2009 News Standard Chartered Bank Hosts Annual Women's Banking SummitNovember 2009 As a proud member of the Global Banking Alliance for Women, forum member Standard Chartered hosted the group's 2009 annual meeting. Following the closed session, Standard Chartered brought together over 120 female entrepreneurs and leaders from financial institutions as part of their Women in Business Summit. Under the theme 'Women as an Economic Force', delegates explored issues such as the financial crisis, gender and the global economy, and expanding opportunities for women in business. Standard Chartered believes that financial education is central to women's economic empowerment. The Bank's commitment to support at least 5,000 women across Asia with financial literacy training was reinforced with the launch of the Standard Chartered Women in Business Resource Centre. The Centre is an online tool which offers educational modules ranging from cash flow to negotiation that have been designed for women who are starting and growing small and medium enterprises. The site also includes video case studies of successful female entrepreneurs from Bangladesh, Nigeria, Hong Kong and Singapore. For more information, visit their website.   Forum Member SungJoo Kim Wins Ethics in Business AwardNovember 2009 Our Forum member Sung-Joo Kim, the CEO of Korea-based Sungjoo Group, has just been honored with the Ethics in Business Award, an annual prize conferred by the International Association for Human Values to honor groups that have demonstrated the importance of human values and ethics in life and business. Congratulations Sung-Joo! IAHV Ethics in Business Awards 2009 [368Kb PDF]
 Forum Members Announce New Partnerships in IstanbulOctober 2009 World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick and Forum members met in the margins of the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings this October at an event co-hosted by the Hüsnü Özyeǧin Foundation. The leaders discussed the impacts of the ongoing economic crisis on women and announced new partnerships. Highlights include:
More Information:  Forum Members Gather in PolandJune 2009 Our forum members met this June in Warsaw, Poland, to share experiences with their women's empowerment programs and discuss potential collaboration. Members Ernst & Young and PriceWaterhouseCoopers also presented their work on empowering women at the "Poland for Women: Women for Poland Congress." The Congress, organized under the leadership of our forum member Henryka Bochniarz of Boeing, attracted nearly 4,000 women from across the country. The next CEO meeting of the forum is scheduled to take place around the World Bank's annual meetings in Turkey in October.  Standard Chartered and Netball help poverty-stricken girls in IndiaMay 2009 Our forum member Standard Chartered has teamed up with Netball to promote girls' self-confidence, communication skills, health and hygiene, and financial literacy through sports. The initiative is part of Standard Chartered's 'Goal' program and is aimed at girls between the ages of 14 and 19. BBC just did a story on it, which you can read here.  Leadership at a Time of Economic Crisis: The Role of WomenMay 2009 Close to 200 people came out on a stormy Washington, DC evening to hear a power panel speak about women's leadership at the World Bank's headquarters. Marilyn Carlson Nelson (Chair, Carlson), Beth Brooke (Global Vice Chair, Public Policy, Ernst & Young) and Joanna Barsh (Director, McKinsey & Company) and Melanne Verveer (US Ambassador at-large for Global Women's Issues) were in the panel. Otaviano Canuto, the World Bank's new Vice President and Head of Network Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, made the opening remarks [24Kb .doc]. The panelists shared both professional and personal experiences to engage greater numbers of women in the workplace and create an environment for both women and men to thrive in. Beth Brooke spoke about Ernst & Young's Whitepaper 'Groundbreakers." Launched at Davos in 2008, the report collates existing research that makes the business case for promoting women as key economic agents at the time of economic crisis. "My best friend told me I had a global platform, and that what I was doing to promote women wasn't enough. That was a real wake-up call," Beth said. Beth has been named by Forbes magazine as one the world's Top 100 most powerful women and she has taken seriously the call to lead change for women. Joanna Barsh shared the innovative work that she has been leading at McKinsey & Company on a new approach to leadership that could help women become more self-confident and effective business leaders. Based on hundreds of interviews from around the world, Joanna's team at McKinsey has come up with five dimensions of leadership that complement women's strengths, sommarized in their report "How We Lead Matters." She called for women to "sponsor" other women, to go beyond mentoring and to actively help open doors for those women they know well and believe in. Marilyn Carlson Nelson inspired the audience with stories from her rich and pioneering career in finance and later in top management, including as CEO of Carlson Companies. She wrote her new book "How We Lead Matters" so that her grandchildren would know and remember her life's work at blazing the path for women in the workplace. Her efforts have paid off. Today forty percent of Carlson's senior management are women, and the company supports the family life of its employees with flexible working arrangements and parental leave. It was recently named as one of the "Best Adoption-Friendly" companies in America. In making concluding remarks, Melanne Verveer, the first ever U.S. Ambassador at-large for Global Women's Issues, underscored the importance of gender equality as smart economics and collaborative efforts to promote women's empowerment. To learn more about the Forum's members' efforts to empower women, visit:
Click here to view Photo Gallery > The event was organized by the Private Sector Leaders Forum in partnership with the Women's Foreign Policy Group.  PwC Wins Global Gender AwardApril 2009 Our forum member PwC has been named as the winner of the 'Global award' at the Opportunity Now Awards Dinner 2009. The award recognizes an outstanding diversity program that extends across at least three countries, and has honored PwC's for its global Gender Advisory Council, a group of 14 senior leaders from around the world who work to improve the representation of PwC women in the workplace.  PwC Releases Survey Findings on Gender and RecessionApril 2009 PricewaterhouseCoopers recently assessed people's impressions of the impact of the recession on women's roles and careers. The results are striking - almost three quarters of professionals say they see redundancy as an opportunity to exit corporate life during the recession and make a new start. 60% believe the recession will reinforce the glass ceiling.  Tupperware Joins the Private Sector Leaders ForumApril 2009 Tupperware, a global company that offers independent business opportunities for women to sell their products in almost 100 countries, has just become a new member of our Private Sector Leaders Forum. The company's core business model is based on the premise of employing women, and its philanthropic programs align to enlighten, educate, and empower women and girls. The forum welcomes its new member.  Promoting Women's Economic Empowerment through Supplier DiversityMarch 2009 This March WEConnect International and the Global Private Sector Leaders Forum co-hosted the first global global strategic forum on supplier diversity as a means of empowering women. Participants discussed how to help create more supply chain opportunities for women and provide better access to markets for women-owned businesses. Attendees included senior executives from the public and private sector including corporate executives from Accenture, AT&T, Boeing, Cisco, Dell, Ernst & Young, Manpower, Pfizer, Walmart, and many others. The combined annual global spend of the organizations in the room was about US$700 billion, and a collective short-term goal for women-owned businesses in the supply chain was set for at least US$7 billion per year - just 1% of their total spend.  Goldman Sachs advocates for women's education on CNNMarch 2009 The global head of corporate engagement at Goldman Sachs, Dina Habib Powell, just published an engaging piece on the importance of educating women for CNN. The article focuses on recent achievements in the United States and globally to ensure women's empowerment, and also makes mention of our Forum, which Goldman Sachs is a member of.  Financial crisis is increasing vulnerability among women and children, World Bank warnsMarch 2009 According to new World Bank research, the crisis will have serious gender-specific consequences in poor countries. Risks are especially high in countries with high infant mortality rates and low rates of female schooling, and where limited fiscal resources constrain governments' ability to cushion human impacts. If left unchecked, the crisis will reverse progress in gender equality and women's empowerment, increase poverty and imperil future development. These negative effects could be mitigated through policy responses that build on women's roles as economic agents and their preference for investing resources in child well-being. Download Reports  New World Bank Report on Girls' Education in the 21st Century: Gender Equality, Empowerment, and Economic GrowthFebruary 2009 This new World Bank report shows how girls have crowded into school in record numbers over recent decades, shrunk the gender gap with boys, and won significant economic, social, and development gains for themselves and their communities. Read More [2.1 Mb PDF]  Increasing Economic Opportunities for Women in Asia and the PacificFebruary 2009 This February, at a regional conference in Singapore, the World Bank launched a series of World Bank publications, titled Economic Opportunities for Women East Asia and the Pacific, featuring successful female entrepreneurs from around the region. The conference focused on economic opportunities for women in the Asia-Pacific region and shed light on the challenges, issues and rewards on the subject. A panel of prominent female business leaders discussed issues relating to economic growth and opportunities for women. The event also cast a spotlight on matters such as business planning, financing, building success and leadership. Claire Chiang Presentation
Final Slides - Day 2
Final Slides - Day 3
Multimedia   Leveling the Playing Field for Women in Africa and the Middle EastFebruary 2009 This January Vital Voices held a workshop in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, to facilitate the exchange of knowledge between its recently created Middle East & North Africa (MENA) Businesswomen's Network and a new pan-African businesswomen's network. The event brought together members of businesswomen's associations from across the region to assess progress and strategize on future activities. The networks have been created to increase the number of women in business and the value of their businesses, to advance the role of women in society, and to promote a regional culture of women's entrepreneurship. During a session on "Women as Engines of Economic Growth," the World Bank shared progress with the World Bank Group Gender Action Plan. The subsequent discussion on legal and regulatory challenges facing women in Africa and MENA included panelists that had benefited from the Gender Action Plan. Kah Walla, who was profiled in the "Women Doing Business in Africa" publication, talked about the encouraging progress in increasing education about tax administration among market women in Cameroon through a new program funded by Vital Voices. Dr. Maggie Kigozi, who was part of the Gender Coalition that worked to implement recommendations from the Uganda Gender and Economic Growth Assessment, discussed progress with various legislative reforms to the benefit of women in Uganda. The panel also included an engaging story from Alfnan Al Zayani of Bahrain, who spoke of the role of businesswomen's organizations in lobbying for a new family law in her country. The lessons from their efforts illustrate the setbacks as well as the possible benefits from advocacy to ensure a level playing field for women.  World Bank Group President Proposes a New Stimulus Package to Address Global Financial CrisisJanuary 2009 In a recent op-ed in the New York Times, World Bank Group President, Robert B. Zoellick, argues for the establishment of a vulnerability fund for assisting developing countries that can't afford bailouts and deficits. The vulnerability fund would include support for small and medium enterprises, where most women's enterprises are, as well as for microfinance, which tends to have high numbers of female borrowers. Read more >  Forum Leaders Meet at the World Economic Forum in DavosJanuary 2009 In a business breakfast, hosted by the World Bank Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Standard Chartered Bank, World Bank Group Managing Director Ngozi. N. Okonjo-Iweala formally launched the Private Sector Leaders Forum. Forum Leaders gathered at the event shared experiences on successful programs designed to support women's economic opportunities in key areas, such as targeted lending programs; inclusion and diversity initiatives to promote women into corporate leadership roles; and strategic philanthropy, including the training of business women in developing countries. Read press release [PDF 36Kb] |
