Global leaders and celebrities convene at HeForShe Summit to unveil innovative solutions for gender equality

Over the last six years, a unique group of 36 world leaders across governments, businesses and academia made over 90 commitments to address some of today’s most pressing gender issues. Known as the HeForShe IMPACT Champions, part of UN Women’s HeForShe Movement, they are presidents, prime ministers, CEOs, and academic leaders. HeForShe Champions shared their journey and their ‘proven solutions’, innovative and concrete ways to eliminate global issues such as unequal pay, lack of equal representation in leadership positions, and gender-based violence. Ömer M. Koç, Chair of the Board of Koç Holding and a HeForShe Impact Champion, joined the Summit on 27 May 2021, which brought leaders – who work towards achieving gender equality – together from all over the world. 

During the online summit, the projects implemented over the past five years under the HeForShe initiative were evaluated, and the steps needed to bring the effort to the next level as part of the Generation Equality were discussed. Generation Equality is UN Women’s campaign that brings together the next generations of women’s rights activists with the gender equality advocates and visionaries who were instrumental in creating the Beijing Platform for Action more than two decades ago. The campaign is very much supported by the HeForShe movement to create long-lasting and meaningful change across the world.

Ömer M. Koç gave a speech during the HeForShe Summit “During the past five years, the HeForShe movement has been able to mobilize the private sector, universities and governments with significant success. The multi-stakeholder partnership brought into existence numerous tangible solutions on a global scale. Our experience as Koç Holding has confirmed that business has a critical role to play in overcoming traditional stereotypes and promoting diverse and inclusive gender roles. The time has come to deepen the lessons learned. We are delighted to become one of the private sector leaders of the Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality. For the next five years, we will strive to ensure that women and girls have equal opportunities in shaping the future of innovation and technology,” said Ömer M. Koç.

UN Women Turkey Country Director Asya Varbanova said that, “UN Women appreciates all the efforts that Koç Holding has shown working towards gender equality and women’s empowerment and being a pioneer in Turkey in this field. Having served as one of 36 global HeForShe champions in the past five years, it has achieved concrete results in mobilizing millions of supporters, strengthening an internal gender-sensitive work environment, and showcasing how sport can be a driver of change through the Fenerbahçe Sports Club-HeForShe initiative. We are excited to see how this journey towards equality will progress further through the global, multi-stakeholder Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality. Koç Holding is in the group of leaders of this Action Coalition, which has made ambitious commitments to address the gender digital divide, combat online gender-based violence and discrimination, as well as increase women’s and girl’s representation in technology and innovation.”

The 2021 HeForShe Summit is now available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSIiuTQPFjk

For more information contact: İpek Naz Çınar, [ Click to reveal ]