THE WOMEN’S FORUM BAROMETER ON GENDER EQUITY
The pandemic has made some of the barriers to women and gender inequalities more acute, however it represents also a cutting edge opportunity to put women at the heart of our economies and societies.
Indeed, women are not only at the frontline taking care of children, family, elders, and the most vulnerable population during the crisis, they are the driving force behind our advancement in creativity, innovation, science, policy development and, efficient strategies to fight the pandemic.
Furthermore, gender equality is a pillar of sustainable development leading to a wealthy economy, ensuring that women and men have the same chances and benefit from a similar quality of life for building a fairer and inclusive future for all.
Indeed, women should play a central role to shape and promote sustainable growth – a “She-covery” – where they fully participate in a strong global economic recovery. The Women’s Forum is carrying out this cornerstone vision and acts to involve public and private leaders.
In this spirit, we are proud to present the first edition of the Women’s Forum Barometer on Gender Equity, focused on business, climate change, health, and Tech – these topics we are actively involved in the frame of the Women’s Forum Daring Circles. This Barometer, targeting the G7 countries, is a unique instrument that allows the international community, civil society, and governments to track progress made in these important fields. It will help to measure year after year improvement in gender equity in general but also in the role of women in those crucial areas.
The Women’s Forum Barometer fills an important gap since such a key tool did not exist in the past. It enables us to compare people’s perceptions of gender inequalities with the reality of the latest data. It will provide guidance and can be a driving force of deep changes towards gender equity.
The results of the First Edition of the Women’s Forum Barometer are encouraging. We are pleased to notice that they are perfectly enshrined with the proposals that the Women’s Forum has driven through the «Call to Action for an Inclusive Recovery», addressed to the G7 Leaders in 2020.
These proposals are achievable, concrete and pragmatic. They are inspired by the Women’s Empowerment Principles, to help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The objective is to allow women to occupy positions where they can have a positive and decisive social and economic impact.
Undoubtedly pre-existents inequities between women and men have severely increased since the beginning of the pandemic. This trend needs to be reversed. Now more than ever, there is an urgency, the necessity to embrace diversity in women’s leadership.
Furthermore, around 91% of the respondents consider that closing the gender gap is important. Therefore, public acceptance towards strong actions for fighting gender inequality is high. This is the right time for action.
We wish to heartily thank the Women’s Forum partners – and in particular the members of our Strategic Committee – AXA, Bayer, BNP, Google, Microsoft, P&G and Publicis – for their strong support for this project.