Event Summary

Industry professionals, executive leaders, civil society representatives, and government officials including, the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Her Honour the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, the Federal Minister of the Status of Women – Honourable Minister Maryam Monsef, the Premier of Ontario – Honourable Kathleen Wynne, the Ambassador to the EU from Canada – Marie-Anne Coninsx, The Honourable Senator Murray Sinclair, and the Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations – Marc-André Blanchard, all gathered in Toronto earlier this week to put the spotlight on Sustainable Development Goal #5 “Gender Equality”. The high-level event explored the barriers to women’s economic empowerment and was organized by the Global Compact Network Canada, in collaboration with UN Global Compact and UN Women.

Frank Vettese, the Managing Partner of Deloitte Canada, delivered an opening keynote highlighting the need for innovation in business structures to further diversify human capital at all levels. Gender diversity at the senior management level was a significant theme at the event with everything from gender quotas to mandatory disclosure being presented and debated by an array of speakers and panelists.

One important highlight of the event was the screening of the award-winning documentary “Equal Means Equal”. Kamala Lopez, the movie’s director, delivers an impactful message in her relentless call for the fair treatment of women around the world. The documentary explored gender-based discrimination on all fronts, ranging from socioeconomic disparities to the physical brutalities women are subject to domestically and internationally.

The biggest and most inspiring voices, however, were arguably from youth and the youngest people in the room. Lauren Voisin, Sophia Fairweather, eleven and eight years of age respectively, as well as Casar Jacobson former Miss Canada, have accomplished more on the issues of gender inequality than many of their older peers. All highlighted some of the common challenges that women face regardless of age and the importance of introducing girls to the STEM careers and education from a young age. “If I want to play hockey, I can find a rink, get a coach, and have Hayley Wickenheiser to look up to. STEM doesn’t have that…” says Sophia Fairweather during her panel discussion at the Forum.

By virtue of the organizers’ collaboration with UN agencies, there was also an important UN delegation with keynotes delivered digitally by the Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, as well as other senior leadership at UN Women and UN Global Compact.

The Gender Equality Forum 2017 also saw the inaugural Canadian Gender Equality Awards, which distinguished seven firms for their work towards achieving the seven Women’s Empowerment Principles. Take a look at the winners and their entries >>

On the second day of the Forum, attendees got to attend 1 out of 6 breakout sessions where they had the opportunity to learn about topics ranging from demystifying gender quotas to women in senior leadership. The sessions were led by senior leaders and experts from a diverse collection of industries which allowed the attendees to see the issues at hand from different lenses and perspectives including legal, business intelligence, finance, NGOs, and entrepreneurship. For more information, please see session descriptions in the agenda below.

To extend the discussion beyond the Forum, the President of the Global Compact Network Canada, Helle Bank Jorgensen, called on the attendees to send letters to 1) their future selves 2) a mentor 3) a mentee of a different gender. The GCNC hopes that the #GenderEqualityLetters initiative can help shape a more gender neutral business community and strike down gender biased economic barriers.

The event marked an important step for the business community to tackle gender-based discrimination. Important presences from corporate and government leaders at the Gender Equality Forum 2017 spoke to our desire to create a world where equality of opportunity for women is a reality. It is evident that we have fought extremely hard to arrived at an important and unique time in history – we have identified the need for equality and got everyone, including men, onboard too. The next big question is how to fix the system so that what we envision can become a reality. To solve this, the Forum has left its attendees with actionable steps that they can take in the workforce and beyond to join the fight. Of the many plans, policies, and collaborations discussed, the GCNC is confident that positive change is within reach in the near future. For certain, the question now is not if we will achieve gender equality – the question now is when we will achieve gender equality.

Help spread the word about this Gender Equality initiative on Social Media!

To receive a Sponsorship Package and more information on opportunities to sponsor this high-level forum, please contact Helle Bank Jorgensen at jorgensen@unglobalcompact.ca.

Be part of the solution! Attend to partake in new opportunities and engage in meaningful dialogue to advance gender equality.