Unilever Pakistan and UN Women collaborate for the Economic Empowerment of Women

Lahore –  Unilever Pakistan today reaffirmed its commitment towards enhancinggender diversity within its business by signing onto the Women’s Empowerment Principles, with support from UN Women.

The Seven Principles for Women’s Empowerment, are a joint initiative of UN Women (the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women) and the UN Global Compact. These principles provide a set of guidelines to helpcompanies focus on key elements integral to promoting gender equality in the workplace, marketplace and community, through policy and action.

Shazia Syed, Chairperson & CEO, Unilever Pakistan, highlighted, “The business case for gender equality and diversity has long been accepted as an integral part of organizations across the world. In Pakistan, we too aredefining the organizational road map that will empower women to become the flag-bearers of economic success.”Jamshed M. Kazi (Country Representative, UN Women Pakistan) congratulated Unilever in driving change from the top and galvanizing momentum to advance gender equality, diversity and inclusiveness. Speaking on the occasion, he said “The cultural, social, political and infrastructural complexities associated with gender equality are broad and we need to cultivate a spirit of mutual work to be able to tackle these challenges. Multinational companies like Unilever Pakistan are paramount in bringing change and CEOShazia Syed is an inspiration for many women”.

By signing the Women’s Empowerment Principles, Unilever Pakistan joins a global movement for women empowerment in the corporate sector.Globally 1661 companies have already adopted the principles, of which Unilever’s headquarter has also been a signatory since 2013. The initiative includes the promotion of women to executive positions, career development opportunities for women employees, addressing discrimination against women and protecting them from workplace violence, supporting women-owned companies as vendors and service providers, promoting a positive image of women in marketing campaigns and enhancing facilities for women within the company.Unilever has made gender equality and the improvement of opportunities for women into a global priority across its business. This is also reflected by actions being taken by the organization in Pakistan to maximize the potential of women, advance careers and help maintain integrity and equality across the business value chain for both genders.UN Women supports the empowerment of women, including their right to exercise agency over their life, to fully participate in decision-making, to access and control resources, and to take part in economic and political affairs. UN Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme is currently being scaled up to all four provinces of Pakistan and FATA to support women and excluded groups to access income generating activities, formal employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. The programme will provide right-holders with capacity-building trainings, support in business development and financial literacy skills.