The Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) elaborate the gender dimension of corporate social responsibility and the role of business in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The WEPs consist of seven Principles that promote gender equality and the empowerment of women in the workplace, labor market and society.

The initiative, jointly created by UN Women and the UN Global Compact in 2010, has been promoted among private companies since 2018 by the United Nations Development Program in Azerbaijan through Women's Economic Empowerment in the South Caucasus project .
 
Adoption of the WEPs by private companies means a commitment to ensure gender equality in the workplace at the corporate level. A company that has signed the in Azerbaijan chooses at least 2 principles from among the 7 principles and agrees to implement these principles. The company, first identifies the gaps by conducting a Gender Gap Survey at the corporate level and then, develops an Action Plan to implement the WEPs.

In general, 19 companies accepted these principles within the project, 11 companies joined these principles in the 2nd stage of the project, including big companies like AccessBank, PMD Group, Gyzyl Allar (Golden Hands), Young Accountants Union, Azerconnect, Azerfon, Holcim Azerbaijan, Megainsurance Insurance Company, Veysaloğlu and Ali and Nino bookstore chain, as well as small national companies. Joining the WEPs is a completely voluntary process. After adopting the principles, companies analyze the level of gender equality at the corporate level and then develop an Action plan to close the identified gaps and also ensure gender equality, which is part of human rights. The named project provides necessary technical support to companies. In 2023, the goal of the project is to attract 9 more companies to WEPs.
 
What the principles promise the private sector:
- To increase the stability of the business sector
- To play a leading role in promoting gender equality, human rights and sustainable development
- Becoming a part of the global movement.

The competitive environment among private companies ensures that the competitiveness of gender policy at the corporate level will increase and more and more companies in Azerbaijan will adopt WEPs.