“EQUALITY MEANS BUSINESS” ISTANBUL EVENT, MAY 4

UNITED NATIONS BASIC PRINCIPLES FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN ECONOMIC LIFE

1. Relevance of the Event

It is anticipated that the participation of women in economic life at all sectors and levels will have significant contribution to the national and global economy:

• Strengthening of the economies as a result of the inclusion of the idle labour,
• Creation of a more balanced and fair societies,
• Achieving sustainable development and prevailing human rights as targeted by the International Decision Mechanisms,
• Raising the total life qualities of all people without any discrimination,
• Increasing the efficiency at company level and achieving long term goals in shorter times,

 Empowerment of women in economic life can be ensured by guiding their abilities, skills, experiences and energies through actions and policies. In order to achieve Social Gender Equality at corporate level, first the organization should adopt the transparency and inclusion principles in its policies and activities.

 It is anticipated that the Women Empowerment Principles shaped over a multi stakeholder international consultation process leaded by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) will function as a gender lens where the organization can analyze current initiatives, benchmarks and reporting practices. Besides, as a result of benefiting from these principles in renewing and/or remaking the current policies and practices of the companies, the empowerment of women in business markets will be ensured more easily.

 Prevailed adoption of Social Gender Equality can only be possible by the participation of all the concerned stakeholders in the process. Therefore, the combined participation of the governments, actors representing the business world and nongovernmental organizations during the preparation process of the Women’s Empowerment Principles is important in the sense of including the interest, need and expectations of all stakeholders. There is no doubt that this joint work of UNIFEM which been working for 30 years for the global acceptance of Social Gender Equality with the UN Global Compact initiative which is the biggest corporate citizenship initiative functioning in more than 135 countries, having more than 7000 commercial participant and stakeholders will bring women forward in the economic life.

In the world which is increasingly globalized and interconnected, utilizing all social and economic assets is vitally important for success. In addition, although the equality between men and women is regarded as an international principle, basic and inviolable human right, women still face discrimination, exclusion and alienation despite the progress. Therefore special emphasize is made for women together with the children, disabled people, workers and minorities within the scope of the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. Besides, the internationally accepted instruments like the Beijing Action Platform adopted by all 189 countries at the World 4th Woman Conference in 1995n and Millennium Declaration adopted by 189 countries in 2000 provide contribution within the framework of the basic human rights.

These international standards illuminate our common aspiration for a life where the doors of opportunity are open to all. Where people can live free from violence, exercise legal redress and expect states to live up to their obligations to respect and protect the human rights of women, men and children and provide appropriate government services such as education and health.

Within the scope of this initiative, business world, working in close association with their peers, with governments, nongovernmental organizations and the United Nations will create international standards. On the other hand, they will seek to apply these international standards through their specifically designed policies and programmes. Their corporate commitment, reflected through the company’s mission statement and supported through public reporting on policies and practices, attests to the growing realization of how important these values are to business and their communities.

While there is significant increase in the performances of the business that employ great amount of women at all levels, the full participation of women throughout the private sector – from the CEO’s office to the factory floor to the supply chain remains unfulfilled. UNIFEM, the UN Global Compact, other leading UN agencies, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum, reinforce this difference in the economic life based on gender. On the other hand, governments also recognize that women’s inclusion drives development, and acknowledge that achieving the Millennium Development Goals and national economic and development plans requires rapidly moving towards gender equality.

Within the scope of the global initiative that has been started, it will be ensured that a vibrant business environment involving a broad partnership of actors, enablers, contributors and innovators to open opportunities for women and men will be created by enabling the active and interactive participation of governments, international financial institutions, the private sector, investors, nongovernmental organizations, academia and professional organizations to work together.

The thematic field of the event is determined by the priorities of the Global Movement to Improve the Status of Women in Economic life that was initiated on March 5, 2009 by the United Nations Global Compact and United Nation Women Development Fund. The event aims to inform the public and all organizations, particularly women organizations, that work for the social gender equality at national and international levels. On the other hand, since the Global Women Summit will start in İstanbul one day after the planned event date, at least half of the participants will consist of woman politicians, internationally operating business women and woman activists. In this context, it will be possible for our country to carry out an effective lobbying and to create pressure on the decision mechanism to ensure the applicability of the internationally taken resolutions in our country. Therefore, with this event, our country can join for the first time in the preparation process of an international agreement and the needs and expectations of our country will have a decisive role in the basic framework of the Global Contract for the Improvement of Women’s Status in Economic Life.

2. Target groups and ultimate beneficiaries

The main participant groups of the conference can be stated as the representatives of the non governmental organizations operating on social gender at national and international level, bureaucrats of the concerned public organizations, members of the relevant Parliamentary Commissions, business world, local administrations, academicians, foreign mission representatives, press members and the decisive actors of the decision mechanism.

3. General and Special Objectives of the Event

The General Objective of the Event can be summarized as increasing the awareness in our country of the Global Movement to Improve the Status of Women in Economic Life that was initiated on March 5, 2009 by the United Nations Global Compact and United Nation Women Development Fund, ensuring applicability of the internationally taken decisions in our country and ensuring the acceptance of the national analysis and strategies by the international mechanisms.

Special objectives of the project;

• increasing the awareness in our country of the Global Movement to Improve the Status of Women in Economic Life that was initiated on March 5, 2009 by the United Nations Global Compact and United Nation Women Development Fund;
• Creating a wide and strong communication network among the stakeholders like the non governmental organizations operating on social gender, relevant public organizations, Parliamentary Commissions, business world, local administrations and the decisive actors of the decision mechanism;
• Following the event, creating a “Civil Initiative Strategic Research Center” with the participation of all stake holders willing to be involved in the process and providing strategic support to the infrastructure preparations of the widest and most comprehensive work initiated by the United Nations since the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1979;
• Under the coordination of the Business and Professional Women Associations operating in Turkey, conducting thematic analyses and developing strategies based on these analyses by taking advantage of the experiences of different stakeholders, making resource scanning and realizing various sociological surveys;
• Ensuring the participation of at least 10 big companies operating in the Turkish Business life in the Global Compact.
• Preparing a convenient ground for a participatory democracy as a result of including concerned stakeholders in the process at the beginning and therefore ensuring significant legislative amendments within the framework of 7 Women Principles of the UN.
• Ensuring applicability of the internationally taken decisions in our country and ensuring the acceptance of the national analysis and strategies by the international mechanisms, thus ensuring that needs and expectations of our country will have a decisive role in the basic framework of the Global Contract for the Improvement of Women’s Status in Economic Life when it reaches the final version as a global contract

4. What are the Principles for Improving the Women’s Status in Economic Life?

• Leadership Promotes Gender Equality: Affirm high-level support and direct top-level policies for gender equality and human rights; Establish company-wide goals and targets for gender equality and include progress as a factor in managers’ performance reviews; engage internal and external stakeholders in the development of company policies, programmes and implementation plans that advance equality; Ensure that all policies are gender-sensitive  (identifying factors that impact women and men differently) and that corporate culture advances equality and inclusion.
• Equal Opportunity and Inclusion: Pay equal remuneration, including benefits, for work of equal value and strive to pay a living wage to all women and men; Ensure that workplace policies and practices are free from gender-based discrimination; Implement gender-sensitive recruitment and retention practices and proactively recruit and appoint women to managerial and executive positions and to the corporate board of directors; Assure sufficient participation of women – 30% or greater – in decision-making and governance at all levels and across all business areas; Offer flexible work options, leave and re-entry opportunities to positions of equal pay and status; Support access to child and dependent care by providing services, resources and information to both women and men.
• Health, Safety and Freedom from Violence: Taking into account differential impacts on women and men, provide safe working conditions and protection from exposure to hazardous materials and disclose potential risks, including to reproductive health; Establish a zero-tolerance policy towards all forms of violence at work, including verbal and/or physical abuse, and prevent sexual harassment;  Strive to offer health insurance or other needed services – including for survivors of domestic violence – and ensure equal access for all employees; Respect women and men workers’ rights to time off for medical care and counselling for themselves and their dependents; In consultation with employees, identify and address security issues, including the safety of women travelling to and from work and on company-related business; Train security staff and managers to recognize signs of violence against women and understand laws and company policies on human trafficking, labour and sexual exploitation.
• Education: Invest in workplace policies and programmes that open avenues for advancement of women at all levels and across all business areas, and encourage women to enter non-traditional job fields; Ensure equal access to all company-supported education and training programmes, including Literacy classes, vocational and information technology training; Provide equal opportunities for formal and informal networking and mentoring; Offer opportunities to promote the business case for women’s empowerment and the positive impact of inclusion for men as well as women.
• Enterprise Development, Supply Chain and Marketing Practices: expand business relationships with women-owned enterprises, including small businesses, and women entrepreneurs; Support gender-sensitive solutions to credit and lending barriers; Ask business partners and peers to respect the company’s commitment to advancing equality and inclusion; Respect the dignity of women in all marketing and other company materials; Ensure that company products, services and facilities are not used for human trafficking and/or labour or sexual exploitation.
• Community Leadership and Engagement: Lead by example – showcase company commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment; Leverage influence, alone or in partnership, to advocate for gender equality and collaborate with business partners, suppliers and community leaders to promote inclusion; Work with community stakeholders, officials and others to eliminate discrimination and exploitation and open opportunities for women and girls; Promote and recognize women’s leadership in, and contributions to, their communities and ensure sufficient representation of women in any community consultation; Use philanthropy and grants programmes to support company commitment to inclusion, equality and human rights.
• Transparency, Measuring and Reporting: Make public the company policies and implementation plan for promoting gender equality; Establish benchmarks that quantify inclusion of women at all levels; Measure and report on progress, both internally and externally, using data disaggregated by Gender; Incorporate gender markers into ongoing reporting obligations.

5. Who are we?

This event is a joint work of the associations operating in Turkey under International Federation of Business and Professional Women-IFBPW which has a 80-year long history with nearly 40,000 members under organizations in 100 countries. As the International Federation is granted with the consultant status by the UN, the organization operates as a defence mechanism organization and plays decisive roles in the creation of international resolutions, regulations, laws and directives on the social gender equality. At local level, it creates pressure on the national governments and ensures the national implementation of the international laws. In this context, this event will ensure that the needs and expectations of our country will be included within the basic framework of the contract and it is also aimed to determine the legislative amendments that may be required at the national level under the 7 Women Principles of the UN.

6. Program

For  MORE INFORMATION:

www.bpw-turkey.org ankara@bpw-europe.org

www.bpw.international.org

www.bpw-turkey.org

ankara@bpw-europe.org

PLEASE FIND MORE INFORMATION ON THE SUBJECT:

http//www.unifem.org/partnerships/womens empowerment principles

http//www.ınglobalcompact.org/Issues/human rights/equality means business.html