Join us in May at our Virtual Events

We hope that you and your loved ones are safe and healthy. 
 
We sincerely thank you, for your ongoing commitment, support and inspiring solidarity. In these last few weeks at the Women’s Forum we have been very actively engaging with our partners and our community to make sure making our work even more relevant and impactful in these challenging times.
 
One of the undeniable truths of this pandemic is that we are bound together more than ever. We want to make a virtue of this fact and commit our all energy and resources to designing an inclusive recovery. More than ever the world needs women’s leadership and positive impact.
 
Although we have placed our in-person events on hold, our common purpose – the promotion of gender equality and inclusion – is still at the heart of our initiatives and activities.

In our first newsletter, we highlight the various initiatives of the Women’s Forum community. We also want to start a conversation with you and gather ideas about the best ways to recover from this pandemic inclusively; to share experiences, best practices, career moves or new initiatives related to our core topics of access to health, climate action, tech for good and women’s economic empowerment.

Join us for our “In Her Words” Series with the New York Times, beginning on May 19 with a conversation with Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women. 

Upcoming speakers include: 
May 22: Rachel Kyte, Dean of The Fletcher School at Tufts University 
May 27: Chelsea Clinton, Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation, in conversation with Devi Sridhar, Professor and Chair of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh
Date TBA: Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, Government of Canada, and other speakers.  

The topics addressed in the Series will culminate at our global Virtual Meeting on May 28. Click here to register.

The Daring Circles

Ensuring an inclusive recovery from Covid-19 is our priority, so we are doubling down with our partners on our work across the Daring Circles to expand our commitment to bringing women’s perspectives and voices to global conversations. 
#Women4Health | Partners and leading experts from the health sector gather virtually on a regular basis to continue our work on “Investing in the future of health for women” and develop our research on setting women and caregivers up for a more equitable and healthier future. Check out the recent article  ‘Giving women healthcare workers a fighting chance,’our call to address the issues that  female healthworkers are facing during the pandemic.

#Women4Climate | Climate change makes pandemics more likely as habitats are lost and diseases spread, but the global response to Covid-19 offers hope that we can act decisively to tackle the climate emergency. Check out our social media series The Gender Imperative: Re-imagining Climate Action & sign the Charter for Engagement on women leading climate action!

#Women4STEM | The members reflected on how the pandemic has highlighted how crucial STEM skills are for everyone in our societies. Our world is less rich, and resilient, without the full participation and leadership of women in STEM. If you are a woman in STEM and wish to become a STEMSister as part of our STEMKEY Initiative, sign up here. 

#Women4AI | The Daring Circle invites you to sign the Women’s Forum Call to action AI, engaging your company to apply a gender lens to AI development and implementation. We are also keen to explore ways in which AI is being used as a tool to address the COVID-19 crisis, and whether there is a gendered perspective to this deployment. Respond to our Call for Ideas!

#Women4Business | The Daring Circle is focusing on key policy proposals to foster women’s empowerment and to highlight the role of Women-Owned Businesses in sight of the upcoming G7 Summit and in the framework of the G20 Empower Alliance initiative. We are seeking stories about how women’s businesses are being affected by the current COVID-19 crisis and their solutions. Do you have an interesting story to share?Tell us here!

Partner’s Commitments

Our partners are acting with purpose each day to address the current crisis. We are always, but especially now, grateful to work with them to deepen exploration of issues that disproportionately impact women and where women’s voices are most needed. Here are some examples of their actions.

Many partners are supporting healthcare workers and health research.Microsoft is mobilizing its #AIforHealth Initiative to support the response to Covid-19, and Bayer continues to carry out crucial testing and research projects. Also at the frontlines, Procter & Gamble has donated tens of millions of dollars in cash, product and in-kind across more than 30 brands, more than 200 different organizations and more than 30 countries. Johnson & Johnson is actively pursuing a vaccine and developing therapies for Covid-19, while L’Oréal is using its factories to produce sanitizer gel and equip workers across sectors.

Partners have also stepped up to lighten the economic burden of the pandemic. AXA has mobilized close to €400 million to implement exceptional measures for its most impacted clients, particularly SMEs, to leverage its medical networks and teleconsulting services for supporting medical responses; and to contribute to solidarity funds to support healthcare professionals, research, affected companies, and economic recovery. BNP Paribas has launched a new emergency support plan in more than 30 countries that brings the Group’s financial commitment to over €50 million. Alongside 90+ business leaders, Jean-Laurent Bonnafé of BNP Paribas is calling for the environment and the ecological transition to be placed at the heart of relaunching of the economy.

Finally, on the technology and information front, Google has committed $6.5 million to fight coronavirus misinformation, and Microsoft is committing $35 million to support  the nonprofit sector.Publicis Groupe has been a resilient partner during the pandemic through its various pro bono initiatives, and Publicis Conseil was just named #1 among 25 Agencies for Good #TheGoodReport2019. Lenovo is empowering scientists in their fight against the coronavirus by donating supercomputers, hardware and software to help map virus genomes and more. Bouygues provided one million European standard surgical masks to the French public health authorities and is financing urgent  clinical trials and face shields.

Opportunities for the Women’s Forum Community

As an institutional partner of the Women’s Forum, HEC Paris is happy to provide scholarships for female applicants wishing to study in one of their MBA Programs: a full-time MBA or a part-time Executive MBA. HEC Paris Business School and the Women’s Forum are also pleased to share free webinars to help you through these challenging times.  More information here!

In support of innovative learning at home, the Women’s Forum invites you to follow initiatives such as #CodezChezVous launched by the E-mma Association, which provides online coding sessions for youth.

EF Education First is pleased to offer you a 1-month special offer to continue developing your English Skills for free through our EF self-study online school. How do I get started? Here is the link to register.