One Million Women Missing From the US Tech Sector
Despite an estimated investment by the US technology industry of $0.8bn – $1.2bn in diversity efforts over the past five years, women’s representation at tech firms has actually decreased. In the last 15 years representation of women has fallen a percentage point, to represent just 28 percent of the tech workforce today. Given women are […]
Enhancing the Livelihoods of Women in Unilever’s Agricultural Supply Chain
Unilever Case Study on Women’s Economic Empowerment Overview Empowering women is critical to eradicating poverty and accelerating global development. In Unilever’s case, this is hugely important for us. Over 70% of the people making the decision to buy our brands are women. Our future growth depends on meeting their needs and aspirations and on supporting […]
Mars Women Empowerment Plan
Background Women provide approximately 45% of the labor in cocoa supply chains, yet they face discrimination in access to resources compared to their male counterparts. They often work unpaid on family farms and are not always viewed as “farmers”. Low education, poor access to health services and limited training greatly disadvantage women (and their families) […]
Access to Finance and Women’s Economic Empowerment
Cherie Blair Foundation Case Study on Women’s Economic Empowerment In 2014 the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women partnered with Accenture and CARE International to promote the long-term financial independence of Rwandan women, by providing a combination of mentoring, training and improved access to financial services. Financial inclusion is a deeply gendered issue in Rwanda, where […]
Diageo Case Study: Building Diversity Internally
Diageo Case Study on Women’s Economic Empowerment Celebrating diversity and actively creating an inclusive, collaborative culture is core to Diageo’s purpose of celebrating life everyday everywhere. For our business to thrive, Diageo depends on having the right people with the skills and capabilities in each of the 180 countries in which they operate. Diageo is […]
Empower a Woman and a Whole Community Will Thrive
Empowering women benefits everyone and is essential for cocoa growing communities to thrive. Research shows that increasing women’s involvement leads to improved financial management by farmers, better education of youth and more sustainable, thriving communities. Cocoa Life, Mondelez International’ cocoa sustainability program, is deliberate about promoting women’s empowerment. Cocoa Life has worked to mainstream gender […]
Economic Empowerment for Women in the Bangladeshi Garment Sector
This article forms part of a series we are featuring on the Women’s Economic Empowerment Challenge over the course of the summer while the UN High Level Panel continues work on its first report, due to be published in September 2016. Each article in the series will showcase an example of how companies are supporting […]
Building the Social Enterprise Eco-System in Thailand
In South East Asia, 95% of coral reefs are endangered. In Thailand the richest quartile of the population own around half of the country’s income, whilst the poorest quartile have less than 10%. Only 38% of the population are educated to a secondary level and social and environmental problems are rife. The Thai Social Watch […]
Access to Finance, Gender Bias and Climate Change Resilience for Smallholders
Olam expands on lessons learned from 5 years of the Olam Livelihood Charter Despite extensive progress being made under its Livelihood Charter, global agri-business Olam predicts that smallholder productivity across Africa, Asia and South America will still be massively hindered by lack of access to finance, equality for women and climate change impacts, unless far […]
Refelctions on the Corporate Response to HIV/AIDS
This interview with Kelly Curran, Director of HIV/AIDS and Infectious Diseases at Jhpiego, is the first in a four-part series in which experts reflect on the progress made since the groundbreaking AIDS 2000 Conference in Durban and the challenges that remain. The 21st International AIDS Conference is being held in Durban, South Africa, July 18-22. […]
An Introduction to GBCHealth’s HIV/AIDS Expert Interview Series
Bolstered by the global multisector response to Ebola and Zika over the past two years, I have found myself reflecting on the origins of business engagement in the HIV/AIDS pandemic when MTV Networks and the Financial Times came together with four large pharmaceutical companies to start the Global Business Council, which eventually became GBCHealth. Since […]
Socio-cultural Interventions to Increase Women’s Access to Finance
By now, we know that women – especially in the developing world – have less access to finance than men. Business has an important role in levelling the playing field through interventions aimed at easing constraints on the demand-side (awareness of financial products or business and literacy training), the supply side (designing financial products and […]
Empowering Women in the Supply Chain
Primark is a Finalist in the Unilever Global Development Award supported by Business Fights Poverty. We asked them some questions about their programme and the lessons learnt. Q) What challenge does Primark’s programme serve to change? Like almost every other fashion retailer, Primark products are made in countries like India where wages are lower and […]
Saving the Lives of One Million Children
GSK’s partnership with Save the Children is a Finalist in the Unilever Global Development Award supported by Business Fights Poverty. We asked them some questions about their programme and the global development impacts achieved. Q) What challenge does the GSK-Save the Children partnership serve to change? In 2015, 5.9 children under the age of five […]
Bringing Sustainable Energy to Informal Settlements
Pollinate Energy is a Finalist in the Unilever Global Development Award supported by Business Fights Poverty. We asked them some questions about their programme and the lessons learnt. Q) What challenge does Pollinate Energy’s programme serve to change? 400 million people live in India without electricity. Wood cooking fires and kerosene lamps cause epidemic levels […]
Tackling Slavery in Supply Chains – What Can We Do?
The ILO estimates that there are approximately 21 million people enslaved around the world at present – these will include many people who are in bonded labour, those trafficked and kept against their will in enslaved situations – but slavery also exists in global supply chains. Modern Slavery can also take the form of exploitation […]
Three Key Steps to Empowering Women in Global Value Chains
Global value chains can be a powerful lever for empowering women, but companies must identify where women work, must develop a clear gender strategy and must articulate the business case for supporting women. As the UN High Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment continues to develop its thinking over the next few months, they should […]
Effective Workplace Policies and Practices
Hope is not a strategy for righting gender imbalances that have long been the norm in most businesses and beyond. Instead, a strategy addressing material issues, supported by policies and practices applied internally and externally, can deliver business benefits as well as benefits for individuals. Research shows that a more diverse workforce delivers financial returns […]
Empowering Women Through Work
One of the first activities we launched in our Challenge on Women’s Economic Empowerment was the business survey created by DFID and introduced in a blog by the UK Secretary of State for International Development, Justine Greening, on 25 April. The survey asked respondents to share both the challenges and successes their businesses have seen […]
5 Reasons Social Enterprises are Applying a Gender Lens
Director of Strategic Partnerships, Acumen There is article after article about why businesses and investors should seek new ways to be more inclusive of women in their business models. But what we’ve learned at Acumen, where we invest in business that solve problems of poverty, is that leaders of social-purpose businesses are already doing this, […]