Across Asia, Stock Exchanges “Ring the Bell” to Advance Gender Equality

[Joint Press Release]
[For Immediate Release]

Bangkok, Thailand — Beginning this month, stock exchanges across Asia, in partnership with the joint European Union-UN Women programme, WeEmpowerAsia, will hold a series of “Ring the Bell for Gender Equality” events in a symbolic gesture to mark International Women’s Day (8 March).

The bell ringing ceremonies will start in Kuala Lumpur on 6 March, in partnership with Bursa Malaysia, followed by Manila on 11 March with the Philippines Stock Exchange. Four more stock exchanges have postponed their events to later this year over the COVID-19 concerns, including the Bombay Stock Exchange, National Stock Exchange of India, Indonesia Stock Exchange and Stock Exchange of Thailand. 

At each ceremony, stock exchanges are expected to pledge to improve gender equality in their markets, such as by signing the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs), promoting diversity in senior management and boards, adopting gender-friendly policies, developing gender-themed investment products, and supporting transparency on gender-related policies and practices.

Support for the WEPs, which this year marks its 10th anniversary, has gathered global momentum; thousands of companies worldwide are now committed champions. Across China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam, the number of signatories stands at 183 companies, and this year looks set to be even higher. On the occasion of International Women’s Day, WeEmpowerAsia is inviting business leaders in the region to come forward by pledging commitment to the WEPs.

Mohammad Naciri, Regional Director of UN Women Asia and the Pacific, commended the importance of current collaborations and drew attention to the unique role of stock exchanges as drivers for meaningful, positive change. “Women’s economic empowerment requires action on all fronts. At the nexus of interaction between listed companies and investors, stock exchanges are proven catalysts for advancing equality in capital markets in ways few other actors can. Moving into the next decade, let us resolve to redouble our work to build more gender-inclusive environments for more women to rise-up in businesses.”

Pirkka Tapiola, The Ambassador of the European Union to Thailand, highlighted the importance of this engagement: “The European Union is a champion of women’s rights both within Europe and globally. Gender equality is a fundamental European value, which is why we fight to increase women’s economic participation in financial institutions and to expand access to finance for female entrepreneurs, among many other efforts. The European Union encourages policies to support and enhance equality not only in the workplace but also in the ranks of senior management. We encourage leaders and CEOs to create more gender-inclusive environments, and we will continue to work in Asia and at home to empower women to become drivers for change in the business sector.”

Katja Freiwald, Regional Programme Manager of WeEmpowerAsia, reiterated these commitments: “Across the region, there is growing recognition that businesses have a stake in, and a responsibility for, promoting gender equality. Empowering women is not only a social and moral imperative, but also an economic need.”

Events will range from stand-alone bell ceremonies to panel discussions on topics in line with this year’s theme for International Women’s Day: “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights.” Delegates are expected share insights and discuss the challenges in closing the gender inequality gap in their markets, as well as ways to collaborate with the programme, WeEmpowerAsia. The EU-funded programme, implemented by UN Women, promotes women in private sector businesses around Asia.

This regional initiative of UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, in partnership with the European Union, contributes to the United Nations’ broader efforts to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 5 on Gender Equality, which is identified as one of the four SDGs stock exchanges are best positioned to support.

Now in its sixth edition, the global “Ring the Bell” initiative is a partnership between IFC, Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative, UN Global Compact, UN Women, the World Federation of Exchanges and Women in ETFs. In March 2019, a record 85 exchanges rang their bells for gender equality globally.

Additional Ring the Bell events will take place across the Asia-Pacific region, including in Australia, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. UN Women rang this year’s opening bell in celebration of International Women's Day on 2 March at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York.

Read more about the events: Philippines (1) | Malaysia

Watch highlights from the Philippine event. 

To view the full list of participating stock exchanges, [click here]

Download our Social Media Kit to fully engage in the Ring the Bell campaign [here].

For the media advisory, visit. [https://bit.ly/RTB-WEA2020]