Women experience a deteriorating human rights situation in many countries. They also still face many obstacles and societal disadvantages, including their unequal position in business and the labor market. The two-day workshop "Business and Human Rights" in the context of the Young Leaders Conference 2023 was dedicated to equity and equality for women in the labor market as fundamental rights of every woman.
Under the instruction of Dr. Salim Amin and Petra Franke, the group of young leaders from Germany and abroad exchanged their perspectives during the workshop and developed joint proposals for better representation and equality of women in all areas of the labor market. As a cross-national project, these approaches took account of those countries in particular where women's rights have been most clearly neglected, in contrast to examples of existing best practices.
Based on the slogan "My body, my choice" and the underlying question of how women can gain more self-determination over their lives, questions about the influence of (unwanted) pregnancies on opportunities in the labor market were discussed. The discussion resulted in a clear demand to give women independent decision-making power over their bodies as well as the opportunity to exercise this right. Particularly in societies where there are no political majorities to enable legal abortions, the group demanded that helpful information should be made available – for example by explaining what the legal framework in neighboring countries looks like, and under what conditions women can use it to implement a self-determined decision.
In the final presentation at the public event organized by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, the group also addressed the issue of reconciling family and career and the associated division of care work, as well as the visibility of women in working life. Participants demanded that an employer’s approach to gender equality should be made more transparent and visible. An anonymous evaluation portal was proposed, to take greater account of gender equality as an evaluation criterion. Such a tool would give women the opportunity to specifically look for attractive employers when applying for jobs while motivating companies to pay more attention to equal opportunities – not only to become more attractive to female skilled workers, but also not lose female customers due to a poor public image.
Business and human rights