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The Women's Empowerment Principles are a set of Principles for business offering guidance on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community. They are the result of a collaboration between UN Women and the UN Global Compact. The development of the Principles included an international multi-stakeholder consultation process, which was launched in March 2009.
Sub-titled Equality Means Business, the Principles emphasize the business case for corporate action to promote gender equality and women's empowerment and are informed by real-life business practices and input gathered from across the globe. Rather than being prescriptive or a new initiative to which business is asked to subscribe, the Women's Empowerment Principles seek to point the way to best practice by elaborating the gender dimension of good corporate citizenship, the UN Global Compact, and business' role in sustainable development. As well as being a useful guide for business, it is hoped that Principles will inform other stakeholders, including governments, in their engagement with business.
Held in observance of International Women’s Day, the event will focus on how inclusive business strategies and practices drive change towards realizing the Women’s Empowerment Principles and will feature innovative approaches the private sector is taking to overcome challenges to achieve gender equality in the workplace, marketplace and community. Participants will include business leaders and representatives from a wide range of sectors and geographical regions and other key stakeholders from civil society, government and academia. Click here for more information and to view the agenda.
Participation at this event is by invitation only. Priority will be given to companies that have signed the CEO Statement of Support for the Women’s Empowerment Principles. To register your interest in attending, please contact the WEPs Team.
LIVE WEBCAST: Follow the conversation on 6 March at www.livestream.com/WEPrinciples.
Join us on Twitter at @WEPrinciples and #strategy4change.
In an effort to bolster high-level corporate leadership for gender equality, top executives of Global Compact companies are invited to sign a CEO Statement of support for the Women's Empowerment Principles – Equality Means Business. The Women’s Empowerment Principles were launched by the UN Global Compact and UN Women on 8 March 2010 after a year long multi-stakeholder consultation. Sub-titled Equality Means Business, the Principles offer guidance to companies on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community and emphasize the business case for corporate action to promote gender equality. By signing the Statement, CEOs will demonstrate leadership on gender equality and women’s empowerment and will encourage fellow business leaders to do the same.
For more information please contact Lauren Gula (gulal@unglobalcompact.org).
Key Documents
Guidance Material |
Lauren Gula
Human Rights & Labour Consultant
UN Global Compact
gulal@unglobalcompact.org
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The Women's Empowerment Principles — a product of a collaboration between UN Women and the UN Global Compact informed by an international multi-stakeholder consultation — are adapted from the Calvert Women's Principles®. The Calvert Women's Principles were originally developed in partnership with UN Women and launched in 2004 as the first global corporate code of conduct focused exclusively on empowering, advancing and investing in women worldwide.
