic violence has an impact on women’s participation in the workplace. Businesses and governments have to respond to domestic violence. Working together can increase the speed of change in this area and drive a zero-tolerance approach to this issue.
Session: women and value chain, lessons learned
Key takeaways: all actors have a role to play in supporting women in the value chain, and should be held accountable. Buy from women-owned businesses. Support women’s business development through training, advocacy and supply chain integration.
Session: changing behaviour & workplace culture for inclusion
Key takeaways: rational arguments aren’t enough to bring about change. Make people “feel the need” for inclusion in the workplace.
Updated
Oh, before the youth panel audience members are reporting back on their key takeaways from the breakout sessions. I’ll try to capture all of them...
We’re moving into the final session of the day, and the conference. Get ready for a heavy use of the word “millennials” because the next panel asks young leaders what they think business should do to achieve the SDGs by 2030.
Some other key points from around the plenary sessions currently happening:
Whenever we hear "gut feeling" it usually means unconscious bias. Need to help ppl understand their own decision making. #WEPs
— Elizabeth Shaw (@MsShaw84) March 16, 2016
"Allow people to be explicit about their 'babies' or priorities in a mtg to flag and tee off biases." - @NathanielKWong #WEPs
— Megan Schumann (@Schumenu) March 16, 2016
"Building a "perfect team" is more about creating a psychologically inclusive workplace, not just an efficient one" - @nathanielkwong #WEPs
— Megan Schumann (@Schumenu) March 16, 2016
Why women’s health in the workplace matters
Key points:
Eric Austermann of Jabil: we looked more closely at women’s health in the workplace when HP, a customer, started talking to us about it. We could partner with them to try something. We looked at it as an engagement project with our employees. We came out of this not really measuring it, but after that we did a study on it and we found that absenteeism went down, visits to health clinics on the factory campus went up, employee engagement went up. But you also have to want to invest in your employees.
Julia Arick of Caribbean Island Apparel: I first became interested in women’s health in the workplace when I was pregnant. I started a pregnancy group at work and that still meets once a month now. It started around sharing advice and now includes sonograms and ensuring our employees can afford to give birth in a hospital. I heard managers say I was promoting pregnancy through these initiatives, but if you have women giving birth in unsanitary conditions or having an unhealthy baby that all takes away from production time. There’s a business case for looking after your staff.
Bringing in programmes like this changes everyone’s attitudes to health at work. Prior to the programmes Arick started nobody would talk about their health and managers would go out of their way to avoid asking about it. Now it’s more open, employee engagement is up and the culture around what can and cannot be discussed has changed.
Louise Dann, UNFPA: we talk about reproductive health because it’s universal for women. If we want women to come to work, we need to give them the choice of when to get pregnant. We need to make this a tenant of health in the workplace.
Breakout sessions now. I’m off to listen to “why women’s health in the workplace matters” but you can follow all the sessions on the #WEPs on Twitter.
Stories from the frontline: women leading businesses
Erika Karp, founder and chief executive officer, Cornerstone Capital Inc
We need to stop calling corporate social responsibility CSR and start calling it corporate excellency - it should just be how a business works, not a nice extra. She built Cornerstone Capital in order to bring about global prosperity, which is a simple goal to articulate but complex to enact.
In order to get a vision started you have to refuse to accept the status quo. Ideas and relationships never become a commodity so a successful entrepreneur should look to come up with an idea that leverages ideas and relationships. We need to do this around women’s empowerment.
“I think capitalism is beautiful, economics is poetry and finance is magic, if you do it right.”
Stories from the frontline: women leading businesses
Archana Bhatnagar, managing director, Haylide Chemicals PVT LTD
Entrepreneur Bhatnagar started her business with less than $10 and a one year old son. Her key lessons in business and resilience are:
Bringing up two sons and working full time she realised that the women working for her were facing the same problems, so she created an office creche. This wasn’t a conscious decision, it was about adapting to what was needed.
She was pushed out of her own company by her male business partner, he told her to go start her a new business “if you have the guts”. When you’ve built one business you will know so much more, building the second one will be much faster.
The spirit of entrepreneurship never dies, learn your lessons from previous businesses, bring your family in, and give back to the people who give to you. She now provides education to all the women working in her factory, they helped to build the business and it’s only right in return to help build them up.
Maureen Kilgour, Université de St.Boniface: Issues such as violence against women, sexual harassment and progression in the workplace are all linked. Society at large is responsible for gender equality, businesses need to look more closely at this. For example, look at how women get to and from work. Is the transport safe? Is it available at times that allow them to drop off or pick up children? By influencing change with business schools we can influence the business leaders of the future.
Updated
Vodafone Turkey: developed a business programme (Women First) that aimed to improve women’s lives. It was developed in conjunction with government and NGOs. The programme has helped over 600,000 women, through business training, by providing a platform that allows women entrepreneurs to sell their products, and through Vodafone stores which are managed and run only by women. They’ve also created an app called Easy Rescue aimed at victims of domestic violence. It helps women easily reach emergency numbers and send their location when they’re in danger.
NRS International: a Pakistani family company that employees about 6,000 people in Pakistan and is headquartered in Dubai. It makes emergency housing for crisis situations. Initially they started employing women by encouraging husbands to bring their wives to work, this evolved into a separate company that only employed women. They now provide business skills training to these women. They want to create stronger links between the women creating the products and the women using them.
LVMH: products and services are predominately created for and marketed to women but in 2007 only 23% of female employees help executive postions across all brands. Set a target of 40% of women on each brand’s committee by 2015, they achieved 38%. In 2014 LVMH joined the WEPs in order to keep their 41 CEOs accountable. Each brand now has to submit an action plan showing how they’re going to support gender equality within their business, both internally and externally.
WEPs World Tour: Actions and Accomplishments
One of the key points that keeps coming back to me this year is that each country is at a different stage in their journey. That what applies to Norway or the UK won’t necessarily apply to countries in South America, for example. Or even North America, actually. This session looks at some of the achievements across the world....
Some of the difficulties the project faced:
Getting women to the workshops and training, there were financial and logistical problems with this. They now offer advice over Whatsapp so that women can access the help from their phones.
Many of the women are dealing with very challenging personal issues leading to depression and frustration. Working with both the women to help them overcome these but also the companies to make sure they’re aware of these issues is important.
WEPs partnership innovation Brazil: refugees, employment and integration:
First up is a Brazilian case study.
Empowering Refugees worked with women from Brazil’s refugee community to help raise their self-esteem, integrate them into the society and find them employment. They chose to begin the project with a gender perspective because women refugees find it even harder to get a job than men.
The project trained full-time staff in Brazilian companies about the difficulties facing refugees, they then bring the company and women together to run workshops on the Portugese language, interview skills, entrepreneurship and finances. After the workshops they worked with the women to help them find jobs, and with businesses to help raise awareness of the issues facing these women.
As a result of the project there were two direct hirings and one indirect hiring. Three women are now receiving guidance on how they can grow their own businesses.
And we’re back in the room. The first session is going to look at what WEPs members are doing around the world, and where the biggest impacts have been. I’ll be summarising some of them as we go, and for more info do follow the #WEPs on Twitter.
A short break now. I will be topping up caffeine levels and squirrelling away biscuits to power me through the next session. Back in half an hour or so.
Some points from the floor:
The business case for gender equality is well known but people are not acting on it. It’s too costly and many companies fear what they’ll find. We need to make sure middle management understand the business case, that they know what the workplace expects around gender equality and that they then act on it. Certification is a step in the right direction but it’s not a determinant of action.
International Labour Organisation creating a convention to discuss harassment, violence at work and domestic violence. Employers are opposing opening the convention up to the discussion around domestic violence, will WEPs members support its inclusion.
Analysis shows that gender balance and business success goes together but it doesn’t say which is cause and which is the result, how can we show this and how does gender balance lead to better performance?
The panel are emphasising the links between sustainability and gender equality. Particularly when it comes to the supply chain and how business diversifies this chain. The SDGs provide an opportunity for common metrics and standards, it also urges companies to talk about issues that they might not otherwise, for example gender based violence. The SDGs force companies to look outside themselves and start thinking about their effect on their communities, customers and suppliers.
Boyner Group - 17% of SMEs who supply to Boyner are women, double the national average in Turkey. However, there are barriers to women starting their own businesses, lack of access to finance, barriers to owning land etc, so Boyner created a 12 week programme to help women understand how to set up and run their own businesses. It helped these women then find role models and mentors, and introduced them to banks and brands they could work with. The result of this was that the women diversified their products, found new global partners to work with and made new business connections. At the same time they became a strategy partner for Boyner, we almost created a support group between us. They will be cascading this out.
Codensa - We accepted the WEPs pledge in 2013 and it’s been an important thing for us to do. It’s motivated us to do more than we thought possible, it also showed us the huge gaps that we needed to address. Because we work in the energy sector there are few female workers in the industry but now we hire more women than men. As far as the number of women in management positions is around 25% & the same at board. It’s still male dominated but we know the path we need to continue to follow.
L’Oreal - have created a dashboard with over 30 types of data incorporated to measure diversity and inclusion. Worldwide ambition to have 50/50 representation across the organisation. When you start collecting data you have to accept that you need to be transparent and accountable. Wanted to make it clear both internally and externally that we have a strong commitment to gender equality and sustainability both internally and externally.
Panel discussion on what needs to happen for gender equality to be action rather than just talk.
Sodexo - We studied 100 different organisations globally & asked how do gender balanced teams correlate to financial & non-financial success? Gender balanced management teams did better on employee engagement, better on brand image, better client retention, better organic growth, better gross profit (23% more likely to increase), & better operating profit. At Sodexo about 53% of teams are gender balanced, target is to get to 100%.
Action Plans for Impact: Setting Goals, Targets and Measurements
First up Amanda Ellis, special advisor to the president, East-West Center and Debra Cammer Hines, principle at EY, talk about the key things to bring about SDG 5 (details here).
Amanda Ellis
- What gets measured gets done. Still only 18 countries where gender equality is legislated. Principles 6 & 7 of the WEPs call for advocacy and reporting changes, business and government can come together around this.
- The business case has now been really well made, so business needs government to create a level playing field through legislation. Let’s not get too mired down in the details, let’s just go with the first objective under SDG 5 - ending discrimination against women.
Debra Cammer Hines
- Government are often the biggest employer in an area so they can set an example and also use their buying power to influence companies to take action.
- Increasing the inclusion of women is smart economics but this can’t happen without government and business working together.
In his talk @GenderEQ talks about how we're supersizing masculinity, eg: Batman in the 1960s & Batman today pic.twitter.com/hfIjZUQnYF
— Harriet Minter (@HarrietMinter) March 16, 2016
MK: Pakistani lawyer placed in prison after successfully defending women who had been raped. When the other prisoners found out what he did they instigated a hunger strike until he was released. If they can do that from prison, think what we can all do together. We can create a better world for women and in doing that for men, our children and our grandchildren.
MK: men think that gender equality is just about women. When we tell them about the expectations society puts on men they start to realise that they’re not the only man who feels those expectations, they’re not alone. Men have waited their whole life to hear this message about equality and the capacity for change.
MK: Four things men can do in the workplace
- Make a personal commitment to promote gender equality in the workplace. Be part of the change, don’t just say the right things but do them. Take paternity leave, inspire other men to create a gender equal workplace.
- Work to understand these issues. Understand the business case for gender equality, understand the ways women are still second class citizens, understand that listening is key, understand that some women (and men) face mulitple barriers to equality, and finally understand that men’s lives are changing.
- Do a company check up. Make sure that policies are in place, that managers are trained and evaluated on equality, that they respond to and prevent harassment. Monitor and measure how you’re doing on gender equality and celebrate when you get it right.
- Make a public commitment to lead.
MK: This does not excuse the levels of violence and sexism in the world today but it does help us understand it. We need men to speak out for gender equality because it’s the right thing to do but also because society, families and men will gain from it.
MK: we teach boys to be risk takers and warriors. We teach them to hide their feelings and fears, to be “real men”. We’re making progress in changing these norms but we’re also “supersizing masculinity”. We’re literally making our idols bigger, compare GI Joe dolls from the 1960s to now. We tell boys that if they’re not big and strong they have failed. And it tears men apart.
MK: still ongoing problems at work, from sexual harassment, women dominated professions still not seen as important, men still dominate the top end of all professions.
MK: these attitudes come from the fact that we still live in a society that is run by men. Most of our political leaders are men, most economies are still men, our biggest sports heroes are men. Men are supposed to lead the way and women are still expected to handle the bulk of domestic labour. On average, across the world women do 167 minutes of housework a day, men do 101 minutes.
MK: The most wonderful point of my life was when my son was born. For a few seconds when he was born I didn’t know if he was a boy or a girl, until the nurse spoke.
“It’s a boy,” she said. “What a strong little fellow.”
I was shocked by how deep her voice was when she said this and the words she’d chosen. He was a strong little thing but he was also sweet. From the moment of birth we are held differently, talked to differently and given different expectations of our lives as women and men.
Michael Kaufman, co-founder, White Ribbon Campaign. Senior fellow, Instituto Promundo
MK: When talking about gender we instantly think women. But we need to make men visible in the discussion about gender. Part of this is about raising some critical comments about the attitudes and behaviours of some men but not all of them, it’s not about collective blame or pointing the finger. But we do need a clear message to men that they should not be scared of powerful women. The message around gender equality should not be about one side winning but about the benefits to both.
Joseph Keefe, president of Pax World Management and Elizabeth Broderick, special advisor UN Women, talking about the highlights of yesterday for them.
EB: yesterday reinforced that we have moved forward. No longer talking about the business case for change but actually how we’re going to do it. Also heard yesterday about the power of leadership and the fact that to be a WEPs champion still requires courage. Heard about the power of collaboration, it helps us find common ground. The #panelpledge was fantastic, and the one thing everyone can leave the conference and take back to work.
JK: all the research shows that investing in women and girls lifts whole nations and results in better GDP. Pax will be reporting on gender ratios on an annual basis and will ask companies they invest in to do the same.
The rise of trafficking and violation of human rights suggest that we might be heading for the Sisyphus effect, says Kingo. Her plea is that we take on the attitude that while we don’t know what will happen we plan for the worst and keep the momentum going, keep striving for a snowball scenario even when we might not get it.
Lise Kingo, Executive Director, UN Global Compact opens the event and talks about what might happen now. There might be a snowball effect and it’s all easy from here on in. Or it might be the Sisyphus effect, we keep pushing a rock up a hill but never quite make it to the top. Fingers crossed for the first one.
Everyone’s back in the main room for the key sessions of the day. It’s a full house, if you’re here do come and say “hello”, we’d love to know what’s been the most interesting part of the conference for you so far. Or tell us in the comments below.
Changing Behavior and Workplace Culture for Inclusion
First session today looks at how we get away from just talking about “the women problem” and instead really change business so it’s more inclusive for everyone.
“Do you consider yourself someone who discriminates against other people?” asks the first slide. “No,” says everyone. Oh, how wrong we are.
Getting people to acknowledge their unconscious bias really requires you to show them it, not just tell them about the stats. Some great examples of how to do that here.
Group think: we actually feel anxious when asked to say something that goes against what the rest of the group thinks, so we tend to stay quiet. Instead of asking people to speak their opinions, instead ask them to write them down. Suggest that everyone comes up with an argument against the group decision and then write it down. It gives people time to think.
Instead of talking about inclusion as something that brings gender equality focus on the other benefits whether that’s wellbeing or innovation or profit. Rather than suggesting you have targets for diversity, use the idea that a high performing team is made up of eg: max 70% of the same gender, max 70% of the same nationality, max 70% of the same background etc.
And if you want to really encourage your team to share their opinions rather than just following the leader, use the phrase “critical thinking” at the beginning of a meeting. It will encourage your team to air any views that disagree with the group.
WEPs Day Two
We’re back at the Women’s Empowerment Principles for another day of discussion and debate around what business can do to help bring about better gender equality. Sessions coming up include:
- Men, Business, and the Gender Equality Advantage
- Why Women’s Health in the Workplace Matters - Prescriptions for Action
- Taking Aim at 2030: The Next Generation of Change Agents
And more. We’ll be updating the key developments and thoughts as we go but you can also follow along live here or on Twitter here.
We’ll be back tomorrow with day two. It’s a long one, from 8am till 6pm and jam-packed with men and women leading their businesses towards gender equality. We’ll be looking at what works and what doesn’t, how we get beyond talking to action, and what will be the biggest challenge in achieving the SDGs by 2030.
Final words:
We’re into the final stretch for today and closing us out are Fiza Farhan, CEO of Buksh Foundation and Buksh Energy, and then Ban Ki-moon.
Farhan is a mere 29 and one of those incredible Millennials that make the rest of us feel that we have really under-achieved. Her companies are focussed on clean energy and financial inclusion, starting in Pakistan she wants to start a global movement. She is calling for government to embed the WEPs in legislation and incentivise business to put gender equality on the boardroom table.
Her calls for action to WEPs attendees:
- Governments take tangible action to remove barriers to women’s empowerment.
- Business leaders demonstrate your commitment by signing the CEOs WEPs agreement.
- Women, believe in the strength that lies inside you.
Ban Ki-moon emphasises that we’ll never achieve the SDGs without full gender equality. When companies invest in women they see a range of benefits and a return on investment. The WEPs now have over 1,100 CEOs from over 80 countries signed up to them. He feels that Farhan’s story is important as she’s part of the largest generation in history, she personifies what we need to achieve for them.
And finally, Ki-moon feels there should be a principle that there is no difference between what men can do and what women can do. There is more awareness of gender equality worldwide, we’ve talked about it a lot and nobody disagrees. But what is unacceptable is that gender inequality still exists, by 2030 this needs to end.
Hear, hear.
Updated
Leading by Example: 2016 WEPs CEO Leadership Awards
And the winners are...
Award for community engagement - Federico Bernaldo de Quiros of Restaurantes Toks
Award for cultural change for engagement - Lance Hockridge of Aurizon
The seven principles award - Janet Awad and Michael Landel of Sodexo
Benchmarking for change award - Jean-Paul Agnon, L’Oreal
Award for business case for action - David Sproul, Deloitte
Updated
We’re now hearing about some of the key leaders who have brought the WEPs into their business and transformed it. Winners of the WEPs leadership award coming up but in the meantime some thoughts so far:
There feels like there’s a big emphasis on the basic rights that have to be in place for women to take advantage of economic empowerment. These include tackling violence against women and girls, and providing access to family planning and childcare.
It’s been really nice to see so many men who actually seem dedicated to improving gender equality. Usually men at women’s events can seem, well, a little like they’re going through a well rehearsed speech that they forget about the second they leave the room. But today’s speakers are bucking that trend. Particularly of note, Luis Alberto Moreno and Josh Levs.
It’s going to take 100 years to achieve gender parity in the boardroom. 100 years. And that’s based on the current speed and effort, if we let up even a little bit we could be here for centuries.
Two WEPs stakeholder initiatives to check out:
Arancha González, executive director, International Trade Centre - #SheTrades initiative, a global call to action to connect 1million female entrepreneurs to work opportunities by 2020.
Priya Agrawal, executive director, Merck for Mothers - Outsourcing public health supply chain to private companies. Improved access to family planning for 3.2million women.
Some of the reactions to the WEPs event so far:
How do we increase female participation in the workplace? Destigmatize stay-at-home fathers and increase paternal leave! #WEPs #CSW60
— Lua Doan (@doan_lua) March 15, 2016
Great example of a biz practice that hold women back but seems gender neutral: expecting everyone to apply for a promotion. #weps
— GenderEQA (@GenderEQA) March 15, 2016
"Government needs to subsidize child care," says @tammy_medard @ first #WEPs panel. "Gov't needs to step up to support balanced households."
— WEPs (@WEPrinciples) March 15, 2016
“The World We Want”: Delivering for the 2030 Development Agenda
Nur Ger, founder and president, SUTEKS Group - it is the role of the entrepreneur to change the workplace. Owners, managers and employees should all be working together to make a great business, give employees shares and a say in management decisions. Flexible working options started in her company to help women and then it became a way of working within the company for everyone.
Josh Levs, author of All In; former reporter for CNN and NPR - most parental leave policies around the world are designed to be gender police, to push women to stay at home and men to go out to work. The vast majority of paternity leave goes unused because of the stigma around it. “This generation of men grew up with gender equality but the workplace didn’t.”
Tammy Medard, chief executive officer, ANZ Bank Laos Ltd - the private sector needs to do public reporting to see how far they’ve come and how far they’ve got to go. We have to kill the myth that there aren’t enough qualified women for board positions, we’ve all sat on boards with men who weren’t qualified to be there.
Government needs to subsidise daycare. We need more of these and things like tax breaks. We need to change the expectation that you’re either a good mother or a working mother - you can be both.
Call to action to fathers, when you go home go do the laundry. Women have to succeed at work while still doing all the “at home” activities. And that breaks us.
Najmah Mallick, chief executive officer, Meezaan Building Services - Women in male-dominated industries have to change the perception of their sector, they need to be the face of their company. Companies need to recognise the multiple roles that women play, and provide a more supportive environment for both men and women.
"Most parental leave policies are designed to be gender police, to push women to stay at home & men to go out to work" - @JoshLevs #WEPs
— Harriet Minter (@HarrietMinter) March 15, 2016
Standing ovations at #WEPs event for @GlobalCompact, who will no longer participate in all-male panels. #CSW60 pic.twitter.com/9rD9NSH5DO
— UN Women (@UN_Women) March 15, 2016
Kweilin Ellingrud, partner at McKinsey & Company talking about five key learnings around women’s empowerment:
- Closing the gender gap to match men could drive $12trillion of additional GDP in 2025.
- Across 95 countries, gender equality in society is linked to equality in work.
- There are five global “impact zones” - areas in gender equality that require work from every country in the world. These include: time spent in unpaid care work, political underrepresentation and violence against women.
- It will take more than 100 years to reach C-suite equality
- There are six broad themes that help women: financial incentives and support, technology and infrastructure, creation of economic opportunities, capability building, advocacy and shaping attitudes, and strong laws, policies and regulations.
The next session is “The World We Want”: Delivering for the 2030 Development Agenda. I’ll be summarising the key points made but if you want to read more about the 2030 Development Agenda, you can do so here.
And my colleague Liz Ford has written this handy SDGs explainer.
Luis Alberto Moreno, president, Inter-American Development Bank
Moreno is talking about the role that men have to play in gender equality, and why we need to make programmes that encourage this a key part of our daily lives.
Nice to see someone opening with honesty.
“I come from a part of the world that is not seen as somewhere where there is equality between men and women”
When it comes to gender equality both the IDB, and the region that it serves, have a long way to go. However, Latin American and Caribbean countries are making strides in gender equality. More women than men in tertiary education, second to the Nordic regions when it comes to female representation in politics. Percentage of women working from 49% in 1945 to 60% today.
Despite improvements there is still a wage gap between men and women. One of the biggest problems though is domestic violence, 1 in 3 women report being victims of violence. Despite dropping fertility rates Latin America has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the world.
IDB experience of trying to bring gender equality withint its own workplace means that it’s been able to help its clients to do this too.
IDB is partnering with UN Women and the WEPs to create a benchmarking system for companies that allows them to assess their gender equality and what they need to do to go further with it.
“When women do well our societies do better as a whole. I hope that many more men in Latin America will join us in [the quest for gender equality] and we’ll create a better future and more opportunities for all.”
Updated
Keynote address from Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera, president of Costa Rica
There is a need for gender equality to happen quickly, he says, and the fact that the SDGs and Beijing Plus 20 suggest that the time is right for this to happen.
Female unemployment in Costa Rica is 3% higher than men, and women earn 28% less than men doing the same job. Every year 14,000 teenage girls become pregnant and in 90% of those cases the father is at least twice their age.
The number of female representatives in congress shrunk despite a law calling for equal candidate shortlists. Out of 81 mayors only 12 women were elected,
“If all this happens in a country like mine that shows surprisingly high levels of development, what can we expect elsewhere?”
To address these issues, the government is supporting female entrepreneurs in a variety of ways including a programme to give businesswomen access to low-cost internet. They have undertaken affirmative action in the agricultural sector to promote their access to resources. We have promoted policies in the financial sector that are tailored to the financial needs of women. Raised awareness of the domestic workers and their economic impact.
Having more women in work has helped fight poverty, this has been the case for South America he says.
He closes with the thought that when we empower women we make our country economically stronger and more human.
Summary
If you’re following along on social media the hashtag for the event is #WEPs. We’ll be picking up questions from this hashtag so do add them in. You can see the full programme here.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, under-secretary-general and executive director, UN Women, opens the conference by announcing that this is the countdown to 2030, the time when we start pushing forward, and building on, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Lise Kingo, executive director, United Nations Global Compact, explains that this year’s conference is different because the SDGs provide a timeline and guide for achieving gender equality. Without gender equality we cannot achieve the rest of the SDGs, she says.
If we want gender equality, Kingo says, then we need to make sure that women are visible. A key commitment to this is that the UN Global Compact will not take part in, or host, panel events which only consist of men.
We’re a little late kicking off, so while everyone’s getting seated have a re-read of the UN’s Women’s Empowerment Principles here.
Day one
We’re at the annual Women’s Empowerment Principles conference, talking about what business needs to do to bring economic equality to women around the world. Coming up we have discussion on how to ensure women have access to all jobs, why childcare is the key to female economic freedom and which companies are actually living these values currently.
We’ll also have keynote speeches from Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera, president of Costa Rica and Ban Ki-moon, United Nations secretary-general.
The event will start at 3pm EST, so join us then.
