UN Women partners with Indian corporates to tackle violence

Accelerating efforts towards women’s empowerment, UN Women, the UN organisation dedicated to gender equality and a global champion for women and girls, has teamed up with several Indian corporates as well as the IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry to drive change at the workplace, and raise awareness about the funding needed to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls.

Speakers at an event in Mumbai highlighted the tenuous link between women’s economic empowerment and violence against them, and the need for urgent and adequate investment in the twin themes. Deliberations centred around the question of violence against women as an economic issue and what private sector and government could do to empower women.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, termed the private sector a key partner in efforts to advance gender equality. Though research demonstrates that gender diversity helps businesses perform better, she said it was necessary to ensure the inclusion of women’s talents, skills and energies, right from executive offices to the factory floor and the supply chain.

Rebecca Reichmann Tavares, India Representative, UN Women, said that besides the State Bank of India, “which is a strong partner, we are also working with Unilever and Citibank. With TCS, we don’t have a financial arrangement, but have a strong partnership to promote gender equality at the workplace.”

Despite growing recognition that violence against women is a gross human rights violation, concrete efforts on preventing and ending violence continues to be a low priority.

“Many times violence against women goes unreported,” said Hollywood actress Katrina Kaif. Stating that it was not an India-specific issue, she said an in-depth study on all forms of violence against women noted there was “no region of the world, no country, no culture” where violence against women did not exist.

The actress was speaking at the ‘WeUnite’ conference, which marks UN Women’s partnership with the IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Orange the world Organisations across the world are observing 16 days of activism against gender based violence from November 25 (International day to end violence against women) to December 10 (International human rights day). This year’s UNiTE Campaign call-to-action ‘Orange the World: Raise Money to End Violence against Women and Girls’ initiative takes place with a focus on sustainable funding for efforts to end violence against women and girls.

The IMC along with UN Women are to light up eminent monuments in orange across Mumbai like the Western Railway headquarters, the Rajabhai Towers, CST Station to express support for the cause.

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