Women in Business

In response to President Obama's challenge to other heads of state to break down barriers to women's political and economic participation, on September 24, 2012, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched the Equal Futures Partnership on behalf of the United States along with 12 other founding members (Australia, Benin, Bangladesh, Denmark, Finland, Indonesia, Jordan, the Netherlands, Peru, Senegal, and Tunisia; as well as the European Union). Each founding member made national commitments to policy, legal, and regulatory reforms to promote two mutually reinforcing goals: expanded economic opportunity for women and increased political and civic participation by women at local, state and national levels. Multilateral stakeholders including UN Women and the World Bank and leading businesses and non-profit institutions also pledged support for the partnership

Belgium, Croatia, Latvia, Morocco, New Zealand, Sierra Leone, Thailand, and Timor-Leste have joined the The Equal Futures Partnership since September 2012, and have begun developing commitments. Mexico and Italy have also delivered letters of intent to join. All new members will share progress on their commitments by September 2013, however, in the meantime, here is an update on highlights from new member commitments:

Belgium will strengthen women's participation in legislative bodies and politics, and will support efforts to ensure women's participation on corporate boards as well as protect leave for caretakers and flexible work policies, and will monitor and evaluate its efforts on all these fronts.

Croatia has developed a national action plan for Equal Futures to promote women's political participation, strengthen the social and economic position of rural women, advance female businesses and women in the labor market, and support international efforts to empower women.
Latvia is committing to reducing labor market segregation, expanding efforts to improve women's health care, including sexual and reproductive health by 2014, and building the capacity of law enforcement to address human trafficking.

Morocco will speed up and strengthen its program of institutional and legal reform and strengthen implementation of the government's plan on gender equality, and in particular redouble its focus on gender-based violence.

New Zealand will launch a "commitment to action" through which private and public sector partners agree to increase gender diversity in leadership, and in 2013, will focus on effective pathways for female leadership talent within the workplace.

Sierra Leone is committing to assessing and reforming laws, policies, and regulations that restrict women's participation in the formal economy, and in particular, will review and reform its land policy to ensure gender equality. In addition, Sierra Leone will focus on implementing its National Action Plan on gender-based violence, and implementing a 30 percent quota for women in governance at all levels.
Thailand will build on ongoing and comprehensive efforts to promote gender equality across political, social, and economic spheres by promoting new efforts to address gender bias and attitudes as a root cause of inequality in society.

Timor-Leste will focus on women's participation in local government, as well as expanding women's economic empowerment by transitioning women from micro to small and medium enterprises. In addition, Timor-Leste will focus on gender-based violence as a key barrier to women's political and economic participation.

As part of its participation in the Equal Futures Partnership (members: United States, Australia, Benin, Bangladesh, Denmark, Finland, Indonesia, Jordan, the Netherlands, Peru, Senegal, and Tunisia; as well as the European Union) Tunisia has committed to changes in policy, legal, and regulatory reforms to promote two mutually reinforcing goals: expanded economic opportunity for women and increased political and civic participation by women at local, state and national levels. Multilateral stakeholders including UN Women and the World Bank and leading businesses and non-profit institutions also pledged support for the partnership.

The Jordanian National Commission for Women along with its partners prepared a Jordanian National Action Plan to implement Jordan's commitments towards the Equal Futures Partnership, which will be launched soon. Jordan continues to make progress on women's leadership, from raising the number of female judges to 142 of 928, or 15 percent, of the judiciary to electing 18 women to parliament in January 2013. In addition, the Jordanian National Commission for Women developed and sent to parliament a list of proposed policies and legislative reforms required for 2013 to expand gender equality.

As part of its participation in the Equal Futures Partnership the Netherlands has committed to changes in policy, legal, and regulatory reforms to promote two mutually reinforcing goals: expanded economic opportunity for women and increased political and civic participation by women at local, state and national levels. Multilateral stakeholders including UN Women and the World Bank and leading businesses and non-profit institutions also pledged support for the partnership.

To meet the commitment of encouraging employers to increase their present ratio from nine percent of women on boards of directors and supervisory boards to 30 percent, the Netherlands has started the "Talent to the Top" initiative. The Netherlands also strengthened programs to engage young people in preventing violence against women. Internationally, the Netherlands established the Women on the Frontline initiative to strengthen the financial and organizational management of women's organizations in the Middle East and North Africa. This initiative is open for other partners to join.

As part of its participation in the Equal Futures Partnership (members: United States, Australia, Benin, Bangladesh, Denmark, Finland, Indonesia, Jordan, the Netherlands, Peru, Senegal, and Tunisia; as well as the European Union) Tunisia has committed to changes in policy, legal, and regulatory reforms to promote two mutually reinforcing goals: expanded economic opportunity for women and increased political and civic participation by women at local, state and national levels. Multilateral stakeholders including UN Women and the World Bank and leading businesses and non-profit institutions also pledged support for the partnership.

Senegal has made progress in implementing a comprehensive program to operationalize its gender parity law on women's political participation in advance of local elections in 2014. This has included a capacity building workshop for new members of parliament and election monitoring training with a gender perspective. In addition, Senegal enacted programs to promote women's voices in media at the local level, particularly in rural communities.

As part of its participation in the Equal Futures Partnership Indonesia has committed to changes in policy, legal, and regulatory reforms to promote two mutually reinforcing goals: expanded economic opportunity for women and increased political and civic participation by women at local, state and national levels. Multilateral stakeholders including UN Women and the World Bank and leading businesses and non-profit institutions also pledged support for the partnership.

Indonesia established and is implementing a memorandum of understanding to advance women's participation in national and local elections and is launching a gender mainstreaming strategy to advance women in decision-making positions in the executive branch. Indonesia is also committing to additional specific policy reforms to advance women's economic empowerment, including clarifying and strengthening the definition of female-headed households and formalizing the definition of women-owned businesses.

As part of its participation in the Equal Futures Partnership Peru has committed to changes in policy, legal, and regulatory reforms to promote two mutually reinforcing goals: expanded economic opportunity for women and increased political and civic participation by women at local, state and national levels. Multilateral stakeholders including UN Women and the World Bank and leading businesses and non-profit institutions also pledged support for the partnership.

To advance greater political participation of women, in November 2012, the Executive Branch presented the initiative of the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations to Congress signed as Bill No. 1779/2012-PE. This bill would require alternating between men and women candidates on ballots as a mechanism to ensure the effective implementation of the gender quota in political parties, which currently stands at 30 percent. At the moment, this bill is under debate in the Congress. To advance women's economic empowerment, the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion's program JUNTOS is playing a central role in Peru's financial inclusion strategy, including for rural women. Users of JUNTOS (including approximately 650,000 mothers) already have savings accounts at the Banco de la Nación and a significant percentage of them also have a debit card that allows them to make financial transactions.

As part of its participation in the Equal Futures Partnership Finland has committed to changes in policy, legal, and regulatory reforms to promote two mutually reinforcing goals: expanded economic opportunity for women and increased political and civic participation by women at local, state and national levels. Multilateral stakeholders including UN Women and the World Bank and leading businesses and non-profit institutions also pledged support for the partnership.

Finland's commitment to mainstreaming gender equality in its democracy and citizen participation policies, with a focus on ensuring women, including in immigrant communities, equal opportunities to participate, is proceeding on schedule. A report will be submitted to Parliament in early 2014, with a chapter on these efforts. Finland's review of the impact of tax policies and income transfers on economic equality will take place throughout 2013 and serve as the basis for the gender impact assessment of tax policy reforms. On gender sensitivity in education and training, a working group submitted a strategy to the Minister of Education in December 2012, and recommendations are being discussed between different ministries.

"Angelina Jolie has preventative double mastectomy."

At first when I read the headline this morning I had a hard time understanding why. But then I remembered that she has six children, and how important her humanitarian work has been to her. An 87% chance of cancer is pretty sobering.

Angelina Jolie, actress and Hollywood icon was named 2009's most powerful celebrity in the world by Forbes magazine. But Jolie is not just a celebrity. She is a working mother, humanitarian, and a successful business woman. Jolie is one of only several celebrities that has a stock index of companies associated with her works (the index has outperformed the Dow and S&P 500 for the past year). This profile focuses on the humanitarian work and business endeavors of Angelina Jolie including her book, the nightclub she owns, and the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

In an industry where women feel compelled to enhance their appearance, I am sure her decisions was not easy. I wish her continued good health and many long years of life.

Biography of Angelina Jolie

As part of its participation in the Equal Futures Partnership the European Union has committed to changes in policy, legal, and regulatory reforms to promote two mutually reinforcing goals: expanded economic opportunity for women and increased political and civic participation by women at local, state and national levels. Multilateral stakeholders including UN Women and the World Bank and leading businesses and non-profit institutions also pledged support for the partnership.

The EU has been active in women's empowerment through programs like Spring Forward for Women financial assistance for North Africa adopted in October 2012, outreach with the High Level Conference on Women's Leadership in the Sahel region in April 2013, and financial support to the deployment of independent human rights observers from civil society organizations in Mali. All 15 EU Common Security and Defense Policy missions and operations now have gender and/or human rights advisors as part of their teams. The EU increased funding for programs to address violence against women in Albania, Mexico and Timor-Leste, and announced EUR 3.7 million in funding to support its Member States' activities to raise awareness of violence against women and a further EUR 11.4 million for NGOs and others working with victims.

"Peter Thiel, famous for being Facebook's first investor and the co-founder and former CEO at PayPal, is giving 20 teenagers $100,000 to drop out of college." (Megan Dickey, Entrepreneur.com.)

I am all for developing and encouraging young entrepreneurs, but not this way.  Starting any new business is risky -- it takes more than just money, and not everyone with a great idea can make it rich overnight.  I would rather see this program offer scholarships to complete a college degree or offering paid internships.

If these young entrepreneurs fail (I hope they all succeed!) they will have lost two years towards earning a degree.  Education first, please.  A degree is no guarantee you will get hired, or find the job of your dreams, but without one, you can be assured your options will be a lot more limited.

These 20 Teenagers Are Getting $100,000 Each to Drop Out of School and Become Entrepreneurs