Plenary Summary: Advancing Women, Advancing Rights, Advancing Business
This morning marked the 18th Annual Commission on the Advancement of Women (CAW) Breakfast Plenary, cosponsored with the Chamber of Commerce’s Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC). The plenary, titled “Movers and Shakers: Advancing Women, Advancing Rights, Advancing Business,” focused on why and how the private sector and development banks are making greater investments in gender equality and women’s empowerment.
According to Ilze Melngailis, vice president of Partnerships and Impact Initiatives at GBCHealth, “Investing in women goes beyond a moral imperative; it just works.”
Taryn Bird, Manager of Global Corporate Citizenship at BCLC, introduced the panel discussion with a brief framing of BCLC’s work with their private sector partners to make social civic investments on a global scale that address gender centric programs aimed at achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). She spoke of BCLC’s desire to build collective action around women centric programs in response to the private sectors’ growing movement toward a shared value sentiment. She stressed that investing in women is not just the right thing for business’ to do, but the smart thing as well.
The panel was moderated by Susan Hayes, President & CEO of ReSurge International. Speakers included Sally D’Amato, Principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP; Dr. Andrew Morrison, Chief of the Gender & Diversity Unit at the Inter-American Development Bank ; and Ilze Melngailis. When asked what wisdom they wanted the audience to walk away with, they answered respectively: “Use measurement and analytics; align with your mission; and engage men and boys!”
Though they all came from different backgrounds, their message was universal: investing in women, both internally within your organization and externally in the field, has a profound impact on the economic success of businesses and the private sector.
By Tawana Jacobs, associate director of public relations at InterAction
