WEPs Signatories Get Together to Learn about Gender
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Beijing, China – Seventy-six Chinese and European stakeholders attending a virtual event hosted by UN Women have made clear that businesses have a powerful role to play to make gender equality a reality.
Now in its second edition, the webinar training of China’s Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) network on July 15 brought together advocates, business leaders and representatives of the private and public sectors, including guests from European companies such as Novo Nordisk and Thales.
UN Women China organized the training with the support of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and China Entrepreneur Magazine’s Mulan Foundation. Its purpose was to increase understanding of gender equality and mobilise the private sector’s commitment towards the WEPs. These Principles guide companies to formulate social responsibility strategies internally and externally to promote gender equality. In China, 90 companies have signed the WEPs; more than 3,300 companies have done so globally.
During the webinar, the participants recognized that there continues to be meaningful opportunities for collaborations and bigger impact in and outside of their organizations. They also discussed UN Women’s technical support for signatories on WEPs implementation through the joint European Union-UN Women programme WeEmpowerAsia. The EU-funded programme promotes women’s economic participation and business opportunities in seven Asian countries including China.
Lin Jialei, WeEmpowerAsia Programme Manager at UN Women China, opened the gathering with a keynote presentation on the WEPs and follow-up support UN Women will provide.
The training, led by Professor Liu Bohong of China Women’s University, featured four key topics including ‘Sex and Gender,’ ‘Gender Discrimination,’ ‘Gender Equality,’ and ‘Gender Mainstreaming.’
Interest in the virtual event was high, with all participants surveyed saying the webinar improved their understanding of the WEPs.
One company representative said: “It is indeed very helpful for our work. I hope we will be able to arrange a similar training session within our company for all our employees.”
Another company signed the CEO Statement of Support at the end of the training while other participants shared their gender commitments.
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For media inquiries, please contact:
Liu Di
Programme Analyst, WeEmpowerAsia
UN Women China
Tel: +86 10 8532 5174 | E-mail: di.liu@unwomen.org