Sponsored by Coke Philippines:
“Entrepreneurs are the foundation for innovation, economic growth, and job creation.” That quote was published last year by Ingrid Vanderveldt of the United Nations Foundation’s Global Entrepreneur Council. However, the gender gap still exists in business and in life.
According to the 2014 World Economic Forum Gender Gap report, the largest gender gap (countries where there is the least equality between men and women) is in Yemen while the smallest gap (the most equal countries) is in Iceland. This disparity continues despite evidence that closing the gender gap improves the economy of a country.
In her article for the U.N. Foundation, Vanderveldt explained that the developing nations which have already invested in women have experienced significant gains, and those gains have added more to global growth than China!
Last week, gender disparity was a main topic at the 2015 World Economic Forum in Davos where one speaker after another lamented the need to fix the gender pay gap and provide equal employment. Here are a few insightful quotes from speakers:
If you had parity of employment in Africa you would raise GDP by 12%: Melinda French Gates #wef15 #gendergap http://t.co/uB7wfphvt6
— World Economic Forum (@Davos) January 24, 2015
Top 10 Twitter images from Davos 2015 http://t.co/oustm8srlp pic.twitter.com/yVSSvu9vRE
— World Economic Forum (@Davos) January 24, 2015
Anyone with a decent brain must know it’s better to hire from 100% of the population: Paul Polman #wef15 #gendergap http://t.co/WyNsKyxNHv
— World Economic Forum (@Davos) January 24, 2015
Clearly, the benefits to empowering women can’t be denied, but we still have a long way to go. Fortunately, many non-profit organizations, governments, and even corporations are developing programs to support women in business and investing in their success.
One such program is Coke’s 5by20 Campaign started in 2010 with a goal to empower 5 million women entrepreneurs by 2020. Check out the video below to see how Coke Philippines is making a difference, particularly for female micro-entrepreneurs. For example, in the Philippines, 21,000 women retailers have been reached through the 5by20 program, which provides 12 weeks of business skills training to them.
The road to closing the gender gap is still a long one, but fortunately, we’re getting closer to bridging that gap every day.
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 30-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored a dozen books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
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