WEPs Leadership Group

In 2011, UN Women and the UN Global Compact established a Women’s Empowerment Principles Leadership Group (WEPs LG) to provide strategic guidance to the WEPs initiative. The WEPs LG is multi-stakeholder in composition, representing business, academia, civil society and women’s organizations and international institutions. In particular, the WEPs LG:

1. Provides advice to the WEPs Secretariat on growing the number of engaged businesses and their participation level;

2. Helps to disseminate and promote uptake of the WEPs by businesses around the world;

3. Advises the WEPs partnership on issues concerning the private sector and women’s empowerment, particularly WEPs implementation;

4. Brings diverse expertise and perspectives to emerging issues related to: (1) the business case and gender equality, (2) corporate sustainability and gender equality, (3) women’s economic empowerment and development.

Chairs

 Elizabeth Broderick has brought together captains of industry, governments and Defence Force chiefs  to address gender inequality in Australia and beyond. As Australia’s longest serving Sex Discrimination  Commissioner (2007-2015), Elizabeth worked tirelessly to break down structural and social barriers  faced by women and men, and to promote gender equality. A key advocate for Australia’s paid parental  leave scheme, Elizabeth influenced changes to regulations to increase the numbers of women at  decision-making level, and to elevate the voices of women in marginalised communities. She also established and convenes the globally recognised ‘Male Champions of Change’ strategy, enlisting a ‘who’s who’ of powerful male leaders to tackle workplace gender inequality. Her review into the treatment of women in the Australian Defence Force led to sweeping cultural reforms. She is a powerful and influential voice in the struggle for gender equality, enlisting both women and men as agents of change. Elizabeth is Special Adviser to the Executive Director of UN Women on Private Sector Engagement, a member of the Australian Defence Force Gender Equality Board, the Australian Rugby Union Board, and formerly a member of the World Bank Gender Advisory Council. She is Senior Advisor to the Australian Federal Police Commissioner on cultural change. In 2016 Elizabeth was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia and was named 2016 NSW Australian of the Year.

Joseph Keefe has been a long-time leader in the field of sustainable investing. Joe was one of the first CEOs in the world to endorse the WEPs and continues to champion the WEPs in his daily work through promotion and support of the initiative. In 2014, Joe was a recipient of a Women’s Empowerment Principles Leadership Award. Across all of its funds, Pax World withholds support from all-male corporate board slates, and actively engages with companies to embrace gender diversity on their boards. Pax World Funds include the Global Women’s Equality Fund (PXWEX), the only mutual fund in the United States focused on investing in companies that are global leaders in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.Most recently Pax World Funds announced the Pax Ellevate Global Women's Index which rates companies on a set of criteria that advances gender equality and women's empowerment.  One of the criteria is if the company is a signatory of the WEPs. Joe's leadership has helped grown the WEPs initiative and bring gender equality discussions to the investment world. Read Joe's full bio here.

Meetings

WEPs Leadership Group Meeting on 10 March 2023

WEPs Leadership Group Meeting on 5 March 2023