Private Sector’s support of the Women’s Empowerment Principles

In an effort to promote corporate gender diversity, UN Women and UN Global Compact established the Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs) in 2010, and since that time more than 2600 companies have become signatories to the WEPs worldwide. The WEPs constitute of 7 principles, and represent a journey that interested companies pass through, with the support of UN Women.

Under the WEPs, and having mobilized over 40 companies to date, UN Women supports advancing a gender responsive private sector that attracts, retains and promotes women through improving the workplace policies and environment for women, including equal pay for equal value, implementing skills development and leadership programmes for women, tackling sexual harassment, promoting women owned businesses within companies’ value chains, advancing family-friendly policies in support of women working outside of the home, and promoting more women on boards of companies.

UN Women’s work on the WEPs contributes Egypt’s commitment to the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator, a national public-private collaboration under the leadership of the Ministry of International Cooperaiton in partnership with the National Council for Women. The Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator encourages governments and businesses to act together close economic gender gaps. Our work on the WEPs is made possible through the support of the Governments of Canada/Global Affairs Canada, South Korea/KOICA and Sweden/Sida.