THE EVENT
Please use the links below to view the UN Women’s Ring the Bell for Gender Equality event at the occasion of the International Women’s Day 2021:
Opening Bell at Nasdaq: Livestream and Facebook Live
Background
For the seventh consecutive year, a global collaboration across 91 exchanges around the world plan to ring opening or closing bells to celebrate International Women’s Day 2021 (Monday 8 March). The bell ringing events will start on Monday 1 March at Nasdaq and will continue to ring for gender equality over the next two weeks.
The Ring the Bell for Gender Equality is a collaborate partnership between UN Women and IFC, Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative, UN Global Compact, the World Federation of Exchanges and Women in ETFs, to raise awareness about the business case for women’s economic empowerment, and the opportunities for the private sector to advance gender equality and sustainable development.
The International Women’s Day 2021 also represents an opportunity for the 5,000 signatories of the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) to showcase their efforts to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and community across 141 countries, and for companies who have not yet signed the WEPs to announce their commitments on this day.
This year, the UN Women’s theme for International Women’s Day is “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.” The theme celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The theme also aligns with the priority theme of the 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, “Women's full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”, and the flagship Generation Equality campaign, which calls for women’s right to decision-making in all areas of life, equal pay, equal sharing of unpaid care and domestic work, an end all forms of violence against women and girls, and health-care services that respond to their needs.
https://twitter.com/Nasdaq/status/1366403424724656131
https://www.facebook.com/Nasdaq/photos/a.10150577913097429/10159126097367429/
https://www.facebook.com/Nasdaq/videos/339424754059503
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6772169909951578112
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6772168864865230848
About the Ring the Bell Partner Organizations:
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 where they are needed most. In fiscal year 2019, we delivered more than $19 billion in long-term financing for developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.
The Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative
The SSE initiative is a peer-to-peer learning platform for exploring how exchanges, in collaboration with investors, regulators, and companies, can enhance corporate transparency - and ultimately performance - on ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) issues and encourage sustainable investment. The SSE initiative is convened by four organizations - 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). To learn more about becoming a Partner Stock Exchange or participating as a regulator or investor, visit sseinitiative.org
United Nations Global Compact
As a special initiative of the UN Secretary-General, the United Nations Global Compact is a call to companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies with ten universal principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Launched in 2000, the mandate of the UN Global Compact is to guide and support the global business community in advancing UN goals and values through responsible corporate practices. With more than 9,500 companies and 3,000 non-business signatories based in over 160 countries, and more than 70 Local Networks, it is the largest corporate sustainability initiative in the world. For more information, visit www.unglobalcompact.org.
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, programmes and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and truly benefit women and girls worldwide. It works globally to make the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals a reality for women and girls and stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life. UN Women hosts the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) – a primary vehicle for the private sector’s delivery on gender equality dimensions of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. As of 1 March 2021, nearly 5,000 Chief Executive Officers representing companies have committed to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and community in in 141 countries. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality. Learn more at: www.unwomen.org and www.weps.org.
Women in ETFs (WE)
Women in ETFs is the first women’s group for the ETF industry. Founded in January 2014, WE is an organization that brings together over 5,600 members, including women and men, in chapters in major financial centers across 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.
The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE):
Established in 1961, the WFE is the global industry association for exchanges and clearing houses. Headquartered in London, it represents over 250 market infrastructure providers, including standalone CCPs that are not part of exchange groups. Of our members, 37% are in Asia-Pacific, 43% in EMEA and 20% in the Americas. WFE’s 57 member CCPs collectively ensure that risk takers post some $800bn (equivalent) of resources to back their positions, in the form of initial margin and default fund requirements. WFE exchanges, meanwhile, are home to nearly 48,000 listed companies, and the market capitalisation of these entities is over $74.4 trillion (at end 2018); around $95 trillion (EOB) in trading annually passes through the infrastructures WFE members safeguard (at end 2018). The WFE is the definitive source for exchange-traded statistics, and publishes over 350 market data indicators. Its free statistics database stretches back more than 40 years, and provides information and insight into developments on global exchanges. The WFE works with standard-setters, policy makers, regulators and government organisations around the world to support and promote the development of fair, transparent, stable and efficient markets. The WFE shares regulatory authorities’ goals of ensuring the safety and soundness of the global financial system.
In collaboration with:
