The Los Angeles Post

UN Global Compact and Five Partner Organizations Ring the Bell for Gender Equality at 75 Stock Exchanges Globally

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UNITED NATIONS, February 27, 2020 — For the sixth consecutive year, a global collaboration across 75 exchanges (confirmed events as of 26 February 2020) around the world plan to ring opening or closing bells to celebrate International Women’s Day 2020 (Sunday 8 March 2020). The events —  which start on Monday 2 March, and will last for two weeks – are a partnership between IFC, Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative, UN Global Compact, UN Women, the World Federation of Exchanges and Women in ETFs, to raise awareness about the business case for women’s economic empowerment, and the opportunities for the private sector to advance gender equality and sustainable development.

This year, the UN Women’s theme for International Women’s Day is ‘I am Generation Equality: Realising Women’s Rights’. The theme marks the milestones that have been achieved such as the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted in 1995, to advance the empowerment of women and girls worldwide. In addition, 2020 also marks the 20th anniversary of the UN Global Compact, 10th anniversary of the  Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), a five-year milestone towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, the 20th anniversary of UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, and the 10th anniversary of UN Women’s establishment.

In March 2019, a record 85 exchanges rang their bells for gender equality, and this year looked to be even bigger, prior to the outbreak of COVID-19.

“Gender equality should be at the top of the agenda for all decision makers, from policy makers to CEOs and investors,” said Lise Kingo, CEO & Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. “When women are empowered, economies grow, businesses thrive and sustainable development flourishes. We need to work together to accelerate the pace of change if we are going to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.”

“Ring the Bell for Gender Equality” events around the world encourage participants to scale-up efforts to achieve gender equality in their markets, industries and organizations by adopting and implementing the WEPs. A joint initiative of the UN Global Compact and UN Women, the WEPs provide a holistic roadmap to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and community. Private sector, civil society, Governments and the UN need to work together if we are to achieve gender equality and the other Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

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