The Company is the first Exchange in the Americas and the sixth in the world to sign the UN’s “Women’s Empowerment Principles”
“Ring the Bell for Gender Equality”: first photo, from left to right: BM&FBOVESPA’s HR Managing Director Marita Bernhoeft; Senior Executive at Bradesco and member of the Board of Directors at BM&FBOVESPA, Denise Pavarina; Listings and Issuer Development Managing Director at BM&FBOVESPA, Cristiana Pereira; Media Relations, Sustainability and Communications Managing Director at BM&FBOVESPA, Sonia Favaretto; Chair of the Board of Directors of Magazine Luiza, Luiza Trajano; Issuer Regulation Managing Director at BM&FBOVESPA, Flavia Mouta; UN Women representative in Brazil, Nadine Gasman; CEO at BM&FBOVESPA, Edemir Pinto; and Senior Executive at the Brazilian Global Compact Network, Beatriz Martins Carneiro.
Today, on International Women’s Day, BM&FBOVESPA held the symbolic ringing of the opening bell in support of gender equality, as part of the “Ring the Bell for Gender Equality” event in which another 42 exchanges around the world were involved. “Ring the Bell for Gender Equality” is a Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) global initiative that has the support of the Global Compact, UN Women, the IFC and the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).
During the ceremony, which BM&FBOVESPA employees, companies and market institutions attended, the Exchange formally adhered to the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), a joint initiative with UN Women and the Global Compact that helps the private sector promote gender equality in the workplace, in the market and in the community. It thus became the first signatory exchange in the Americas and the sixth in the world. SSE also invited BM&FBOVESPA to be one of the 15 cases for the report “How stock exchanges can advance gender equality”, which was launched at the start of the week.
BM&FBOVESPA’s formal adhesion to the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs): From left to right: BM&FBOVESPA’s CEO, Edemir Pinto; Senior Executive at the Brazilian Global Compact Network, Beatriz Martins Carneiro; and UN Women representative in Brazil, Nadine Gasman.
In his speech, the CEO of BM&FBOVESPA, Edemir Pinto, cited an SSE study that shows the global economy would be up to U$28 trillion bigger in 2025 if there were no gender inequality, following up that: “We don’t want to wait until then. We are working with determination for this equality to become reality”.
Edemir Pinto said that diversity and gender equality create a positive agenda and a strategy that add value to business. “We will continue to work hard for this agenda and we are aware that there is still a lot to be done, but we are certain that we are on the right path, encouraging public companies and other capital market participants in this equality agenda,” he said.
The importance of encouraging gender equality on the part of company management, family and society as a whole, for the evolution of this agenda, was highlighted by Bradesco senior executive and member of the BM&FBOVESPA Board of Directors, Denise Pavarina. Speaking a little about her own career, she highlighted how individual attitude is also fundamental for the growth of women. “Love what you do, work hard, be dedicated and have a sense of balance”, she said. “It never went through my mind that being a woman would be an impediment”, she added. Meanwhile, the Chair of the Board of Directors of Magazine Luiza, Luiza Trajano, made an appeal for executives to take care of women workers. “We have to look to this woman. A lot of them leave home at 5:00 in the morning and come back at 10:00 at night. And 60% of them support their families and need their jobs”, she said.
BM&FBOVESPA initiatives that seek gender equality
- BM&FBOVESPA develops programs to train potential female entrepreneurs, senior executives, board members and shareholders of private companies;
- The BM&FBOVESPA Institute of Education offers the “Mulheres em Ação”, course, which focuses on the principles of financial planning for a culture of savings and the creation of assets;
- BM&FBOVESPA is one of the institutions that founded and maintains the AEF - associação de educação financeira do Brasil”, which offers a financial education program for low-income women who are on the Bolsa Família welfare plan. This program has already served 1,500 women and aims to increase that number to 4,000;
- The questionnaire of BM&FBOVESPA’s Corporate Sustainability Index has 18 questions related to gender equality and diversity;
- BM&FBOVESPA was the first Exchange in the world to adhere to the GLOBAL COMPACT, IN 2004; the first from an emerging market to be a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), IN 2010 and the Exchange was one of the five founding signatories of SSE, IN 2012;
- BM&FBOVESPA, in the person of Sonia Favaretto, Media Relations, Sustainability and Communications Managing Director, received recognition from the Global Compact as one of ten pioneers in the world, for her work on promoting the Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 5 seeks to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”
