Principles

Principle 5: Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women

Enterprise Development, Supply Chain and Marketing Practices

  • Expand business relationships with women-owned enterprises, including small businesses, and women entrepreneurs

  • Support gender-sensitive solutions to credit and lending barriers

  • Ask business partners and peers to respect the company’s commitment to advancing equality and inclusion

  • Respect the dignity of women in all marketing and other company materials

  • Ensure that company products, services and facilities are not used for human trafficking and/or labour or sexual exploitation

Company Examples

  • Recognizing the expanding role of women entrepreneurs, a large UK-based bank launched specialized financial services, microfinance opportunities and business loans and also provides an online resource center for women entrepreneurs running small and medium-sized enterprises.

  • A Swedish manufacturer helps women producers of raw materials in developing countries to trade directly with the manufacturer, thus improving their income by reducing the number of intermediaries in the supply chain.

  • To make the scope of violence against women visible to an international public, a global advertising company partnered with a UN organization to develop a public awareness campaign using television and the internet.