Cairo, Egypt, March 8, 2018—IFC,
a member of the World Bank Group, together with the Egyptian Exchange,
UN Women, Global Compact Network in Egypt, the National Council for Women,
and the Egyptian Institute of Directors, is hosting a conference to raise
awareness on the importance of advancing gender equality and increasing
women’s participation in the economy.
The event provide an opportunity for
business leaders, investors, government officials, civil society members,
and other key partners at the country level to highlight the business case
for gender equality. It will also showcase steps taken by some companies
to empower women in the workplace.
“As business leaders, entrepreneurs,
employees and consumers, women are fundamental to inclusive growth—creating
business models that boost job growth, build capital markets and raise
per-capita incomes while promoting sustainable development,” said Jingdong
Hua, IFC Vice President and Treasurer.
Studies show that female talent is among
the least utilized business resources in the world. Making even small inroads
in closing the global gender gap could quickly yield strong results, with
the potential to increase the global gross domestic product by $5.3 trillion
over the next seven years, according to a 2017 report from the World Economic
Forum.
In Egypt, women are still paid less
than men for equal work; the gender wage gap currently stands at 22 percent.
A recent study by the World Bank Group found that Egypt’s gross domestic
product could jump by 32 percent if men and women participated equally
in the labor market.
For listed companies, failure to capitalize
on these resources—for example, by adding more women to their boards and
ranks of senior leadership—represents a substantial opportunity cost.
“Diversity is not only the right thing
to do, but also the smart thing to do,” said Walid Labadi, IFC Country
manager in Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. “We welcome and encourage the unified
voice that stock exchanges add to advocating for equal gender representation
on companies’ boards and senior management as a smart business strategy.”
According to a recent IFC study,
companies with female directors performed significantly better than those
without, with a return on assets three times higher and return on equity
twice as high. In Egypt, only 7 percent of firms are led by a female top
executive.
Now in its fourth iteration, over 60
stock exchanges around the world will “Ring the Bell for Gender Equality”
on the occasion of International Women’s Day 2018. The effort highlights
how the private sector can increase women’s participation in the global
economy and promote sustainable development.
Mohamed Farid, EGX Chairman, said that
EGX is highly supporting gender equality issue asserting that women empowerment
is one of the important elements for economic growth. He added “EGX signed
in July 2017 a memorandum of understanding with the Business School of
the American University to promote for women’s participation in listed
companies’ Boards. This cooperation will help increase number of
qualified women ready to join corporate boards. Farid finally highlighted
that about 47% of EGX listed companies has at least one lady their Board
of Directors”.
The event is part of IFC’s corporate
governance program in Egypt, which aims to help local firms operate more
efficiently and improve access to capital. The program is supported by
the Japanese Ministry of Finance.
About IFC
IFC—a sister organization of the World
Bank and member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development
institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work
with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, using our capital, expertise,
and influence to create markets and opportunities in the toughest areas
of the world. In FY17, we delivered a record $19.3 billion in long-term
financing for developing countries, leveraging the power of the private
sector to help end poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information,
visit www.ifc.org
Stay Connected
www.facebook.com/IFCwbg
www.twitter.com/IFC_org
www.youtube.com/IFCvideocasts
www.ifc.org/SocialMediaIndex
www.instagram.com\ifc_org
About EGX
The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) is one of
the oldest and most open stock markets in the region. It traces its origin
to 1883, when Alexandria Stock Exchange was established, followed by Cairo
Stock Exchange in 1903. EGX’s mission is to operate and develop
a high-quality market for the benefits of its domestic and international
clients. EGX provides top notch market technology, innovative products;
stocks, bonds, ETFs, fair, transparent, and efficient markets to its clients.
Within its Sustainability efforts, The Egyptian Exchange hosted the Ringing
of Bell ceremony for three consecutive years (since 2015) as a support
for gender equality and women empowerment.
About the Women’s Empowerment Principles
The Women's Empowerment Principles –
Equality Means Business is a joint initiative of UN Women and the UN Global
Compact. The Principles outline seven steps for business on how to empower
women in the workplace, marketplace and community. The Principles highlight
that empowering women to participate fully in economic life across all
sectors and throughout all levels of economic activity is essential to
build strong economies; establish more stable and just societies; achieve
internationally agreed goals for development, sustainability, and human
rights; improve quality of life for women, men, families and communities;
and propel business' operations and goals. Learn more at https://www.empowerwomen.org/en/weps/about
Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative
The SSE is a peer-to-peer learning platform
for exploring how exchanges—in collaboration with investors, regulators,
and companies—can encourage sustainable investment and enhance corporate
transparency, and ultimately performance, on ESG (environmental, social
and corporate governance) issues. The SSE is convened by the UN Conference
on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN Global Compact, the UN Environment
Program Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), and the Principles for Responsible
Investment (PRI). For more information on specific exchanges’ sustainability
efforts, how to become a Partner Stock Exchange, and further opportunities
to advance the integration of sustainability within capital markets, visit
www.sseinitiative.org.
Follow us on Twitter: @sseinitiative
UN Global Compact
The United Nations Global Compact is
a call to companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies
with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights,
labor, environment and anti-corruption, and to take action in support of
UN goals and issues embodied in the Sustainable Development Goals. The
UN Global Compact is a leadership platform for the development, implementation
and disclosure of responsible corporate practices. Launched in 2000, it
is the largest corporate sustainability initiative in the world, with more
than 9,500 companies and 3,000 non-business signatories based in over 160
countries, and more than 70 Local Networks. For more information, visit
www.unglobalcompact.org.
Follow us on Twitter: @globalcompact
UN Women
UN Women is the UN organization dedicated
to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for
women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting
their needs worldwide. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global
standards for achieving gender equality, and works with governments and
civil society to design laws, policies, programs and services needed to
implement these standards. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN
system’s work in advancing gender equality. For more information, visit
www.unwomen.org
Women in ETFs
Women in ETFs is the first women’s group
for the ETF industry. Founded in January 2014, WE is a non-profit organization
that brings together over 3,700 members, including women and men, in chapters
in major financial centers across the United States, Canada, EMEA and Asia
Pacific to further the careers of women by leveraging our collective skill
and ambition. Women in ETFs brings together women and men in the ETF industry
in the United States, Canada, EMEA and Asia Pacific to: 1. CONNECT: Create
opportunities for professional advancement of women by expanding connections
among women and men in the ETF industry, 2. SUPPORT: Offer guidance for
the current and next generation of women in ETFs and 3. INSPIRE: WE achieves
this by organizing events at our chapters globally that support our goals
of education, networking, philanthropy and idea sharing across the industry
and beyond. For more information, visit: www.
womeninetfs.com to learn more,
join, or sponsor. Follow us on Twitter: @WomeninETFs and on Linkedin: Women
in ETFs
World Federation of Exchanges (WFE)
Established in 1961, the WFE is the global
industry association for exchanges and clearing houses. The WFE is the
definitive source for exchange-traded statistics and publishes over 350
market data indicators. WFE exchanges are home to nearly 45,000 listed
companies. The WFE promotes the development of fair, efficient and transparent
markets. It works with policy makers, regulators and standard-setters around
the world to support the development of effective rules and standards for
exchanges and market participants. For more information, please visit:
https://www.world-exchanges.org
|