On International Women's Day, Strong Recommendations to Businesses to Advance Women's Empowerment

NEW YORK, March 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the UN Global Compact (UNGC) today called on the business community to implement recruitment and retention practices that advance women's empowerment and urged them to proactively appoint women as managers, executives and board members. The call for action is part of the Women's Empowerment Principles—Equality Means Business, seven steps for companies to take to empower women in the workplace, to be launched tomorrow.

Women continue to be vastly under-represented in top positions and on boards -- their numbers have been increasing only very slowly over the last decade. In the U.K. for example, the BBC reported that in 2009, only 10% of directors of the U.K.'s FTSE 100 firms were women.  Women's Empowerment Principle 1 urges company leaders to make gender equality a top priority.

A recently published McKinsey study, The business of empowering women, informed by a survey of 2,300 senior executives, reports that companies that are already focusing their efforts on women are reporting measurable business benefits.

"The 'multiplier effect' of women's empowerment has been increasingly acknowledged.  What is new today is that the corporate community itself reports that gender equality is good for business -- advancing innovation, attracting top talent, raising positive consumer and community recognition and improving profits. This business case augments the efforts of women to realize their right to equality," said Ines Alberdi, Executive Director, UNIFEM.

Drawing on real-life business practices, the Principles were developed over a year-long international consultation, and are designed to help companies to tailor existing policies—or establish needed new ones—to advance women's empowerment and inclusion.

The principles also address underlying factors that have an impact on businesses. For example, violence against women takes a heavy toll at the workplace. Between 40 to 50% of women in the European Union reported sexual harassment at the workplace. Principle 3 includes establishing a zero-tolerance policy towards all forms of violence at work.  

On 9 March 2010, the UNIFEM/UNGC-organized Equality Means Business conference in New York City will bring together an international group of business leaders, civil society, academia and the UN.  The meeting, supported by the Government of Finland and the private company Symantec, will explore how the Principles can be implemented to change corporate culture and attitudes towards gender equality and inclusion.

SOURCE UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)