We, business leaders from across the globe, express support for advancing equality between women and men to:

- Bring the broadest pool of talent to our endeavours;

- Further our companies’ competitiveness;

- Meet our corporate responsibility and sustainability commitments;

- Model behaviour within our companies that reflects the society we would like for our employees, fellow citizens and families;

- Encourage economic and social conditions that provide opportunities for women and men,girls and boys; and

- Foster sustainable development in the countries in which we operate.

Therefore, we welcome the provisions of the Women’s Empowerment Principles – Equality Means Business, produced and disseminated by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the United Nations Global Compact. The Principles present seven steps that business and other sectors can take to advance and empower women.

Equal treatment of women and men is not just the right thing to do – it is also good for business. The full participation of women in our enterprises and in the larger community makes sound business sense now and in the future. A broad concept of sustainability and corporate responsibility that embraces women’s empowerment as a key goal will benefit us all. The seven steps of the Women’s Empowerment Principles will help us realize these opportunities.

We encourage business leaders to join us and use the Principles as guidance for actions that we can all take in the workplace, marketplace and community to empower women and benefit our companies and societies. We will strive to use sex-disaggregated data in our sustainability reporting to communicate our progress to our own stakeholders.

Please join us.