It was a celebration of women today at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in Sandton this morning.
Joining 75 stock exchanges around the world, they celebrated International Women’s Day by ringing the bell all for gender equality.
A great initiative to promote opportunities for women in the private sector to advance gender equality and sustainable development. It also seeks to raise awareness about the business case for women’s economic empowerment.
A global movement, the Ring the Bell for Gender Equality is a partnership between a number of organisations namely: The United Nations Global Compact South Africa Network, the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative (SSE), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality, the Empowerment of Women (known as UN Women), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) and the Women in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
When the World Economic Forum released the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, it showed that the biggest gender disparity is the Political Empowerment gap and the second biggest being the Economic Participation and Opportunity gap.
With this, the JSE is at the forefront with their commitment to contribute towards closing these gaps.
Director of marketing and corporate affairs at the JSE Zanele Morrison said that it’s not an issue for just women but everyone.
“Gender equality is not an issue that only women should fight for, it is one that society as a whole need to work together to achieve. This includes both the public and private sectors, as well as civil society, including men. Given that the issue of gender inequality is a result of women not being seen, heard or regarded in spaces of power, whether in the home, workspace or society, I have seen that when society starts respecting and listening to both men and women in powerful spaces, it becomes a daily routine, we start to shift society’s perception of women, which in turn, evens the playing field for all parties,” she said.
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