WEPs established by UN Woman and UN Global Compact Office

The Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) provide a holistic framework for companies to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and community and drive positive outcomes for society and business.

Launched in 2010 by UN Women and UN Global Compact, the WEPs are informed by international labour and human rights standards and grounded in the recognition that businesses have a stake in, and a responsibility for, gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The seven Principles constitute a primary vehicle for corporate delivery on gender equality dimensions of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development
Goals. The WEPs represent a powerful platform to share lessons learned on how gender equality links to their bottom line; how to make progress in this area; and how to track results.

As of 1 March 2021, over 5,000 companies in 141 countries, representing collectively over 10 million employees, have signed and committed to implementing the WEPs. By joining the WEPs community, the CEO signals commitment to gender equality at the highest levels of
the company and to work collaboratively in multistakeholder networks to foster business practices that empower women. These include equal pay for work of equal value, gender-responsive supply chain practices and zero tolerance against sexual harassment in the workplace.
Adopting the WEPs has represented an important turning point for many companies.

The Principles have served as Signatories’ moral compass, blueprint and framework to lay out their gender equality ambitions. They have also offered a global network of companies with similar values, helped Signatories invest in their future by contributing to creating an equitable world, and remove barriers “that never should have been there in the first place”. (From the Introduction). See the website for related resources. Record #7315