Global Compact – UN Women

Event on Women’s Empowerment

AM & PM Meetings

Leaders from Business, Government, Civil Society Attend Commemoration

 

of ‘Women’s Empowerment Principles’ Launch

 

One Year Later, Secretary-General, Deputy

Top List of Officials at Event Hosted by UN Women, Global Compact Office

Scores of business leaders, along with representatives of Government and civil society, today shared their experiences in promoting women’s advancement through the Women’s Empowerment Principles at a United Nations meeting opened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and closed by his Deputy, Asha-Rose Migiro.

“Businesses have a tremendous reach,” Secretary-General Ban told participants in the New York meeting, which runs through tomorrow.  “When you act in the workplace, we see the effects throughout society,” he added.

Co-hosted by UN Women and the United Nations Global Compact Office, today’s event marked a year since the launch of the Women’s Empowerment Principles, which call for high-level leadership in seeking increased opportunities, training and empowerment of women at every level of business, as well as in the community, holding that gender equality is good for business.

Released today were the names of more than 170 chief executives who have signed on to the Principles since the launch.  Many of them were among the 150 attending the anniversary event — entitled “Equality Means Business:  Putting Principles into Practice” — where they spoke of strategies and challenges relating to implementation.

Mr. Ban, outlining the wide range of United Nations programmes for the empowerment of women, commended chief executives who have signed the principles, but sought much greater reach.  “I applaud the more than 160 companies that have signed on to the Principles.  But we need thousands more to reach a real tipping point,” he stressed, noting that in some countries, fields and businesses, the glass ceiling was stronger than iron.  “Together, we can shatter the iron ceiling,” he declared.

Michelle Bachelet, the first Executive Director of UN Women and immediate former President of Chile, said in a video message:  “Gender equality is not only a basic human right, but as business, economic and development experts now agree, empowering women fuels economies and social progress.  The Women’s Empowerment Principles offer a tool for a results-based partnership with the business community.”

She said the inclusion of women at the highest levels of management and on boards made a real difference, adding that ensuring the workplace was safe and free of harassment for women at all levels was also crucial.  She looked forward to providing strong support for the implementation of the Principles through the work of UN Women.

Welcoming the participants, Georg Kell, Executive Director of the Global Compact, the United Nations initiative that promotes good global corporate citizenship, said he hoped efforts to implement the Principles would be the first transformative public-private partnership.

According to the Global Compact Office, the business case for gender diversity and equality is strong.  A recent survey of Fortune 500 companies shows that those in the top quartile for women’s representation on their boards outperform those in the lowest quartile by at least 53 per cent on returns on equity.  Challenges remain, however, since only 28 per cent of business leaders said that women’s advancement was a top-10 priority for senior leadership.

Following today’s opening presentations, participants shared their experiences in a number of discussions led by Linda Tarr-Whelan, Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos, a non-partisan public policy research and advocacy organization headquartered in New York City.

Ms. Tarr-Whelan urged participants to learn from each other in their efforts to put the Principles into practice.  Challenges for some people may be opportunities for others, she noted as she introduced corporate representatives of enterprises that she described as pioneers in implementing the Principles.

Among them was Greg Pellegrino, Global Public Sector Industry Leader of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd., who presented a report produced by his company, “The Gender Dividend:  Making the business case for investing in women”.  He noted women’s growing importance in the consumer sector and in the pool of educated workers, and spoke of growing challenges, such as women’s increasing mobility, which, among other factors, affected the retention of women staff.

Also representing pioneers in the field was Robson Rocha, Vice President of People Management and Sustainable Development at Banco do Brasil, who noted that the bank had hired its first woman only 76 years ago.  Today, however, women made up 38 per cent of management, although efforts were required to ensure a gender balance at all levels.  He described a range of initiatives inspired by the Principles, of which training was particularly important.

In general, Brazilian companies were heavily represented among the participants, with some 18 from the South American country.  They included, among the opening speakers, Rosilene Tanaka, Chief Executive Officer of MicroLife Informática de Franca Ltda.; Michael Haradom, President of Fersol; and Januário Rodrigues Neto, Special Adviser to the Chief Executive of Caixa Econômica Federal.

With a range of social development programmes and a newly elected woman President in Brazil, the present time was important for progress on gender equality in Brazil, those participants emphasized.  Ms. Tanaka underlined the importance of the country’s micro-companies, which were responsible for 52 per cent of formal employment.  In such small companies, the Principles were easy to adopt if the owners were willing, she said, adding, however, that it was important to keep such proprietors informed on strategies.

Also speaking among the first group of leaders were:  Mary Boland, Senior Vice President of Finance and Distribution at Global Levi’s, Levi Strauss & Co.; Bennett Freeman, Senior Vice President of Sustainability Research and Policy at Calvert Asset Management Company, Inc., of the United States; José Manuel Escobar, Managing Director of Legalitas Quality Assurance S.L.–LQA of Spain; Ravi Fernando, Director of the Ceylon Asset Management Pvt. Ltd. and Focal Point of the Global Compact Network of Sri Lanka; Dean Cycon, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Dean’s Beans; and Deborah Holmes, Global Director of Corporate Responsibility at the international firm Ernst & Young.

Ms. Boland spoke about the challenges of fulfilling the Principles’ call to ensure women’s empowerment down the supply chain with regard to Levi’s contractors around the world, describing the company’s efforts in health and education, as well as the concomitant rise in productivity.

In the general discussion that followed, many speakers emphasized the necessity of improving monitoring mechanisms so that progress could be assessed.  Others stressed the need for advocacy and concrete programmes on the ground to deepen and scale up implementation of the Principles.  Most speakers described the Principles as a good guide for the total effort to empower women in the private sector.

Throughout the day, panel discussions explored how companies that had signed on to the Principles were turning them into practice.  One panel focused on human resources and recruitment policies, as well as management and board leadership to end gender discrimination.  Another discussed how associated entrepreneurs and suppliers could be influenced to use inclusive business models in order to enhance the economic empowerment of women around the world.

Yet another panel considered Brazil’s experience of integrating the efforts of various stakeholders, including the private sector, Government, civil society, UN Women’s regional and liaison offices, and the Global Compact’s local networks.  The final session focused on the “glacial pace of change” at the top of virtually every organization, looking at efforts to shatter the glass ceiling around the world and increase the number of women on corporate boards and holding senior management positions.

Closing the event, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro noted yesterday’s observance of the 100^th anniversary of International Women’s Day, a milestone given even more meaning by today’s event.  But with only 2.2 per cent of available capital going to women-owned businesses, one could only imagine the impact if that number was raised to 22 per cent.  Inspired by the gathering, she mused about starting a business that would tap women’s unrealized potential.  “Women have a proven ability to drive economic growth and social progress in communities, countries and companies”, she emphasized.  “Or… as the Global Compact and UN Women put it:  Equality Means Business,” she concluded.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record