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The glossary was designed as a collective tool to foster conversations around gender and to provide a common vocabulary for gender-related issues

International conferences in a physical form have stopped with the COVID-19 pandemic, but fortunately their digital versions continue. Policy and decision-makers know they can address the world’s most pressing issues more readily by participating in fora that offer collective information-sharing, renewed commitment, and mutual accountability. The inaugural Finance in Common Summit took place on November 9-12, 2020. The event, which was launched as part of this year's Paris Peace Forum, brought together over 450 public development banks (PDBs) from across the globe.

Social change is rarely rapid and success for any movement depends on maintaining momentum. With that in mind, in mid-October more than 150 people from around the world came together virtually in a webinar entitled “Investing in Gender Responsive Companies”. It was a chance to sustain momentum in the drive for gender equality, while getting a better understanding of effective ways to advance it in the workplace, marketplace, and local community.

COVID-19 and its far-reaching health, economic, social, and even political consequences have captured the world’s attention, and rightly so. Across the planet, policy and policymakers were forced to pivot as the coronavirus spread. Life is now divided into two periods: before the pandemic, and during it.

It was just over a decade ago, on International Women’s Day in 2010, that UN Women and UN Global Compact collaborated to establish and launch the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs). The idea behind them was, and remains, simple: to offer clear and practical guidance to businesses worldwide as they seek to advance gender equality and empower women in the workplace, marketplace, and community. The WEPs also serve to help governments as they engage with businesses to promote gender equality in all aspects of society.