Members of the PRME Working Group on Gender Equality were among the nearly 200 business leaders and representatives from civil society, governments and the UN at the 4^th Annual Women’s Empowerment Principles Event. The event marked the second anniversary of the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), launched collaboratively by the UN Global Compact and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM, now part of UN Women) in 2010. This year’s event, titled Gender Equality for Sustainable Business, focused on the business practices used to implement the Principles.

Among the tools and resources highlighted at this year’s event was the Resource Repository currently under development by the PRME Working Group on Gender Equality. The Repository will identify key resources for teaching and research to assist faculty in the integration of gender issues into management education and will launch officially in June 2012 at the 3^rd Global Forum for Responsible Management, the official platform for management-related Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) at the Rio+20 Earth Summit. The Resource Repository is a response to the call for a new emphasis on gender, diversity and inclusion in management education globally – thus transforming the leadership pipeline that is deemed essential to changing business culture.

As was highlighted at the event by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women, four hundred chief executives worldwide have publicly declared their commitment to implementing the WEPs over the last two years. Read more about these commitments here.

More information on the PRME Working Group on Gender Equality is to be found here.

Learn more about 8 March, International Women’s Day, here.