HeForShe earns perks in the business community in Asia

Singapore – Business community with 40 affluent member firms has extended their support to UN Women’s HeForShe Campaign and to advancing gender-equal working environment in their workplaces at UN Women’s maiden meet with the companies’ talented professionals.

Photo: Community Business/UN Women

As part of the regional efforts to enhance the HeForShe solidarity movement in the Asia and the Pacific, UN Women joined the Diversity & Inclusion in Asia Network (DIAN) meeting organized by Community Business, a not-for-profit organization based in Hong Kong whose mission is to lead, inspire and support businesses to have a positive impact on people and communities. The meeting was a perfect platform for reaching out to and engaging the business community in Asia and create awareness of the HeForShe campaign in the region.

The event was hosted in the Microsoft Building in Singapore. The first session - Exploring the UN’s HeForShe Campaign in Asia - was focus on the HeForShe campaign, its role in securing commitment and engagement from leaders and male executives, some HeForShe initiatives in Asia-Pacific, and hearing what other companies are doing as well as discovering how UN Women’s global solidarity movement could be used as a catalyst to driving continued progress on gender equality.

UN Women attended the meeting and presented the HeForShe campaign, in order to raise awareness of the campaign in the Asia-Pacific region and encourage the attending companies to get involved in partnership and collaboration. The target audience were approximately 40 representatives from DIAN member companies, who are human resources, diversity and/or talent development professionals with responsibility for driving their diversity and inclusion strategies in Asia. Typically they are based in Hong Kong or Singapore and have regional responsibility.

Representing UN Women, Alejandro Hita, HeForShe Regional Campaign Coordinator, showed how companies and individual professionals can support the campaign and how companies can join the movement with the global firms who pledged support with planned tangible actions under the IMPACT10x10x10. Mr. Hita also participated in the panel, discussing how the private sector in Asia and beyond can drive change from the top, together with other panelists: Clare Williams, Head of Citizenship, Diversity & Inclusion of Barclays Asia-Pacific, and Amita Chaudhury, Global Diversity and Inclusion Director of Unilever.

Following UN Women and Community Business collaboration, HeForShe will be taken forward as platform to promote gender equality and women’s right at the workplace among the DIAN member companies. It is expected that the next DIAN meeting will be celebrated in Hong Kong in November 2016.

DIAN is an initiative of Community Business and unique network of leading companies committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in Asia. Members work together to understand diversity and inclusion issues pertinent to the region, share and develop best practice and impact positive change.

Photos: Community Business/UN Women