To celebrate the International Women's Day, UNDP organized an online high-level dialogue which saw the participation of the British High  Commissioner of Singapore, the Secretary General of the Securities Exchange Commission of Thailand, the Chairperson of Deloitte Vietnam and the Executive President of Global Competitiveness Empowerment Forum.

On this occasion, the report “Gender diversity and inclusion for a fair business environment. An ASEAN narrative” was also launched. It is the the outcome of a research conducted across five of the ASEAN countries participating in the project: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. It provides a snapshot of catalytic factors to foster gender equal leadership across three domains. Firstly, it explores how social norms shape gender roles and stereotypes that can limit women’s leadership prospects. Secondly, it identifies catalysts for an enabling environment, including laws and regulatory measures, and the role of coalitions and advocates. Finally, it highlights the role of companies and their organizational policies and practices in promoting gender equal leadership.

Business integrity goes well beyond anti-corruption compliance, and touches upon diversity, inclusion and gender equality. Phenomena like discrimination, gender pay gap, exclusion from business opportunities, bullying, and sexual and other types of harassment are all examples of integrity flaws that not only hamper the internal environment of a company, but also impact the lives of their employees and the communities in which they live. Recognizing and addressing these problems is key for companies that want to lead in both diversity and inclusion and business integrity, ultimately contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

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