| dc.description.abstract | A nation’s competitiveness depends, among other things, on how well it educates
and utilizes its talent. Similarly, an organization’s performance is determined by
the human capital that it possesses and its ability to use this resource efficiently.
Companies that successfully engage women may reap a rich diversity dividend, and
countries that integrate more women into education and the workforce often see
returns in the form of growth, competitiveness and social cohesion.
As gender parity becomes a strategic priority for organizations and governments,
demand is increasing for benchmarking tools and best practice exchange and
collaboration mechanisms that help to close the economic gender gap. The World
Economic Forum’s Gender Parity Programme, one of 10 Global Challenge Initiatives
at the Forum, seeks to address these needs. Through the Global Gender Gap
Report, the World Economic Forum quantifies the magnitude of gender-based
disparities and tracks their progress over time. In addition, our digital repository of
best practices to close gender gaps in companies serves as a gateway for those
seeking to implement such practices in their own organizations. Building on these
practical tools, as well as the strong momentum among government and business
leaders to drive change, the Forum launched Gender Parity Taskforces in Mexico,
Turkey, Japan and the Republic of Korea to create platforms for public-private
collaboration to integrate more women into the economy. The taskforces seek to
integrate more women into the economy in each of the four countries and to serve
as potential role models for others considering the most effective approaches to
closing gender gaps.
This report provides an overview of the taskforce model and an initial assessment
of progress to date. We would like to express our deep appreciation to the Gender
Parity Taskforce Co-Chairs for their leadership and vision in executing this unique
and innovative approach to closing gender gaps. We are also thankful to the Gender
Parity Programme’s Partners, the project teams that have supported this work inside
the Forum and the many stakeholders that have contributed to this work in Mexico,
Japan, Turkey and the Republic of Korea.
Two years into these unique experiments it is clear that policy efforts must be
complemented by private sector actions to address gender gaps and that the
public and private sectors can maximize the effectiveness of their efforts to close
the gender gap through continual dialogue and common targets. As we prepare for
the third and final year of the taskforces in their present form, it is our hope that this
report will serve as a starting point for others to consider public-private collaboration
as a critical mechanism for accelerating the integration of women into the economy. | en_US |
