Page 348 - Ministry of Economy - December 2017

12/25/2017 تارﺎﻣﻹا ءﺎﺑﻧأ ﺔﻟﺎﻛو - Concrete steps to promote women’s leadership in economic growth taken at WEEGS

Wed 06-12-2017 23:47 PM
Concrete steps to promote women’s leadership in economic growth taken at WEEGS

SHARJAH, 6th December 2017 (WAM) - The first Women’s Economic Empowerment Global Summit (WEEGS 2017) signaled the
implementation of one of the recommendations of the UN Secretary General’s High-level Panel Report on Women’s Economic
Empowerment, which was to address the issue of women’s economic empowerment by working directly with female entrepreneurs with
a specific focus on building the bridge between them and the private sector, bringing stakeholders together and building partnerships
between them.

Gender-responsive procurement of goods and services by increasing the number of products procured from women owned and run
enterprises, and making it a mainstream trade practice instead of an exception, was one of the summits key focus areas, as per the UN
Report’s recommendations. Currently, only 1 percent of goods procured globally fall in this category.
"I want to thank the UAE government and the Emirati leadership who have played a pivotal role in different ways," said Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka, the Under Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women.

"We are left with only 13 years before 2030 by which time we should have reached substantive equality. We are making a case and
argument that gender equality is not an open ended journey; it has an expiry date. What would the world look like in 2030 if it lived up
to the expectations of the Agenda 2030? Violence against women will not be a norm; society will not tolerate child marriage or
trafficking. Everywhere, we will have mechanisms to ensure these practices do not thrive. In 2030, we will want to ensure that equal
pay is a norm, and women enjoy greater representation in a diverse set of economic and leadership roles. Is this too much to ask, or is
this rocket science," she added.

The importance role of technology specifically in addressing women’s entrepreneurship issues were highlighted, in context of its role in
creation and marketing of products, accessing finance, increasing the reach of companies and enhancing profitability.

WEEGS raised the bar on the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) by being a platform where 20 organisations, public and
private, demonstrated leadership on gender equality by adopting of two WEPs each under the ‘WEEGS Pledge’. The summit
emphasised that this initiative was a step towards ensuring that by 2030, businesses around the world will promote gender equality, and
empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community as a norm and not an exception. Big international conglomerates like
Ernst and Young, Mubadala Investment Company, Citi, Accenture, and Procter and Gamble (P&G) have signed up to WEPs at the
summit.

Joelle Zilliox, IMEA Purchase Leader at P&G, shared the company’s experience, saying, "P&G wanted to expand diversity and
inclusion beyond the walls of their offices for a reason. These qualities are rooted in our culture with a small example being the 95,000
people who have come together from all over the world to make up our workforce. Through bringing our external suppliers into this
ambit of diversity and inclusion, we have sourced goods and services worth USD 2 billion from diverse and minority women-owned
businesses in the US and Canada. This number is growing. Why? Because our findings show that companies that run effective supply
diversity programmes report increased profitability. Our internal data shows that women-owned and diverse suppliers actually perform
better than the average supplier base."
The final session of the two-day event , dedicated to the WEPs, and titled ‘Driving WEPs Implementation: From Promise to Practice,’
sheds light on the fact that with 1,655 countries signed up to WEPs so far, the ball may be rolling, but there is a long way to go.
Dr. Enas Makkawi, Director of Women, Family and Children's Department at the League of Arab States said, "We have Japan and
Turkey as our largest contributors but the figures are peanuts compared to what they should be. From issues such as recruitment and fair
pay to encouraging suppliers to expand their operations to women owned and managed businesses, the pillars of WEP are not only
workable, they are positively beneficial."
"The responses are simply that dealing with a gender balanced workforce results in better company performance," Dr. Enas Makkawi
added.
Abdullah Al Saleh Undersecretary, Ministry of Economy, UAE, attended the closing ceremony and emphasised that gender equality is
one of the biggest goals around the world, especially when all sectors in the market are increasingly interdependent and require diverse
viewpoints and perspectives to enable innovation.
He said, "This is an international platform that furthers the vision and philosophy of the UAE with regards to the empowerment of
women. I would like to express deepest thanks on behalf of the UAE Ministry of Economy to His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin
Mohamed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, for his patronage and supporting women to reach the
highest positions in society and economy."
"Legislations will be the main aspect for developing women’s skills and enabling their economic empowerment and bridging the gap
between the two genders. UAE is trying every day to set an example. A few months ago, the UAE launched an equality booklet for the
public sector, which will help companies to take the steps required to implement the highest standards and best practices of bringing
about equality in its true sense. We are aiming to become the #1 country in gender balance internationally by 2021," he added.
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