Friday marked the celebration of International Women’s Day 2019, and for the fifth consecutive year, a global collaboration across 75 stock exchanges around the world opened the trading session with the theme of “Ring the Bell for Gender Equality.”
The events are the byproduct of a collaboration between Women in ETFs, UN Global Compact, UN Women, Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative, IFC, and the World Federation of Exchanges. The unifying goal is 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.
In honor of International Women’s Day, Citigroup Inc. kicked off Friday’s trading session at the New York Stock Exchange:
This year, the UN Women’s theme is “Think equal, build smart, innovate for change.” The theme’s impetus is developing innovative ways in which the private sector can advance gender equality and women’s empowerment, especially within social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure.
In addition to the bell-ringing events, the bell-ringing partner organizations applaud the work done to date, and encourage stock exchanges to take further action to improve gender equality in their markets.
Recommended actions include the following:
- Signing the CEO Statement of Support for the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs); promoting gender equality in their workforce
- Introducing gender equality standards and supporting gender-equality themed investment products
- Providing guidance, training, mentoring, and education to market participants on gender equality and the role of gender diversity in business performance
- Encouraging or requiring listed companies to publicly report on relevant gender metrics
The annual Bell Ringing events are the most global initiative that WE does each year offering a unique opportunity to welcome WE leadership teams, members and corporate sponsors to hear speakers presenting the business case for diversity and women’s economic empowerment. Members of Women in ETFs will be involved in bell ringing events at over 20 exchanges in the United States, Canada, EMEA and in Asia Pacific and are leading the activities at 18 events.
Women in ETFs is the first women’s group strictly for the ETF industry. Founded in January 2014, WE is a non-profit organization that brings together over 4,700 members, including women and men, in chapters in major financial centers across the United States, Canada, EMEA and Asia Pacific.
International Women’s Day comes just as a Bank of America-Merrill Lynch reported said that an increase in women equality could help boost global gross domestic product (GDP) by 31 percent or $28 trillion by the year 2025. The report also suggested that $72 trillion of financial assets will be under the control of women by 2020, which represents double the 2010 level and a rate that is 1.5 times faster than men.
“The economic gender gap is reducing at a snail’s pace,” the report said. “Our analysis suggests women diversity can boost [return on equity], profits, dividends and market cap, at a lower risk.”
Click here to view the list of participating exchanges and partner organizations.
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