Women Archives – Page 3 of 3

Women’s Economic Empowerment: Measuring Progress & Championing Results

In April, World Bank President Jim Kim and Ivanka Trump made a case in the Financial Times for the importance of closing the gender pay gap, increasing access to finance for women, and enacting regulatory and legal policies to increase women’s economic participation. These goals cannot be achieved without businesses committing to action, and many already have done so. These actions make their workplaces more fair and create an advantage in the race to attract and retain talent, while also increasing their bottom line and shareholder value. Highlighted here are principles and indices that have been developed over the last decade to mark, report on, and reflect the depth of companies’ commitments to women’s empowerment.

Certifications and Reporting

Economic Dividends for Gender Equality (EDGE) Certification. EDGE, a global business certification standard, was launched at the World Economic Forum in 2011. EDGE applies business discipline to achieving workplace gender equality, focusing on metrics and accountability. It assesses policies, practices and data across five areas: equal pay for equivalent work; recruitment and promotion; leadership development; flexible work; and company culture. There are three stages of EDGE certification:

● EDGE Assess: The company makes a public commitment to a strong gender balance across the talent pipeline, pay equity, a solid framework of gender equality policies and practices and an inclusive workplace culture. The company identifies a concrete action plan.

● EDGE Move: The company has implemented a framework for change and achieved significant milestones on the key issues, and commits to sharpening its action plan.

● EDGE Lead. The company has a strong gender balance across the talent pipeline, pay equity, a solid framework of gender equality policies and practices and inclusive workplace culture, and puts gender equality to work for business results.

EDGE works with more than 150 companies and organizations in over 40 countries. Examples include SAP, L’Oréal, Asian Development Bank, and the IFC.

Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs). The WEPs were established by UN Women, in conjunction with the UN Global Compact, the business community and governments in 2010. The WEPs emphasize the business case for corporate action to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. Each principle is accompanied by concrete actions. In brief, the principles are to:

1. Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality.

2. Treat all women and men fairly at work.

3. Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all workers.

4. Promote education, training and professional development for women.

5. Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women.

6. Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy.

7. Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality.

Principle 7 underscores the importance of accountability. To date, 1,450 plus companies have signed onto the WEPs from across the globe, including Alcoa, ANN Inc., Coca-Cola entities, Deloitte, Hilton, Merck, and Pepsi. The G7 and the US Chamber of Commerce also promote the WEPs.

Indices of Progress

PAX Ellevate Global Women’s Index Fund. To say PAX has been a trailblazer in this field is an understatement. This fund invests in companies that are leaders in advancing women through gender diversity. Companies are rated by PAX World Gender Analytics, with representation of women on boards and in senior management receiving the highest weights. Other factors include whether the company has a woman CEO, a woman CFO and is a signatory to the WEPs.

Equileap. Launched in 2017, this analysis compares corporate progress towards gender equality across sectors. The Gender Scorecard examines 19 data points in four categories: gender balance in leadership and workforce; equal compensation and work/life balance; policies to promote gender equality; and commitment to women’s empowerment. The highest score possible was 35, and top performers received 22 points. In addition to measuring progress, the scorecard allows investors to see which companies are doing well by their employees; employees to obtain critical information when making career decisions; and governments to identify role models. Companies ranking highest were L’Oréal, Pearson, National Australia, Sodexo, BTG and Telia; the highest-ranking U.S. company was Merck. Highest ranked countries were Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland and the UK. Top sectors were communications, finance and utilities.

Bloomberg Financial Services Gender Equality Index (GEI). In 2016, Bloomberg unveiled GEI to showcase what the biggest financial players are doing to promote gender equality. It includes 52 best-in-class public companies in the financial industry in terms of providing opportunities for women. GEI was created to satisfy investor demand, as a growing number are looking to gender equality data to inform investment decisions.

Using Soft Power is Not a Hard Choice

Effective U.S. foreign engagement is based on both soft and hard power. Soft power – winning hearts and minds — helps shape global public opinion about the United States, showcases our values, core beliefs, and aspirations, and highlights who we are as a people. Soft power is about diplomacy, both public and private, providing development assistance and aid, and facilitating direct exchanges and interactions between people. Military leaders, charged with the responsibility for hard power, acknowledge that soft power goes hand in hand with the tools they wield. In 2013, now Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis now famously said “[i]f you don’t fully fund the State Department, then I need to buy more ammunition.”

What is soft power? Besides governments talking to each other in formal and informal settings, soft power is comprised of programs and policies that have an impact on people’s lives. Examples include PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), President George Bush’s signature initiative to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS; the prestigious Fulbright program, which for 71 years has brought scholars to the U.S. and sent American scholars abroad to teach and study; and our role in providing humanitarian assistance to countries in crisis. We do this work, and so much more, spending only one percent of our federal budget. The impact is real, though sometimes difficult to measure and quantify, and a critical long-term investment in our global stature and role as a nation with values that others want to emulate.

I have seen first-hand how this makes a difference. I spent the last five years at the U.S. Department of State, working to bring a focus on women and girls into US foreign policy. I served at the US Embassy in Kabul, where we helped women learn entrepreneurship skills, girls go to school, and ensure woman had better access to maternal health services. When I returned to the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues in Washington, DC, we did this same work – empowering women politically, economically and socially – because it builds strong societies, increases stability and prosperity, and because it reflects our core values of inclusion, utilizing talent, and our interest in stability and fighting extremism.

I watched John Kerry meet with women business leaders from every corner of the globe; advocate for ways to end sexual violence in conflict; and encourage women and girls to fully participate in every aspect of their lives. This type of engagement – from the Secretary of State on down — promotes our values and beliefs, as well as approaches to problem solving that we have seen work at home. This happens everywhere, and using every possible platform. Whether it is working with China on how to address domestic violence, Malawi on ensuring that girls can access education, Liberia on developing a strong rule of law and legal system, or Vietnam on how to build job skills, these engagements matter. We not only help others, we help ourselves, building good will, understanding and working with leaders who will be influential in their countries for years to come.

We need soft power – and we need to wield in constantly, everywhere and with a strong voice about who we are. Living in a secure and stable world is important to every U.S. citizen. The more people know about us, and about what we stand for, the better able we are to participate in the global public square, and convince others to join us.

On April 4, Let’s Commit To Equal Pay, And To Women As An Economic Force

April 4 is Equal Pay Day in the United States. On Equal Pay Day, we highlight persistent wage disparities between men and women and mark, roughly, the day when women catch up with what men earned the previous year. Simply put, on average, women worked an extra 90 days this year to catch up with what men earned last year.

What “I’m With Her” Means in 2017

As I wrote in early November, I cannot help but to think of the many women and men who I have stood by, learned from and worked with over the past 20+ years. From my time as an advocate and working in U.S. politics, to the many women who are so brave to think about running for office in their countries as well as those women and girls not involved in public life but just working every day to make their lives better for their families and communities. I was so proud and scared and thankful on election day.

But, as well all know, things did not turn out as I expected. So I publicly mourned on social media. And you know what happened? There was a lovely outpouring of love and support for me and the work I’ve been doing. I was even inspired! One dear friend wrote, “I have been thinking about you the most through all of this…hang in there. And you know? The next time I say “I’m with Her” I’ll be thinking about you, Susan Markham.”

Liberia: And Justice for All

Liberia is a country the size of Tennessee, a place where only two percent of people have access to the electric grid, and nearly 65 percent live on $1.25 a day. Beginning with a coup in 1989, the country was mired in decades of civil war and armed violence, which killed over 200,000 people and displaced one third of the country’s population, and where women and girls faced widespread rape and forced marriage. Liberia emerged from conflict in 2003, in large part due to the efforts of the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, led by Leymah Gbowee, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for this work. This movement brought together Muslim and Christian women to demand an end to conflict; their successful efforts were documented in an award winning film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell. These women effectively and creatively pressured the parties to not leave peace negotiations until an agreement was signed. Shortly thereafter, in 2005, Liberians elected the country’s first woman President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who is now completing her second, and final, term.

Women and STEM: Four Ways to Attract & Retain Talent

Jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are at the forefront of solving problems and creating innovative solutions. In today’s complex and interrelated world, we need our best thinkers to be in STEM fields, which also provide strong, solid jobs and incomes.

Yet research indicates that many countries are missing the opportunity to innovate in STEM fields. Barriers limit the kinds of people who are able to enter and remain in these fields; women, especially, are often left out of the talent pool. A 2015 report by the American Association of University Women found that, in the United States, 80 percent of STEM jobs are in engineering and computer science, but women comprise only 12 percent of the engineering workforce and 26 percent of the computing workforce.

Carrying the Torch for Gender Equality

When I was in middle school, I played on a recreational soccer team. I was incredibly introverted, a bookworm and rather slow. Though I preferred “defense” and never got close to the goalposts, I loved soccer, laughing with my teammates, feeling my body’s strength and growing comfortable with myself.

Those couple of seasons of soccer led me to a lifelong love of comradery and competition — a passion I’ve passed along to my own daughter.

I’ve been thinking about these experiences as the Olympic torch burns in Rio de Janeiro.

Women Central to US-China People to People Ties

This post is written by Stephenie Foster, Senior Advisor and Counselor, and Catherine Silvey, Policy Advisor, both with the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues at the U. S. Department of State.

Since 2011, the United States and China have worked together on women’s issues at the U.S.-China Consultation on People-to-People Exchange (CPE). Most of this work has been through the Women’s Pillar, where we have cooperated on various issues affecting women, from domestic violence to women’s entrepreneurship.

Ixil Mayan girls pose for a photo in Guatemala. / USAID

5 Ways to End Poverty by Focusing on Women and Girls

We know that women and girls are a powerful force for change. And when we put women and girls at the center of development, we can break the cycle of poverty. We can help them delay their marriages, choose the timing and spacing of their pregnancies, access needed services and information, complete their education, and gain the knowledge and skills they need to participate in the economy and in their country’s development.

Yet, all too often gender inequality gets pushed aside because of competing priorities or a lack of resources. People say that gender equality isn’t their area or that gender equality is a “women’s issue.”

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