KARACHI: METRO Cash & Carry Pakistan has joined hands with UN Women by signing Women Empowerment Principles to promote Women in Trade (WiT) initiative to enhance the capability of informal workers, along with its employees in line with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 – to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
Women in Trade (WiT) initiative is an international employee network within METRO AG aiming to support and promote the professional development of women.Within the local chapter, METRO Pakistan has set two goals which is to ‘drive cultural change in the company’ and ‘focus on female employment &development internally and externally.’
UN Women and METRO Pakistan will be working together to enhance women’s access to organized work opportunities. The Seven Principles for Women’s Empowerment – a joint initiative of UN Women and the UN Global Compact – provide a set of guidelines to assist companies focus on key elements, integral to promoting gender equality in the workplace, marketplace and community, through policy and action. This includes the promotion of women to executive positions, career development opportunities for female employees, supporting women-owned companies as vendors and service providers, promoting a positive image of women in marketing campaigns and enhancing basic facilities within the company (childcare, maternity and paternity leave, flexible work options, etc.).
In pledging to promote gender equality within the organization, Mr. Marek Minkiewicz, Managing Director of METRO Cash & Carry Pakistan,said,“By signing the CEO Statement of Support for the Women’s Empowerment Principles, the entire METRO Pakistan’s team shows its support to promote and enhance gender equality within its chain of wholesale stores. METRO Pakistan aims at promoting Women in Trade in Pakistan and is committed to focus on female employment and development.
With the belief that gender equality promotes equal opportunities for employees, who then feel empowered to work towards achieving organizational goals, METRO aims at not just providing barrier-free work environment for all its employees, but also enhancing capability of female farmers, home based workers and at the same time, bridging the gap between the corporate sector by acknowledging, appreciating and celebrating success of female labor force.”
On this occasion Mr. Jamshed Kazi, Country Representative, UN Women, also contributed by saying, “The positive spirit of this gathering gives me great confidence that we will see concrete results of this partnership soon. I acknowledge that METRO Pakistan is already underway with a promising initiative, WiT (Women in Trade), which is a concrete example of the company’s commitment towards gender equality and women empowerment at every level.
Equality between men and women is a fundamental human right. Women Empowerment is a key driver of sustainable development. Equality Means Business!”
By signing the seven steps of the Women’s Empowerment Principles, METRO Pakistan takes on a global approach to four key areas: promoting economic development through female entrepreneurship, championing gender diversity in business and corporate level, public-private partnerships for advancing women’s economic opportunities and providing potential business and investment opportunities through supplier diversity and marketing practices.
To date, more than 52 Pakistani companies have made a public commitment of support over the last two years by signing onto the Women’s Empowerment Principles.
