Women’s Empowerment Principles
The Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) are a joint initiative between UN Women and the UN Global Compact offering businesses a set of practical guidelines to empower women in the workplace.
The WEPs were launched internationally in 2010 and in the UK in April 2012, and mark the start of positive transformations not only in the overall workforce but in the global economy.
Jan Grasty, President of UN Women UK says, “It is now time to bring the Women’s Empowerment Principles to organisations in the UK for the benefit of women, men and the economy.”
The Principles
Seven key principles make up the WEPs. These principles are actively being implemented by companies around the world to promote gender equality in the workplace.
1. Leadership promotes gender equality
2. Equal opportunity, inclusion and non discrimination
3. Health, safety and freedom from violence
4. Education and training
5. Enterprise development, supply chain and advertising practices
6. Community leadership and engagement
7. Transparency, measuring and reporting
Good Practice Examples
Diverse companies with diverse business outputs have all committed to the Women’s Empowerment Principles, simply because it makes business sense to promote women’s empowerment and gender equality practices in the workplace.
Price Waterhouse Cooper – South Africa
The global banking provider has recently launched the A.W.A.R.E PROGRAMME – which stands for Attract.Women.Advance.Retain.Empower – and is aimed at retaining the firm’s female talent through strengthened support into leadership positions for women.
Gap, Inc.
The leading international speciality retailer of clothing, accessories and personal care products has launched, in partnership with the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), the P.A.C.E programme. P.A.C.E stands for Personal Advancement, Career Enhancement and aims to empower female garment workers in India through access to key educational, life and workplace skills as well as leadership and job training so that women can progress into management positions.
Aviva UK
UK leading healthcare provider, AVIVA, actively invest in strengthening female talent management throughout the company with the recent development of their Reciprocal Mentoring Programme. The programme facilitates knowledge exchange between women employees at all levels of the organisation, both as a means of career advancement and to better respond to the needs of those female employees who face specific work-related barriers due to their sex.
Become a UK Signatory
If you are a UK company interested in becoming a signatory to the Women’s Empowerment Principles, please direct your enquiry to info@unwomenuk.org
For further information on the Women’s Empowerment Principles and their global implementation, please consult the following links:
UN Women Women’s Empowerment Principles
UN Global Compact – Women’s Empowerment Principles
