Businesses

Photo: UN Women/Phakhawat Sriratana, Prasert Teerawankongsiri and Theerachai Pipopsophonchai
UN Women organizes the 2022 edition of the Thailand Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Awards in November 2022, which recognizes outstanding initiatives and practices that promote gender inclusivity in the business sector. Photo: UN Women/Phakhawat Sriratana, Prasert Teerawankongsiri and Theerachai Pipopsophonchai

UN Women cultivates high-impact partnerships with industry leaders for their knowledge, expertise and reach to strengthen operations, amplify advocacy and find innovative solutions to achieve SDG 5. Together, UN Women and the private sector can drive meaningful and long-lasting change.

Ways to Partner with UN Women

We partner with businesses in many ways:

  • We work closely with corporate partners to set standards such as the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs). The WEPs offer practical guidance to businesses on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace, and community. To help assess an organization’s gender equality performance, we have developed the WEPs Gender Gap Analysis Tool.
  • We encourage partners to join our global campaigns and initiatives, which reach massive audiences and are designed to inspire action on a range of concerns vital to women and the SDGs. UN Women’s campaigns and initiatives include HeForShe, Generation Equality Forum and Action Coalitions, and the Unstereotype Alliance. UN Women also manages the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign.
  • We seek commitments from partners to donate to UN Women and to work in collaboration with country offices to improve the status of the most underprivileged women and girls across the world. Partners can do this by supporting UN Women through:
    • unrestricted funding in support of UN Women’s global mandate;
    • earmarked funding for specific countries or regions, or specific programmes or initiatives;
    • pro-bono services; o technical knowledge;
    • access to advertising spaces and communications channels;
    • mentorship and training;
    • cause-related marketing campaigns.

Examples of Successful Partnerships

UN Women is thankful for the support it has received from its business partners, including:

Jazz

Photo: UN Women/Hassan Abbasi
Sharmeela Rassool, Country Representative, UN Women Pakistan and Aamir Ibrahim, CEO of Jazz exchange the signed agreement in November 2022 to close the digital gender gap by providing women with skillsets to thrive in the fast-evolving digital economy. Photo: UN Women/Hassan Abbasi

Jazz, Pakistan’s leading digital operator and a part of the VEON Group, partnered with UN Women to introduce digital and financial literacy programmes for women-led microbusinesses in underprivileged areas. Under this programme, by 2025, 10,000 women micro-entrepreneurs will also be provided free sims, internet data, calls and SMS bundles, and JazzCash Wallets. Additionally, Jazz will be offering gender financing and micro-mobility solutions, awareness campaigns, upskilling trainings, advocacy, and thought leadership programmes to reduce gender-based violence including sexual harassment and declassifying prejudicial gender roles that hinder women’s progress.

IKEA

Photo: UN Women/Guanyu
UN Women China, partnering with IKEA China, launched the Do More, for Her and for the Family theme video in September 2021 to urge people to do their fair share of care and domestic work. Photo: UN Women/Guanyu

IKEA China and UN Women China launched a partnership to address two interlinked issues that hinder women’s economic empowerment: unpaid care and domestic work, and violence against women (VAW). The project raised public awareness by launching compelling social media campaigns on unpaid care and domestic work and violence against women. The project also developed guidance and training modules aligned with the Women’s Empowerment Principles, and mobilized private sector companies to set up new measures and policies to address unpaid care and domestic work and violence against women in the workplace.

LinkedIn

Photo: Courtesy of LinkedIn
UN Women India meets the LinkedIn team in January 2023 to discuss the LINK Women programme which aims to cultivate the digital, soft and employability skills of 2,000 women and present them with a range of career-building opportunities. Photo: Courtesy of LinkedIn

LinkedIn invested in a three-year regional partnership with UN Women to advance women’s economic empowerment. The project has launched a pilot in Maharashtra, India to cultivate the digital, soft and employability skills of 2,000 women and present them with a range of career-building opportunities through job fairs, mentoring sessions and peer-to-peer networks. The collaboration aims to digitally upskill women affording them greater access to jobs and equipping them to fully participate in the formal economy.

Vietnam Airlines

Photo: Courtesy of LinkedIn
A stand about the ''Orange the Sky'' initiative was placed at Noi Bai International Airport in November 2022 in commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. Photo: Courtesy of Vietnam Airlines

Vietnam Airlines collaborated with UN Women in the “Orange the Sky” initiative by adopting an orange theme on two of its flights to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women marking the launch of the UNiTE campaign (Nov 25 - Dec 10) — an initiative of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.