#Women4Inclusion

The Women’s Forum Global Meeting 2019 calls for formidable societal, political, environmental and economic challenges to be tackled head-on through full and fair inclusion. Gender representation is key, creating the conditions for a diverse range of leaders to bring their talents to bear on reshaping economies, transforming systems, and healing rifts. Humanity is at a crossroads on an unsustainable, unequal path. Technology disrupts how we live, work and connect in profound and complicated ways. Unequal access to education and information limit human potential and stoke populism and bias. Climate change threatens our very existence. But we can change our destination by our choices. Taking the lead for inclusion has real economic and social implications, as businesses cannot thrive in unequal, unstable societies. To create a sustainable future, results must also be achieved for those traditionally left behind. Education and work for all, for instance, must include all genders, classes, and those with disabilities, including invisible ones. A fossil-free future will require fairer access to sustainable solutions across income levels. And where politics and culture are actively divisive, inclusion may be a matter of life and death.

The Women’s Forum believes the means and measures needed to grow women’s leadership and representation, as well as women’s leadership itself, can drive the inclusivity necessary for our economies and society to progress. Through the theme of the Women’s Forum Global Meeting 2019, Taking the lead for inclusion: Accelerating impact, we’ll fuel some of the accelerators of a more inclusive future, focusing on the issues of climate action, equal access to health, STEM, artificial intelligence, and economic empowerment, as well as women’s leadership and governance.

Throughout this year, the Women's Forum has delivered recommendations to G7 and G20 decision-makers to encourage and engage people of all genders, generations, and backgrounds for inclusion. The Global Meeting in Paris is the culmination of all the conversations and collaborations we have enabled, and the launchpad for meaningful action and impact. It will gather more than 2,000 committed delegates across business, government, academia, civil society and other sectors to unlock women’s leadership for a more inclusive future.

Will you join us in Paris and embrace an inclusive future? Accelerators of an inclusive future: Throughout the year, the Women’s Forum aims to drive action and solutions on issues where women are disproportionately impacted, and where women’s leadership brings added value. These issues must be addressed as they have the potential to widen exclusion. At the same time, the measures and means to unlock women’s leadership have the potential to leapfrog progress and build a more inclusive future – not just for women, but for all of humanity.

These accelerator areas include:

Scalable climate action - #Women4Climate Climate change affects different groups disproportionately and differently: for example, women make up 80% of those displaced by climate change. But women and other disadvantaged groups are not just climate victims - their actions, perspectives and leadership have the potential to drive progress on tackling climate change. 

Their inclusion, empowerment and participation in climate action are critical to successful climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. And in turn, the transition to a greener economy creates opportunities to accelerate progress on equality and economic empowerment for everyone.

Equal access to health - #Women4Health Current healthcare treatments, practices, education and awareness are not available to all in an equitable manner around the world and throughout societies - with spiralling impacts. For instance, women suffering heart attacks are 50% more likely to get delayed emergency care as their symptoms aren’t recognised. When women face limited access to healthcare, their families and communities are affected in turn. Technology can provide innovative and scalable solutions to equitably improve access to healthcare for all. However, women's leadership must be scaled up to for their diverse and representative perspectives to contribute to practice, policy and technological aspects of healthcare access.

Ethical artificial intelligence - #Women4AI Artificial intelligence (AI) has a growing influence on the way we work and live, but just 22% of AI professionals globally are women – meaning that existing biases, errors and inequalities can be missed, reflected and reinforced. These may affect livelihoods, such as in 3 hiring and recruiting, or even life and death in criminal justice systems. Conversely, if designed by diverse teams and governed appropriately, AI can help shape a more inclusive world even beyond the developed world and the workplace.

Leadership through STEM - #Women4STEM Science, technology, engineering and mathematics are transforming the world in many ways, from clean energy slowing climate change, to communications and sensing technologies creating better living environments. This also means the demand for technological skills will balloon. However, not all groups are represented equally in STEM education, careers and roles. Women make up less than a third of STEM researchers worldwide. Greater inclusion will strengthen innovation and advancement in STEM, leading to greater opportunities for all.

Empowered business - #Women4Business Entrepreneurship is a ready path towards economic empowerment: getting a foothold in major corporate or government supply chains can accelerate entrepreneurs along this path, with a multiplier effect for wider communities and economies. If women and men participated equally as entrepreneurs, global GDP could rise by up to 6%, or $5 trillion. Moreover, supply chain diversity offers real value: it increases flexibility and access to innovation, creating opportunities to hear new ideas, apply different approaches, and gain access to additional solutions that respond to customer needs and enable agile response to market demands. How can corporates and governments advance the economic empowerment and inclusion of under-represented groups through deliberate and dedicated procurement strategies and other supply chain policies?

See the full programme : https://events.womens-forum.com/women-s-forum-global-meeting-19