Nasdaq has enhanced its commitment to equal opportunity for women by signing the CEO Statement of Support for the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP). This United Nations initiative covers seven broad areas of engagement, committing signatories to action on human rights, nondiscrimination, health and safety, education, public reporting, and other principles related to gender dynamics. The signing coincides with International Women’s Day (March 8) and caps off a day of activities by stock exchanges around the world.
This also is a significant step forward for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—and SDG 5, in particular, with its focus on gender equality, inclusion, protection, and empowerment.
“To compete and win in a global marketplace, companies have to leverage every social and economic asset,” said Adena Friedman, President and CEO, Nasdaq. “Nasdaq strongly believes that women’s empowerment is a critical pillar of business value creation, global sustainability and essential to creating inclusive, prosperous economies. Nasdaq is committed to giving women every opportunity to succeed and thrive because it ultimately drives better outcomes for our business and stakeholders.”
Commitment to the WEPs is the latest step in Nasdaq’s engagement on diversity and inclusion:
- Organizational changes recently enabled Nasdaq to join the 30% Club, which is an organization committed to striving for at least 30% representation of women on boards in U.S. companies.
- Nasdaq has signed the Parity Pledge, in which the company has committed to interview at least one qualified female candidate for every open position at the VP level and above.
- The company is now a part of CECP, a CEO-based membership organization focused on creating a better world through business.
- Nasdaq recently published a series of principles and policy statements on its website, covering human rights, diversity, inclusion, cultural values, and other related topics.
- The company’s Women in Nasdaq (WIN) initiative launched in 2014 and today has 650 members in 20 local chapters across its worldwide network of offices.
Among diversity-related initiatives that impact global economies, the firm is working with the UN Women Global Innovation Coalition for Change, which is a dynamic partnership between UN Women and key representatives from the private sector, academic and not-for-profit institutions. As part of this initiative, Nasdaq is focused on developing the innovation market to work better for women and to accelerate the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
“Nasdaq has long been a signatory and supporter of the UN Global Compact,” said Evan Harvey, Global Head of Sustainability, Nasdaq. “That work requires an annual communication of progress on gender equality and economic inclusion, and offers us an ongoing platform to discuss these values and engage stakeholders on business impact.”
