Goal 5—Achieving Gender Equality and Empowering Women and Girls
Around the world nearly 98 million girls are not in school. Globally, 1 in 3 women will experience gender-based violence in her lifetime. In the developing world, 1 in 7 girls is married before her 15th birthday, with some child brides as young as 8 or 9. Each year more than 287,000 women, 99 percent of them in developing countries, die from pregnancy- and childbirth-related complications.
The Opportunity
Investing in gender equality and women’s empowerment can unlock human potential on a transformational scale.
Women account for one-half of the potential human capital in any economy. More than half a billion women have joined the world’s work force over the past 30 years, and they make up 40 percent of the agriculture labor force. According to the World Bank, countries with greater gender equality are more prosperous and competitive.
An extra year of secondary school for girls can increase their future earnings by 10-20 percent. Girls with secondary schooling are up to 6 times less likely to marry as children than those with little or no education. And countries that invest in girls’ education have lower maternal and infant deaths, lower rates of HIV and AIDS, and better child nutrition.
When women participate in civil society and politics, governments are more open, democratic and responsive to citizens. When women are at the negotiating table, peace agreements are more inclusive and durable. And simply by empowering women farmers with the same access to land, new technologies and capital as men, we can increase crop yields by as much as 30 percent helping to feed a growing population.
Investing in gender equality and women’s empowerment can unlock human potential on a transformational scale.
Women account for one-half of the potential human capital in any economy. More than half a billion women have joined the world’s work force over the past 30 years, and they make up 40 percent of the agriculture labor force. According to the World Bank, countries with greater gender equality are more prosperous and competitive.
An extra year of secondary school for girls can increase their future earnings by 10-20 percent. Girls with secondary schooling are up to 6 times less likely to marry as children than those with little or no education. And countries that invest in girls’ education have lower maternal and infant deaths, lower rates of HIV and AIDS, and better child nutrition.
When women participate in civil society and politics, governments are more open, democratic and responsive to citizens. When women are at the negotiating table, peace agreements are more inclusive and durable. And simply by empowering women farmers with the same access to land, new technologies and capital as men, we can increase crop yields by as much as 30 percent helping to feed a growing population.
Our Communication on Progress
ReplyDeleteGlobal Solutions Media being a participant in the UNGC, we are committed to disclosing our progress on the implementation of the Ten (10) Principles and the activities we are carrying out in support of the 2030 development agenda.
Our Communication on Progress, increases transparency and accountability, motivates us to continue to improve on our performance and ensures that UNGC signatory companies live up to the expectations set by the Compact and the United Nations.
We are at the forefront in supporting the integration of sustainability principles into core business operations and the alignment of corporate goal-setting with global development priorities. Through United Nations Global Compact, we deepen our efforts and commitments to answer to the call to action made by the Sustainable Development Goals.
Since we became a signatory to United Nations Global Compact, we have been involved and are playing active role in initiatives that advance the Global Compact Ten(10) principles and the 2030 global development agenda. For example, initiatives like UNGC Advisory Group on Supply Chain Sustainability; UNGC Human Rights and Labour Working Group among others.
UNGC Action Platforms
This year, we have participated in a number of United Nations Global Compact action platforms that involved like minded businesses and companies to advance responsible business activities that support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
(i) We contributed at large to UNGC Advisory Group on Supply Chain Sustainability; UNGC Human Rights and Labour Working Group; Anti-Corruption with a focus on developing a road map towards Collective Action and strengthening SMEs compliance to the Code of Ethics for Business in Kenya and the Bribery Act 2016.
Leadership in Business and Human Rights
(ii) Global Solutions Media participate in the “Leadership in Business and Human Rights lead by Advocates for International Development (A4id) where business leaders from diverse sectors discussed developments in corporate approaches to advancing responsible business practices.
(iii) We contributed to the Blueprint for Business Leadership Platform, inspiring businesses to apply five leadership qualities (ambition, collaboration, accountability, consistency and intentional) to their business strategies, products, supply chains, partnerships and operations to create positive impact at scale.
(iv) We also helped develop a comprehensive inventory of indicators for each SDG for the Business Reporting Platform. This represents a major step towards a single framework with a common set of indicators.