The global event, co-organised by the United Nations and the World Federation of Exchanges, is held annually on March 8, International Women’s Day.
On Wednesday, March 8, stock exchange bells around the world, including in Warsaw, will be rung at 9 a.m. to symbolically highlight the lack of equality between men and women in the labour market and the society at large, organisers said.
In addition, more than 100 stock markets across the globe will be ringing the bell for gender equality throughout the month of March, according to officials.
Ringing the Bell for Gender Equality
Following the symbolic ringing of the stock market bell at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, the Warsaw Stock Exchange will host a conference on gender equality, co-organised with the UN Global Compact Network Poland.
Adorning the event will be a replica of the Fearless Girl, the famous bronze statue in New York, the UN said.
The sculpture symbolises the spiritual strength of women taking the reins of companies today, and is also intended to inspire the next generations and motivate them to take action, according to organisers.
Fearless Girl sculpture by Kristen Visbal. Photo: UN Global Compact Network Poland
Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality
The main theme of the Warsaw conference is DigitAll: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality, which ties with the main topic of the 67th session of the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW-67), scheduled to take place from March 6 to 17, officials told reporters.
The UN Global Compact Network Poland said in a statement: “Innovation, technological change and quality education in the digital age can contribute significantly to the achievement of gender equality and the strengthening of the position of all women and girls."
It added: "They help combat digital exclusion, increase mobility and labour market opportunities, as well as giving women an opportunity - through adequate policies and measures to eliminate the gender gap - to develop in fields that have been stereotypically regarded as male domains.”
Wednesday’s conference at the Warsaw Stock Exchange will include speeches and debates on topics such as the European Union’s Work-Life Balance Directive for gender equality, the gender pay gap, and “women for innovation,” organisers said.
Speakers at Ringing the Bell for Gender Equality 2023 will include Barbara Socha, the Polish government’s commissioner for demographic policy; Finland’s ambassador to Poland, Päivi Laine, and Katarzyna Byczkowska, managing director at BASF Poland, according to officials.
The event will be livestreamed here.
(pm/gs)
Source: UN Global Compact Network Poland
