National Women s Economic Empowerment Jubilee Expo Mulungushi, International Conference Centre, 21nd July, 2014 Remarks by UN Resident Coordinator in Zambia, Ms Janet Rogan The First Lady, Dr. Christine Kaseba-Sata The Minister of Gender and Child Development- Honorable Inonge Wina, MP The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Gender and Child Development- Ms. Daisy Nkhata-Ng ambi The Governor of the Bank of Zambia- Dr. Michael Gondwe The ILO Assistant Director General/Regional Director Mr. Aeneas C. Chuma Senior Government Officials Members of Parliament Cooperating Partners Colleagues from the UN system in Zambia Ladies and gentlemen It is a great honour for me to speak, on behalf of the United Nations in Zambia, at the National Women Economic Empowerment Jubilee Expo. I have been asked to speak on women leading business and the principles of women s empowerment. These are issues close to the personal experience of many of us here. Before taking up my current role as UN Resident Coordinator, I served for 26 years in the UK Diplomatic Service. The world of diplomacy has traditionally been staffed almost exclusively by men and it is still heavily male-dominated in most Diplomatic Services around the world. In the UK, until 1972 women diplomats were forced to resign when they got married. What changed in the 70s was not the attitude of our male colleagues: it was the introduction of a series of Bills to outlaw discrimination (Equal Pay Act; the Sex Discrimination Act; the Race Relations Act). Legislation matters! But legislation does not guarantee an easy road, and I know I have faced the same challenges, hurdles and frustrations as most women in top leadership jobs. Negative stereotyping, and plain old prejudice, is not unique to Zambia; it is something that all women have to deal with worldwide. Glass ceilings and un-level playing fields still exist as informal barriers within organisations. And sometimes women are too modest about our skills and experience, and lack self-confidence in pursuing our ambitions. At a personal level, and collectively, it is important to devise appropriate strategies to smash those glass ceilings. And at particular moments there can be a need for special policies and measures to level those unlevelled playing fields. Madame First Lady, The findings of the World's Women 2010 Report produced by the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs, provides us with food for thought on this. First, women are predominantly and increasingly employed in the services sector. And for those women, there is a high prevalence in Africa and Asia of vulnerable employment, meaning own-account work and contributing family work; 1
Second, while the informal sector is an important source of employment for both women and men in the less developed regions, it is far more so for women. This increases the vulnerability of women to wider wage gaps and poor work conditions. Third, in the corporate world, women continue to be severely under-represented in the top decision-making positions. Only 13 of the 500 largest corporations in the world have a female Chief Executive Officer, representation at board level is little better. The picture for Zambia is similar. Although good progress has been made in the public sector, where women are heading institutions such as the Zambia Police, the Office of the Auditor General, the Anti -Corruption Commission, the Drug Enforcement Commission, the Clerk of the National Assembly, and the Zambia Information Communication and Technology Authority, the same cannot yet be said for the private sector. Currently, out of the 20 banks in Zambia only one has a female Chief Executive Officer. In industry, the Zambia Chamber of Mines is headed by a woman, but nearly all the boards of the mining companies are headed by men, and they are largely composed of men. In the field of defence and security, of the 47 Zambians women currently serving in the six UN peacekeeping missions to which Zambia contributes, only 5 are women. The paradox for Zambia is that all this is happening in the face of some really good progress in terms of laws, on paper, providing for equality. And there have been some outstanding Zambian women who have broken the gender barriers and excelled despite male-domination in their chosen areas. These include Mrs. Margaret Mwanakatwe and Mrs. Mizinga Melu who were the first female Chief Executives in Barclays Bank and Standard Chartered Bank in Zambia respectively; Professor Nkandu who broke barriers in science; Mama Julia Chikamoneka, Ms Zenniah Ndhlovu, Mama Kankasa and Ms Mary Fulano to name but a few, who fought alongside the menfolk in the struggle for the independence of Zambia. Some of these women also held cabinet ministerial posts, like the Hon Minister of Gender and Child Development here today. These examples show that with enough inspiration, personal drive and support, women can rise above the stereotypes and can perform in positions of leadership just as well as men, if not better. But the struggle to rise above casual prejudice and stereotyping is exhausting and places unnecessary barriers in the way of progression for most women. Ladies and gentlemen All those countries, including Zambia, which have signed the Conventions supporting gender equality have in doing so agreed the need for societies where the doors of opportunity are open for all. But Conventions need to be written into domestic law and domestic law needs to be implemented. Implementation by definition needs to reflect the society it is aiming to influence and protect. It happens best where there is a vibrant debate at all levels, wider civil society, the academic community, erudite legal circles, and the private sector. In March 2010, UN Women in collaboration with the UN Global Compact, launched the Women s Empowerment Principles. These principles offer guidance on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community. The Principles emphasise the business case for corporate action to promote gender equality and women's empowerment. They are informed by real-life business practices and input gathered from across the globe. As 2
well as being a useful guide for business, the Principles also seek to inform other stakeholders, including governments, in the way they engage with business. I would like to give you a quick flavour of the principles (though I am not going to read through all of the slides you can find them on-line). They are already being implemented in many countries in Africa and elsewhere in the world. Essentially, they work on the principle that Equality Means Business, and that top level leaders in business need to step up and lead the way: Principle 1: Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality This advises corporate leadership to: Affirm high-level support and direct top-level policies for gender equality and human rights Establish company-wide goals and targets for gender equality and include progress as a factor in managers performance reviews Engage internal and external stakeholders in the development of company policies, programmes and implementation plans that advance equality Ensure that all policies are gender-sensitive identifying factors that impact women and men differently and that corporate culture advances equality and inclusion Principle 2: Treat all women and men fairly at work - respect and support human rights and nondiscrimination Pay equal remuneration, including benefits, for work of equal value and strive to pay a living wage to all women and men Ensure that workplace policies and practices are free from gender-based discrimination Implement gender-sensitive recruitment and retention practices and proactively recruit and appoint women to managerial and executive positions and to the corporate board of directors Assure sufficient participation of women 30% or greater in decision-making and governance at all levels and across all business areas Offer flexible work options, leave and re-entry opportunities to positions of equal pay and status Support access to child and dependent care by providing services, resources and information to both women and men Principle 3: Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women and men workers This requires companies to Take into account differential impacts on women and men, provide safe working conditions and protection from exposure to hazardous materials and disclose potential risks, including to reproductive health Establish a zero-tolerance policy towards all forms of violence at work, including verbal and/or physical abuse and prevent sexual harassment Strive to offer health insurance or other needed services including for survivors of domestic violence - and ensure equal access for all employees Respect women and men workers rights to time off for medical care and counseling for themselves and their dependents 3
In consultation with employees, identify and address security issues, including the safety of women traveling to and from work on company-related business Train security staff and managers to recognize signs of violence against women and understand laws and company policies on human trafficking, labour and sexual exploitation Principle 4: Promote education, training and professional development for women Invest in workplace policies and programmes that open avenues for advancement of women at all levels and across all business areas, and encourage women to enter nontraditional job fields Ensure equal access to all company-supported education and training programmes, including literacy classes, vocational and information technology training Provide equal opportunities for formal and informal networking and mentoring Offer opportunities to promote the business case for women s empowerment and the positive impact of inclusion for men as well as women Principle 5: Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women Expand business relationships with women-owned enterprises, including small businesses, and women entrepreneurs Support gender-sensitive solutions to credit and lending barriers Ask business partners and peers to respect the company s commitment to advancing equality and inclusion Respect the dignity of women in all marketing and other company materials Ensure that company products, services and facilities are not used for human trafficking and/or labour or sexual exploitation Principle 6: Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy Lead by example showcase company commitment to gender equality and women s empowerment Leverage influence, alone or in partnership, to advocate for gender equality and collaborate with business partners, suppliers and community leaders to promote inclusion Work with community stakeholders, officials and others to eliminate discrimination and exploitation and open opportunities for women and girls Promote and recognize women s leadership in, and contributions to, their communities and ensure sufficient representation of women in any community consultation Use philanthropy and grants programmes to support company commitment to inclusion, equality and human rights Principle 7: Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality 4
Make public the company policies and implementation plan for promoting gender equality Establish benchmarks that quantify inclusion of women at all levels Measure and report on progress, both internally and externally, using data disaggregated by sex Incorporate gender markers into ongoing reporting obligations Now, Zambia has made significant progress in trying to promote the rights of women in employment. Successive Governments have ensured that all labour laws take into account ILO standards governing labor. For example, equal pay for equal work. However this has proved not to be enough, yet, because realisation of the good intent of these laws and policies largely depends on enforcement. Instead, we need leadership with the foresight to understand that adopting these principles into their corporate strategies will lead to better empowered and more productive work forces. And we need workers who understand the value of these principles and take ownership and responsibility for their own employment and career progression strategies. Let me summarise with three points and one innovation that may effectively boost Zambia s implementation of the Women s Empowerment Principles: First, there is need for a broader debate on the rights of women, including a stronger voice in the legal and academic community. This should be coupled with a stronger push for the domestication of international instruments such as Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women. Zambia has started down the right path with this with the draft Gender Equality Bill and I pledge the support of the UN system in Zambia to this important work. Second, is the need to invest in girls and women s education. We need to ensure that girls are retained in schools and here I wish to congratulate the Government on the leadership taken to end child marriages. The UN system in Zambia stands ready to support the proposed work to harmonise the customary and statutory laws over the position of women and girls and ensure that they meet the highest international standards and values, as Zambian women and girls deserve. Third, we should look at women s economic empowerment from a different perspective. For a very long time women have been given handouts in form of small grants to startup businesses. There are still programmes to hand out small grants to startup businesses. The question is how much difference have these small grants programmes made overall? We may have moved from giving a fish to feed a family, to teaching the family how to fish for themselves, but I suggest this isn t enough! What about ensuring the water supply to the fish ponds is clean? That the fish are healthy and nutritious? That there is a supply solution to get them to market or a processing solution to add value? In other words, that we support women at the local level to enable their business ideas to grow. This leads me to my innovative thought. Women are usually the most active participants in the informal social and welfare sectors, particularly at the local level. How about instead of just supporting them through donations from charitable institutions and foundations, we enable them to run their own Social Enterprises? A social enterprise is a business that trades for a social or environmental purpose. It will have a clear sense of that purpose, which means the women will know what difference they are trying to make in their communities, who they aim to help, and how they plan to do it. Unlike charitable institutions, a social enterprise openly aims to make a profit and to grow. It will bring in most or all of its income through selling goods or services, not by grants and donations. And it will also have clear rules about what it does with its profits, reinvesting these to further the women s vision for their community. 5
Social enterprises come in many shapes and sizes from large national and international businesses to small community-based enterprises. They can be health care services, or provide inexpensive accommodation for teachers in rural areas. This not only brings empowerment and ownership to communities but also shares the burden of provision of such services with government. Such a business concept could provide a win-win situation for women s economic empowerment in Zambia. Existing successful businesses can support by investing in a social enterprise fund and by providing mentoring and capacity building to help grow the new businesses. After all, businesses are better at growing business than governments or international organisations! The United Nations in Zambia is willing to engage on the possibility of adapting the social enterprise concept into the Zambian context. Zikomo kwambili Natotela Twalumba Kaphati Twasanta Thank you 6