Progress on economic gender is going much slower than expected. The most recent data from the World Economic Forum shows that, on current trends, it will take 202 years to close the divide in the workplace.
In an effort to speed up progress towards gender equality, UN Women, the United Nations body dedicated to gender equality, and the Global Compact, teamed up in 2010 to develop the Women’s Empowerment Principles, which push the business case for gender equality – which helps business perform better, and drives development – and provide a “gap analysis tool” which helps companies to measure their success in implementing the principles.
To date, over 2,100 companies have signed up, and are integrating them into their business strategy, including high profile international conglomerates such as Roche Pharma, Schneider Electric, Total and the Coca-Cola Company.
Examples of best-practice that companies are putting into place, include ensuring that gender is considered when considering senior board level appointments, that an equal number of female and male candidates are provided whenever a position is posted, mentoring arrangements to help women advance in their careers, and maternity leave opportunities for both parents, giving women the option to pause their careers without damaging their job prospects.
Anna Falth from UN Women is the head of the Women’s Empowerment Principles secretariat. When she spoke to UN News, she said that the “me too” movement to help survivors of sexual abuse and harassment, which took off following the popularisation of the #metoo hashtag, has actually been a positive catalyst for change in the workplace.
“More companies than ever are looking at this as a big risk and are actually taking action,” she said, “not only to set up policies on zero tolerance for sexual harassment and abuse, but they are also looking at the bigger picture of gender equality in the workplace and seeing what they can do there.”
The target that specifically refers to gender equality is Sustainable Development Goal 5: “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”
Worldwide, women are suffering from gender discrimination in the workplace, often ending up in insecure, low-wage jobs, and only making up a small minority of senior business leaders. They still perform the bulk of household work, leaving them little time to pursue economic ambitions.
Original source: UN News
Published on 27 February 2019
