Unilever initiates private sector joint action for women's empowerment
Inspired by the Women’s Empowerment Principles, Unilever Turkey launches a Platform so Turkish businesses can act together to promote gender equality in the workplace and in their value chains.Date:
Unilever Turkey recently launched a Platform, composed of private sector institutions, to contribute to gender equality in all aspects of business. With the Platform slogan “Together, we can change this picture”, Unilever seeks to share international gender equality in business experiences and its own recent advances in Turkey to foster the empowerment of women internally and in its value chain.
The creation of the Platform was inspired by the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), a joint initiative of UN Women and the UN Global Compact, in which signatory companies commit to seven Principles to promote gender equality from the boardroom to the workplace, and from the supply chain to society.
Stakeholders, suppliers and distributors develop inclusion strategies as part of their support to the WEPs. Unilever became the first company to initiate this approach in Turkey, with a commitment to expand gender equality and empowerment of women to a wider network.
"Equal participation of women in all aspects of economic life provides significant contributions to the private sector. As long as women actively participate in economic life, the country wins, companies win, and society wins,” said Mustafa Seçkin, Vice-President for N. Africa, Middle East, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus Ice Cream & Beverages Categories.
He also noted that despite the advantages of having women fully active in the business world, “women’s participation in economic life is very low."
Using the premise that diverse businesses acting together can bring change, Unilever, with facilitation from the YADA Foundation, organized the first Platform meeting on 17 January 2017 with representatives from 18 leading Turkish companies in a wide range of business sectors including retail, logistics, raw materials, cosmetics, agriculture and communication sectors.
The Platform meeting examined ways that private sector companies could contribute to women’s economic empowerment, and how such actions can impact their businesses and beyond. They concluded with an action plan to commit to specific WEP principles, attract new Platform members, and work under a shared vision: “We take our responsibility for empowerment of women seriously, and we work together. Together, we can change this picture.”
Unilever is well placed to popularize the WEPs among a range of businesses because its own value chain, a variety of companies and challenges, mirrors Turkey’s varied private sector universe.
The Platform meeting also explored Unilever’s commitment to WEP 5, which seeks to implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women.
Aiming to support women-lead businesses and women entrepreneurs, WEP 5 supports gender-sensitive solutions to credit and lending barriers and asks business partners and peers to respect a company’s commitment to advancing gender equality and inclusion. WEP 5 emphasizes respect for the dignity of women in all marketing and other company materials; and asks companies to ensure that their products, services and facilities are not used for human trafficking or for labour or sexual exploitation.
UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office Programme Specialist, Mehtap Tatar, presented the Women Empowerment Principles to participating companies: “I remember our launch of the WEPs and HeforShe a year ago at Unilever Turkey. Since then, you have increased the number of women in your Executive Board and stepped up your efforts for gender equality. UN Women are very happy to see the concrete results of our partnership.”
The WEPs seek to:
- Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality
- Treat all women and men fairly at work, and respect and support human rights and non-discrimination
- Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all female and male workers
- Promote education, training and professional development for women
- Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women
- Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy
- Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality