The Global Summit of Women was conceived as the nexus at which all sectors – public, private and nonprofit – would come together under the common vision of dramatically expanding women’s economic opportunities globally through exchanges of working solutions and creative strategies forged by women leaders in different parts of the world.  It is a business Summit, whose ‘business’ focus is women’s advancement in the global economy.  The Summit has been connecting women worldwide since 1990.

BPW International and Global Summit of Women collaborated together in the past decades and many BPW members received global awards at the Global Summit of Women.  During 1996-2011, many past International Presidents of BPW International also served on Global Summit of Women’s International Planning Committee.

Since Global Summit of Women began in 1990, whenever the Summit was held in the country that has BPW affiliates, representative(s) from BPW would serve on Host Planning Committee.   Several BPW International Presidents and BPW members gave talks at the Global Summit of Women.  Global Summit of Women’s President Irene Natividad also gave talks at several BPW International Congresses, such as the ones in Venice (1996), Mexico City (2008), Helsinki (2011), etc. 

For example, in 2006 BPW International President Amany Asfour (back then President of BPW Egypt) was a part of  the Egypt Host Committee of Global Summit of Women  when the Summit was held in Cairo, Egypt.

President of Global Summit of Women branches off to set up Corporate Women Directors International (CWDI), which focuses on research on Women on Boards and promoting more women to serve on the Board of Directors.  CWDI reports provides baseline information from which women’s progress on corporate boards can be measured, CWDI has conducted research internationally since 1996 to identify women corporate board members in countries, regions, and industries globally.

CWDI’s research findings are valuable advocacy resources for BPW International as BPW too aims to promote equal participation of women and men in decision making roles. 

The research results were presented at the Global Summit of Women, at workshops at the United Nations. Irene Natividad also presented the finding at seminars that followed after CWDI’s Market Open at various stock market exchanges around the world.  BPW members also attended when opportunities arise, such as the one held in Bangkok on 2 October 2017.

At the Global Summit of Women in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2008, the Global Summit of Women, in association with the International Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPW International) and the European Women's Management Development (EWMD) network, launched "The Global Consortium of Women to End Cervical Cancer" aimed at eliminating this fully preventable disease which kill 250,000 women worldwide each year.

The Consortium aims to raise public awareness and educate women on cervical cancer prevention, testing and vaccination, and encourage governments to provide women and girls with easy access to the latest screening and vaccine technologies. 

BPW International assisted in disseminating the information among BPW global network and encourage members to sign petitions to support this.  Since 2008-present, over 1 millions people signed the petition to support this campaign. 

> ↗︎Read more on Global Consortium of Women to End Cervical Cancer 

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Global Summit of Women 2021, Lisbon/Portugal, 28-30 October 2021

Women: Transforming Economies

Why attend the 2021 Global Summit of Women?

• To hear & learn from global women influencers and opinion leaders from government and business
• To be inspired by women from across all continents and all areas of leadership
• To expand your global network
• To learn from and to share with your peers ways to improve your business, your career, your live ... and the lives of others

> ↗︎Read more and registrar here

BPW at Global Summit of Women 2019, Basel/Switzerland, 4-6 July 2019

During 4-6 July 2019, BPW International President Dr. Amany Asfour attended Global Summit of Women 2019 in Basel, Switzerland. She had the pleasure to be accompanied by her executive committee VP Susan Jones, VP Catherine Bosshart, Executive Finance Officer Giuseppina Seideita, PIP Dr. Chonchanok Viravan, and ASEAN Sub-Regional Coordinator Chularat Israngkool Na Ayutthaya. President Amany was very glad to meet BPW delegates from around the world such as from Switzerland, France, Korea, Thailand, Malta, and Grand Cayman, etc.

President Amany gave an intervention at the first day of the Global Summit during the CEO Men Forum on how to change the mind set for promoting women on Board and promoting STEM Education. These are the Two main advocacy pillars of BPW International in collaboration with Governments, Private Sector, Civil Society and the Role of BPW International.

Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, former Minister of Tourism and Sport of Thailand, former Vice President of BPW Thailand member and current CEO of Toshiba Thailand gave a touching closing speech to invite participants to attend the next Global Summit of Women 2020 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Irene Natividad at BPW International Asian Pacific Regional Conference 2018

On 30 October 2018, Irene Natividad was a speaker at a plenary session “The Keys to Open New Doors for Business and Employment Opportunities for Women” at BPW International Asia-Pacific Regional Conference 2018 (APRC 2018) in Bangkok.

On Nov 1, 2018, Irene also chaired a lunch talk session at APRC 2018, featuring two outstanding Asian women -  Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, Chair of Toshiba Thailand who was also the former Minister of Tourism and Myrna Yao, CEO of Richwell Inc., a trading company, who also served as Chair of the Philippine Commission on Women. 

What Irene asked them to address was how they fostered sustainability goals among women. She was struck by the former Thai Minister's comment -- "Sustainability is not a trend, not a 'duty', but it's about life; the future of our children and the future of the planet." Both worked to empower women as entrepreneurs in very local areas, primarily rural, in ways that not only generated income but also preserved precious resources. They illustrated that women preferred CEOs who considered the social impact of their decisions.

BPW at Global Summit of Women 2018, Sydney, Australia

Irene Natividad, President of Global Summit of Women, warmly welcome BPW International President Dr. Amany Asfour, VP membership Susan Jones, Past International President Dr. Pat Harrison and many other BPW members who attended the recent 2018 Global Summit of Women in Sydney, Australia during 26-28 April 2018.   

The win-win partnership of BPW International and Global Summit of Women lasts for over two decades.  BPW Affiliate in the country that hosted Global Summit of Women each year often strongly participated in the Host Planning Committee. Many BPW executives and members also gave talks at several past Global Summit of Women.