Ellevate Network will be represented at the UN Women Global Innovation Coalition for Change
As a company, we believe in the power of communities working together to create a more just world, and taking part in this Coalition is an honor.
New York, NY (PRWEB) September 12, 2017
On 14 September, UN Women will launch the Global Innovation Coalition for Change (GICC) in New York City. This unique alliance with 22 partners from private sector, non-profit organizations and academic institutions will work over a two-year period to drive industry-wide action to make innovation and technology work better for young women and girls.
The Coalition has the support of a diverse set of global industry leaders, such as BHP Billiton, CISCO, Citi, Dell, Ericsson, Facebook, General Electric, HP Inc., Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, LinkedIn, Pax Worldwide Management, PwC, SAP, Sony, South32 and Statoil, all working together to advance the gender equality agenda. The Coalition also includes academic institutions like MIT Solve and New York Academy of Sciences, as well as organizations like Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship (South Africa) and Ellevate Network.
The global partnership will build market awareness of the potential for innovations that meet the needs of women through research and advocacy. The Coalition will also identify the key industry-specific barriers to women’s and girls’ advancement in innovation, technology and entrepreneurship; and work collaboratively to identify key actions to address these barriers and needs. Such actions may include sharing good practices, developing capacity and investing in specific innovations through targeted support.
“Innovation and technology provide unprecedented opportunities to reach those who are the most likely to be left out of the benefits of progress. They can break women out of isolation and create a market for their innovative ideas and products. This is an important asset for gender equality and women’s empowerment, but it also brings broader benefits to society,” said UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. “Through the Global Innovation Coalition for Change and similar partnerships we can bring together the best of academic brain power and research, industry practical know-how, and civil society’s drive and reach to creatively disrupt the status quo,” she added.
Innovation and technology offer enormous opportunity for women, girls and societies to thrive. For example, according to GSMA—who represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide—closing the gender gap in mobile phone ownership and usage could provide women with access to education, health and financial services, as well as unlock an estimated USD170 billion in market opportunities for the mobile industry by 2020. However, this potential is constrained by a number of barriers, including the significant under-representation of women in STEM-related fields, a gender-bias in research, and the lack of gender-disaggregated data, all of which limit industries’ understanding of women’s needs, access to, and usage of innovation and technology.
Ellevate Network seeks to use its experience advocating for gender equality in the workplace to contribute to the coalition. CEO Kristy Wallace said, “We're thrilled to be an active participant in the UN Global Innovation Coalition for Change. We look to amplify the voice of Ellevate’s community of 80,000 professional women along with our experience helping companies to achieve gender parity, in order to drive innovative solutions for progress on gender equality globally. As a company, we believe in the power of communities working together to create a more just world, and taking part in this Coalition is an honor."
Harnessing the enormous potential and opportunity to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment through innovation and technology will require public-private partnerships that address these challenges in an integrated manner. UN Women’s Global Innovation Coalition for Change is an important step in creating such partnerships to bring about transformative change in the lives of women and girls.
Attended by senior industry and UN leaders, the inaugural meeting of the Coalition will take place on the margins of the UN General Assembly on 14 September, at the SAP Leonardo Centre in New York City.
About Ellevate Network: Ellevate Network is a global network of professional women committed to elevating each other through education, inspiration, and opportunity. Our mission is to close the gender achievement gap in business by providing women with a community to lean on and learn from.
Note to editors:
The complete list of Global Innovation Coalition for Change representatives includes:
Amy Poehler's Smart Girls: Meredith Walker, Founder; Maggie Chieffo, General Manager
BHP Billiton: Karen Wood, Chairman of the BHP Billiton Foundation; Athalie Williams, Chief People Officer
Branson Centre: Antoinia Norman, CEO, Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship South Africa
CISCO: Charu Adesnik, Deputy Director, Cisco Foundation
Citi: Yolande Piazza, CEO, Citi FinTech; Corinne Lin, Head of Operations, Citi FinTech
DELL: Jackie Glenn, VP Global Diversity and Inclusion; Trisa Thompson, Senior Vice President & Chief Responsibility Officer, Corporate Social Responsibility at Dell Technologies
Ellevate Network: Kristy Wallace, CEO of Ellevate Network
Ericsson: Elaine Weidman-Grunewald, Senior Vice President, Chief Sustainability & Public Affairs Officer, and Head of Sustainability & Public Affairs; Paul Landers, Program Director Technology for Good
Facebook: Arielle Gross, Global Program Manager, Creative Shop
General Electric: Kelli Wells, Executive Director General Electric Foundation
HP Inc.: Nate Hurst, Chief Sustainability and Social Impact Officer; Michele Malejki, Global Head of Strategic Programs, Sustainability & Social Innovation
Johnson & Johnson: Alice Lin Fabiano, Director, Global Community Impact; Carol Montandon, Head of Women’s Leadership Initiative
JPMorgan Chase: Ali Marano, Executive Director: Technology for Social Good, Diversity & Inclusion at JPMorgan Chase
LinkedIn: Nicole Isaac, Head of U.S Public Policy; Sue Duke, Senior Director of Public Policy - EMEA
MIT Solve: Hala Hanna, Director, SOLVE at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Alexandra Amouyel, Executive Director, Solve at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
NY Academy of Sciences: Lorraine Hariton, Senior Vice President, Global Partnerships
Pax World Management: Joe Keefe, CEO, Pax World; Heather Smith, Lead Sustainability Research Analyst
PwC: Ben Zelinsky, PwC Partner Technology Consulting
SAP: Ann Rosenberg, Vice President, Head of Global SAP University Alliances; Sinead Kaiya, COO, Products and Innovation; Jennifer Morgan, Member of the executive board
Sony: Shiro Kambe, Executive Vice President, Corporate Executive Officer Legal, Compliance, Communications, CSR, External Relations and Information Security & Privacy
South32: Patience Mpofu, Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability
Statoil: Ana Prata Fonseca Nordang, Vice President, People and Organisation