Davos - UN Women executive director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka kicked off the launch of HeForShe’s gender parity report at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Friday by explaining the role of men in the fight for women’s rights and giving 10 leading men a hearty, if, metaphoric slap on the back.
Mlambo-Ngcuka noted it would take many more decades to achieve gender parity if things continued along the lines of “business as usual”, ie leaving the bulk of the work to be done by women’s organisations and other people who are not in positions of authority.
HeForShe is a solidarity movement for gender equality developed by UN Women that engages males as advocates and agents of change for the achievement of gender equality. The campaign encourages men to speak out and take action against inequalities faced by women and girls.
The report, released on Friday, looks at the representation of women across 10 Corporate Impact Champion companies, which span 10 industries and employ more than a million people in 190 countries around the world.
Mlambo-Ngcuka described the chief executives of these companies as being ahead of the pack.
UN Women’s global goodwill ambassador and actress Emma Watson and Elizabeth Nyamayaro, head of HeForShe and senior advisor to Mlambo-Ngcuka, were on hand to grill a panel discussion among the chief executives about their commitment to equality and plans to achieve it.
If the panel discussion is anything to go by, the consensus among leaders of big companies – from Tupperware to Twitter right through to international banking and accounting businesses – is that unlocking the potential of the female workforce globally is a basic business imperative that would improve performance on every level.
The meeting had started with a tribute to one of the champions of the programme, Mustafa Koç, chair of Koç Holding, who died this week.
The other nine Corporate Impact Champions are: Sébastien Bazin, CEO and chair of AccorHotels; Jes Staley, CEO of Barclays; Dominic Barton, global managing director of McKinsey and Company; Dennis Nally, chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers; Jean-Pascal Tricoire, CEO of Schneider Electric; Rick Goings, CEO of Tupperware Brands; Adam Bain, COO of Twitter; Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever; and Vittorio Colao, CEO of Vodafone.
AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY