Women In ETFs And Five Partner Organizations Ring The Bell For Gender Equality At Over 83 Stock Exchanges Globally

For the fifth consecutive year, a global collaboration across over 83 stock exchanges around the world plan to ‘Ring the Bell for Gender Equality’, to celebrate International Women’s Day 2019 (Friday, 8 March 2019). In March 2018, a record 65 exchanges rang their bells for gender equality, and this year is set to be even bigger, with 83 exchanges confirmed as taking part.
 
The events are a partnership between Women in ETFs,  IFC, Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative, UN Global Compact, UN Women, and the World Federation of Exchanges to raise awareness about the business case for women’s economic empowerment and the opportunities for the private sector to advance gender equality and sustainable development.
 
The UN Women’s theme for International Women’s Day 2019 is ‘Think equal, build smart, innovate for change’. The theme focuses on innovative ways in which the private sector can advance gender equality and women’s empowerment, particularly in the areas of social protection systems, access to public services, and sustainable infrastructure.
 
In addition to the bell ringing events, the bell ringing partner organizations applaud the work done to date, and encourage stock exchanges to take further action to improve gender equality in their markets. Recommended actions include signing the CEO Statement of Support for the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs); promoting gender equality in their workforce; introducing gender equality standards and supporting gender-equality themed investment products; providing guidance, training, mentoring, and education to market participants on gender equality and the role of gender diversity in business performance; and encouraging or requiring listed companies to publicly report on relevant gender metrics.  
 
The annual Bell Ringing events are the most global initiative that WE does each year offering a unique opportunity to welcome WE leadership teams, members and corporate sponsors to hear speakers presenting the business case for diversity and women’s economic empowerment. Members of Women in ETFs will be involved in bell ringing events at over 20 exchanges in the United States, Canada, EMEA and in Asia Pacific and are leading the activities at 18 events.  
 
Women in ETFs is the first women’s group for the ETF industry. Founded in January 2014, WE is a non-profit organization that brings together over 4,700 members, including women and men, in chapters in major financial centers across theUnited States, Canada, EMEA and Asia Pacific to: 1) CONNECT: Create opportunities for professional advancement of women by expanding connections among women and men in the ETF industry; 2) SUPPORT: Offer guidance for the current and next generation of women in ETFs and 3) INSPIRE: WE achieves this by organizing events at our chapters globally that support our goals of education, networking, philanthropy and idea sharing across the industry and beyond. For more information, visit: www.womeninetfs.com Follow us on Twitter: @WomeninETFs and on Linkedin:Women in ETFs