Global Compact and UNIFEM Address Role of Business in Empowerment of Women
(
New York, 5 March 2009
) – Today, the United Nations Global Compact and the United Nations
Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) are convening
Advancing Women in the Global Marketplace
, a consultation to explore the role of business
in improving the status of women around the world. The day-long event, taking place just prior to
International Women’s Day, is bringing together representatives of business, civil society,
academia, labour, governments and the UN to develop a more coherent vision of the many ways in
which business can help to empower women and advance gender equality. The meeting is addressing
issues such as creating the optimal workplace, women and entrepreneurship, and public-private
partnerships to advance women.
As a central part of the day’s discussions participants are exploring how a set of Women's
Principles, developed in 2004 by the investment firm Calvert in cooperation with UNIFEM, might be
useful to stimulate further progress in the advancement of women. The event is also discussing the
potential global application of the Women’s Principles, and how they might be further enhanced to
increase their international impact and reach.
“Our hope is that
Advancing Women in the Global Marketplace
will make a tangible contribution to the
empowerment of women everywhere”, said Georg Kell, Executive Director of the United Nations Global
Compact. ”This event is a unique opportunity to foster a broader understanding that the promotion
of gender equality is an essential factor in ensuring the long-term sustainability of business.”
“Reducing poverty or achieving gender equality is not just the business of government, the
UN, the international financial institutions of nongovernmental organizations”, added Inés Alberdi,
Executive Director, UNIFEM. “There is a missing and essential partner – the private sector.”
About UNIFEM
UNIFEM is the women’s fund at the United Nations. It provides financial and
technical assistance to innovative programmes and strategies to foster women’s empowerment and
gender equality. Placing the advancement of women’s human rights at the centre of all of its
efforts, UNIFEM focuses its activities on reducing feminized poverty; ending violence against
women; reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS among women and girls; and achieving gender equality in
democratic governance in times of peace as well as war. For more information, visit www.unifem.org.
Media Contact
Matthias Stausberg
UN Global Compact
stausberg@un.org
+1-917-367-3423
+1-917-214-1337 (cell)
Nanette Braun
UNIFEM
+1-212-906-6829
+1-917-667-1696 (cell)
nanette.braun@unifem.org
