Palestinian businesses commit to advance gender equality

The Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) network in Palestine has continued to grow in 2021 as the number of corporate signatories reached a total of 15 representing various economic sectors in July.

Established by the UN Global Compact and UN Women, the WEPs are a set of principles offering guidance to businesses on means to promote gender equality. They are informed by international labour and human rights standards and grounded in the recognition that businesses have a stake in, and a responsibility for, gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Currently, the signatories in Palestine include the Arab Palestinian Investment Company (APIC), Bank of Palestine (BOP), Careem, Committed to Good, Deloitte Middle East, Industrial Conglomerates, ALAMED Co Ltd, Oxford English Centre, Paltel Group, Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company, Mazaya Investment Group, Mohammad Z. Nuseibeh & Sons Group, Palestine Investment Fund (PIF), PalPay Co., Palestine Stock Exchange (PEX), and the National Bank (TNB). They join over 290 companies across the Arab region and over 5,300 companies globally, including industry giants such as Facebook, AT&T, and the Bank of America.

UN Women Palestine has been working closely with corporate partners to help them achieve their strategic goals in implementing the WEPs. This is being done by assisting the companies to assess their organizations’ gender equality performance using the WEPs gender gap analysis tool, and offering practical guidance, skills development, knowledge sharing, to promote a gender-inclusive working environment and response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This support is provided within the framework of the regional joint programme “Promoting Productive Employment and Decent Work for Women in Egypt, Jordan and Palestine”, implemented by UN Women and the International Labour Organization (ILO) through generous funding by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

By joining the WEPs community, CEOs signal commitment to this agenda at the highest levels of the company and work collaboratively in multi-stakeholder networks to foster business practices that empower women. These include equal pay for work of equal value, gender-responsive supply chain practices and zero tolerance against sexual harassment and violence in the workplace.

UN Women Palestine will continue to support partners’ efforts to enhance women’s engagement in leadership positions, operations and procurement actions, especially with women-led small and medium enterprises. This will help promote women’s participation in economic growth and recovery from the consequences of the pandemic.

Palestinian businesses are encouraged to sign and become part of the global WEPs network to commit to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment and to utilize this framework when developing programmes and policies to support women’s economic empowerment in response to COVID-19.

To become part of the WEPs, please visit the following link: https://www.weps.org/join