In celebration of this year’s International Women’s Day, the Nairobi Securities Exchange PLC in partnership with Global Compact Network Kenya, United Nations (UN) Women, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) today joined over 100 stock exchanges globally to Ring the Bell for Gender Equality.
The annual event is aimed at encouraging the private sector to scale up efforts to achieve gender equality in their markets, industries, and organizations by adopting and implementing the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs).
This year’s event-themed-, “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress” sought to examine the pathways to greater economic inclusion for women and girls everywhere placing special focus on addressing significant obstacles to achieving equal participation in the economy.
Ms. Mbithe Muema, Chief Business Officer, NSE noted that “ The Nairobi Securities Exchange is committed to accelerating gender equality in Kenya through promoting best practices and enhancing dialogue on critical role women play in business and sustainable development.”
The Regional Director for Eastern Africa, Mary Porter Peschka highlighted that increasing women’s economic participation and achieving gender parity in leadership, in both business and government, can help address broader gender gaps in households, societies, and economies. Development finance organizations and the private sector play a key role here in addressing the challenges women face.
The Ring the Bell for Gender Equality remains a critical platform for inspiring commitment and action to ensure women and girls are given equal opportunities to build their capabilities.
Global Compact Network Kenya through the Program Manager Esther Yongo noted that at the halfway point the world is not on track in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “SDG 5 on Gender Equality is way off track, with only two Goal 5 indicators being close to target and no SDG 5 indicator at the target met or almost met level. She added that we must move forward, faster by investing in women and reflecting on our commitments, rerethinkingur actions, reconsidering collaborations and partnerships, and most importantly, revising the targets we have set for ourselves, aligning them with these new global statistics and targets for accelerated progress”
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