For the 10th consecutive year, stock exchanges around the world are hosting bell ringing ceremonies on or around the International Women’s Day (8 March), to raise awareness of the pivotal role the private sector can play in advancing gender equality. The theme of this year is "Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress".
The initiative, convened by UN Women in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation, United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative, UN Global Compact and the World Federation of Exchanges, is being rolled out globally.
Exchanges that have participated in the past seven years of ringing the bell for gender equality have made progress by:
- Signing and adopting the Women’s Empowerment Principles. We are proud that more than 36 exchanges are already WEPs signatories and we welcome new ones every year.
- Promoting gender equality listing criteria and gender data disclosure.
- Developing new products, such as sustainability-linked bonds with gender criteria and gender bonds.
- Promoting women’s access to finance and encouraging women to invest in public markets.
You can see the list of this year's participating exchanges and clearing houses here.