The WEPs Awards 2022 is organised by the UN Women, the UN organisation dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, and the Vietnam Women Entrepreneurs Council. This is the third year this award has been held in Vietnam under the sponsorship of the Australian Government.
The WEPs Awards recognise the efforts of companies with initiatives and action programmes, to promote gender equality and empower women while attracting more companies to apply the principles of women’s empowerment in business.
This year’s awards include seven categories of Leadership Commitment; Gender-inclusive Workplace; Gender-responsive Marketplace; Community Engagement and Partnerships; Transparency and Reporting; Youth Leadership for Generation Equality and Small- and medium-sized enterprises implementing gender equality.
Addressing the Awards Ceremony, UN Women Representative in Vietnam, Elisa Fernandez Saenz, said that the private sector plays an important role in the socio-economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic and has become an important factor in promoting gender equality in workplaces, marketplace and communities, to narrow gender gaps.
According to Elisa Fernandez Saenz, the 2022 WEPs Awards will inspire more companies to be active in adopting policies and practices that promote gender equality.
On the occasion, the UN Women and the Australian Embassy in Vietnam, jointly launched a new partnership programme entitled “WE RISE Together: Creating equal market opportunities for women by advancing gender-responsive procurement”.
The Australian Embassy’s Development Counselor, Cherie Russell said that Asia - Pacific has about 60% of micro, small and medium enterprises owned by women, while women-owned businesses account for 1% of shopping sales in the global shopping market. The WE RISE Together project is expected to tackle gender inequality and lobby the public and private sectors in Vietnam to improve procurement policies, she noted.
