Browse by Theme: Value Chains

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has recently published its ‘Yellow Report’ on the input from states, employers, unions and civil society to the proposed new Convention on ending violence and harassment in the world of work. The Yellow Report’s wide-ranging provisions are welcome – but there are key areas that still need to be addressed in the lead up to, and during, the 2018 International Labour Conference (ILC) in May/June in Geneva.

Do you know where chocolate comes from? Do you wonder who produced the cocoa in your chocolate and under what circumstances? Do you care if the chocolate you buy is sourced in a responsible way, with equal access and opportunity for women?

CARE was delighted to host yesterday’s event to a full house of business leaders, global experts, and civil society actors to talk about how the private sector can empower women in the economy, including by implementing the UN High Level Panel (HLP) on Women’s Economic Empowerment’s new recommendations.

Across the world, women make a significant contribution to agricultural supply chains, in spite of complex hurdles that limit their inclusion and their leadership. The UN High Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment (HLP) identified seven key drivers for women’s economic empowerment (WEE), and the HLP called on governments, private sector companies and civil society organisations to step up their work on WEE by increasing investment, finding new types of partnerships and expanding their actions to more of the ‘drivers’.

The private sector is an essential partner in the women’s economic empowerment movement. Corporations large and small employ a significant proportion of the labour force worldwide, and their value chains touch all economies and nearly every person on Earth. They have enormous power to bring about transformative change through inclusive hiring and promotion policies, market expansion, workforce development, and procurement spending.

What does women’s economic empowerment mean to you?

To me, women’s economic empowerment is a fresh and insightful new approach to uplifting the status of women in all walks of life.

The suggested ILO Convention on ending violence and harassment at work, while positive, still has some way to go on some key issues, including the role of women in developing and implementing the Convention, who are identified as workers, what is a place of work, and the responsibilities of multinational companies.