Resource

Brief

Call to action: Investing in Women’s Right to Health

Women face legal barriers to economic empowerment in virtually all countries inhibiting the potential of women – as employees and entrepreneurs – to participate effectively in the labour market and contribute fully to sustainable development. This Call to Action, supported by over twenty leading business organizations, civil society organizations and UN agencies, includes a spectrum of concrete actions that governments can take to help create an enabling environment for inclusive economic growth, such as enacting laws that promote a level playing field for men and women, establishing effective public institutions and supporting women’s entrepreneurship through public procurement. It also points to the need for all actors, including business, to implement strategies and policies that foster women’s economic empowerment and highlights the Women’s Empowerment Principles and the Business for the Rule of Law Framework, an initiative of the UN Global Compact, as resources that can help Governments to engage businesses in achieving national priorities on governance and women’s empowerment. The Call to Action compliments existing appeals for coordination and collaboration between stakeholders to advance gender equality and achieve sustainable development, such as the Partnering for Women’s Empowerment – Equality Means Business.