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12/25/2017 WEEGS Closing Remarks: Women’s Economic Empowerment Not an Open-Ended Journey | Al Bawaba
process we oranged Sharjah. We were able to listen in on the experiences of many leading women in Search
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their fields who have already achieved what they were talking about.
“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. Enjoy your stay at 5 Assala Wearing the
We are making a case and argument that gender equality is not an open ended journey; it has an expiry stats hotels with Hijab (with Picture)
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Violence against women will not be a norm; society will not tolerate child marriage or trafficking. Trivago
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.
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WEEGS raised the bar on the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) by being a platform where 20 for Deadly Train Crash from over 700.000
organisations, public and private, demonstrated leadership on gender equality by adopting of two WEPs Near Seattle, Trump hotels worldwide!
each under the ‘WEEGS Pledge’. The summit emphasised that this initiative was a step towards ensuring Suggests Trivago
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 Recommended By
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.”

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The final session of the two-day event was dedicated to the WEPs, and titled ‘Driving WEPs Popular Discussed Editor
Implementation: From Promise to Practice,’ it shed 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.
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Dr. Enas Makkawi, Director of Women, Family and Children's Department at the League of Arab States Palestinian Boy’s Brutal Arrest Emerges
said: “We have Japan and Turkey as our largest contributors but the figures are peanuts compared to as Symbol
what they should be. From issues such as recruitment and fair pay to encouraging suppliers to expand Bethlehem to Receive Pence ‘With Shoes'
their operations to women owned and managed businesses, the pillars of WEP are not only workable, in Response to Trump
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Palestinians Face a New, Grim Reality
“The responses are simply that dealing with a gender balanced workforce results in better company ‘Trump the Kunafah’: Palestinians See the
performance.” Funny Side
Will Arab Leaders Take Action on
HE Abdullah Al Saleh Undersecretary, Ministry of Economy, UAE, was in attendance at the closing Jerusalem, or Only Give Words?
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 Muhammad 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.
In her closing remarks, HE Reem BinKaram, Director of NAMA Women Advancement Establishment,
said: “After two days full of exciting experiences and discussions, we have found effective ways to lead
this drive that will change the reality of women in the world, and enable her to take her rightful place in
society. This summit has opened a huge floor for many challenges we face as women. In 20 specialised
panels, we have discussed the challenges that face gender equality and hinder women’s participation in

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