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In This Issue
Editor's Note
Investing in Women
In the Conference 2009 session on "Investing in Women and Girls," BSR Vice President of CSR Strategy Diane Osgood described women as the "engines of globalization." Indeed, women are employees, consumers, community members, business innovators, and more. "The role of women in the reset world is absolutely critical," Osgood concluded.
That's why we're devoting this entire issue of the BSR Insight to women.
In our feature article, BSR's Racheal Yeager talks with authors and New York Times journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn about their new book on the opportunities to be found by investing in women.
BSR's HERproject initiative, which raises female factory workers' awareness of health issues, is an example of one such opportunity for investment. Read an update on a recent project in Pakistan.
Finally, a new report from the International Finance Corporation and the Global Reporting Initiative provides tips on how companies can embed gender in sustainability measurement, policies, and reporting.
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In Depth
Can Women Solve the World’s Woes? A Q&A with Half the Sky authors Nicholas Kristof and Sher
Interview by Racheal Yeager, Associate, Partnership Development, BSR
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn—authors of a new book about how to turn oppression into opportunity for women—talk with us about what they say is the key to economic progress: investing in women and girls.
Read more →
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Spotlight
HERproject Update: Promoting Women’s Health in Pakistan
Last month, an appreciation ceremony in Karachi, Pakistan, celebrated the accomplishments of HERproject, a BSR initiative that raises female factory workers’ awareness of general and reproductive health issues.
As a result of BSR's Pakistan project—which included support from the Levi Strauss Foundation and local partner Aga Khan University—female workers in one factory now have access to feminine-hygiene products and family-planning resources. Before HERproject, these same women often missed one to three days of work per month due to their menstrual cycles.
While formal results of a return-on-investment study are forthcoming, the factory's managers have committed to another phase of work for women and a similar health program for men. The project represents a major success in a country where women's health is a contentious issue, women's rights are restricted, and NGO capacity is weak.
HERproject is currently operating in China, Egypt, India, Mexico, Pakistan, and Vietnam, and participation is open to all BSR members. For more information, contact Racheal Yeager at ryeager@bsr.org.
Toolbox
Embedding Gender in Sustainability Reporting: A Practitioner’s Guide
The International Finance Corporation and Global Reporting Initiative's practitioner's guide covers trends, stakeholder perspectives, and recommendations for how companies can embed gender in sustainability measurement, policies, and reporting in the following areas:
- Organizational governance and values: Promote and measure gender equality, board member diversity, and management diversity and equality.
- Workplace: Create a fair and equal work environment, especially related to wages, job opportunities, human resources, health and safety, and grievance mechanisms.
- Supply chain: Require suppliers to comply with basic standards of gender equality, and seek opportunities to promote women's entrepreneurship in your sourcing practices.
- Community: Contribute to the well-being of women and families in communities where company production, marketing, and sales practices have impacts.
- Consumers: Create advertising that speaks equally to men and women, and ensure equality for customer service and complaint procedures.
- Investment: Leverage gender reporting among sustainability and mainstream investors and promote shareholder diversity.
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