On March 25, Millennium Foundation organized the gala ceremony for the annual competition - Business for Gender Equality Awards. The aim of the competition is to promote UN's women empowerment principles and encourage and incentivize companies that have been successfully implementing a corporate culture of women's professional development and career advancement.
Three businesses operating in Georgia - "Crystal", "GEPRA" and "Adjara Group" - have been selected as the winners of 2020 Business for Gender Equality competition.
The award is based on the UN Women and the UN Global Compact initiative, particularly the Fourth Principle of Women's Empowerment that serves to promote women's education, training and professional development, promotes women's education and workplace professional development. The competition has been organized in partnership with UN Women and Business Leaders Federation "Women for Tomorrow".
As Magda Magradze, CEO of Millennium Foundation noted, the independent evaluation commission selects the companies that implement new initiatives for achieving gender equality, execute gender equality principles at the workplace and offer professional development opportunities to women employees.
The U.S Ambassador to Georgia, Kelly Degnan, who attended the awards ceremony reiterated the US government's continued support towards Georgia and noted that such events are important for demonstrating the commitment to gender equality in the country. "Gender equality is also a priority for the Biden administration, and more will be done under the auspices of the G7 countries and the UN in this regard around the world, including in Georgia, which has very active women," - said the ambassador.
Women, employed in either state or private sectors, or occupied by family workload, significantly contribute to the development of the country's economy. However, due to discriminatory approaches, oftentimes, they are more likely to be affected by economic hardships.
The Deputy Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia and the Chairman of the Gender Equality Council, Kakhaber Kuchava spoke about the main issues and the necessity of creating equal employment opportunities: "Such competitions help us to reveal a number of interesting initiatives that is being implemented by various companies, the experiences of which can be used in different organizations in order to create more comfortable and equal employment opportunities for women in the country".
The Millennium Foundation has initiated the Business for Gender Equality Awards in 2016, aiming to promote UN's Women's Empowerment Principles in Georgia. Over four years, around 200 companies have participated in the competition. Among the winning companies that spanned the spectrum in terms of size and sector were banks, universities, insurance and tele-communication companies, hospitality and construction industry, wine production, and technology and energy companies.
