The UN Secretary-General has urged corporate leaders to achieve gender equality, highlighting the benefits for the private sector and society at large.
A new UN report on tbe private sector, released by UN Global Compact, shows that progress on bringing about a sustainable future for people and the planet is patchy, and the majority of companies involved in the Compact, are not doing enough to help bring about the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
UN chief António Guterres, has warned of an “unparalleled economic shock”, as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. So, going forward, can the private sector “build back better” to reorder the post-pandemic world, or, might the UN’s vision of a sustainable future be relegated to a low-priority aspiration? We put these questions to the CEO of one of the world’s largest conglomerates, who is working with the Organization, towards a better future.
Although the drive to reach gender equality has picked up speed, and diversity initiatives have been put into place in companies and organizations, a significant level of resistance and backlash remains, according to a leading UN business group.
“I think it's almost a joke that it will take the world so long to create women empowerment, particularly as we know that there’s an economic upside in empowering women in the range of $28 trillion.”
The slow progress of achieving gender equality in the workplace is “almost a joke,” Lise Kingo, head of the UN Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, said in an interview with UN News.
Ms. Kingo pointed to many positive moves and best practices now followed by some large corporations, but spoke frankly about the many difficulties still encountered by working women, including recent signs of a growing backlash and resistance to gender equality.
The international community needs to do much more to agree on practical solutions that will help the world’s 22.5 million refugees, the UN said on Tuesday.
In its push for a Global Compact on the issue, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is hosting a two-day Dialogue in Geneva.
A “fundamental shift” in the way business is conducted around the world is leading to improved corporate responsibility, according to the Executive Director of the UN Global Compact Office.
The Global Compact encourages companies to incorporate, environmental, social and governance issues into their business operations in order to benefit people while keeping those companies profitable.