NEW YORK - Today on International Women’s Day, UN Women’s HeForShe movement is issuing a global call to leaders to join the newly formed HeForShe Alliance and help accelerate progress toward gender equality.

Launched by UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson, HeForShe is a solidarity movement and an international platform that engages men and boys as allies to support the work of the women’s movement and ultimately create an equal world for all.

“The role of government, private sector and third sector is critical in advancing gender equality.” said Edward Wageni, Global Head of HeForShe “We are aiming to partner with today’s most ambitious leaders who will not only act as role models in their industries but join forces with HeForShe to truly accelerate the pace of change.”

The HeForShe Alliance presents a unique opportunity for organizations and institutions from across the globe to join a network of 12-14 industry leaders, to partner alongside heads of state and together create long-lasting change.

Moving in earnest, four high profile, inaugural partners have already signed up. Howard University, a prominent HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) based in Washington D.C. is committed to addressing representation at leadership as well as promoting consciousness on masculinities, with a focus on Black men.

“The voices of strong women are needed today more than ever, and I am excited to see our society embrace more women in leadership roles,” said President Wayne A. I. Frederick. “As the proud father of a dynamic young 14-year-old who is coming into her own as a woman, and the leader of a school that educates a student body that is predominantly women, I will be there to support their collective strides to shatter the glass ceilings that dare to limit their ambitions.”

De Beers Group, the world’s leading diamond company, is committed to increasing the representation of women in technical roles and leadership as well as promote a culture that enables their journey to achieving gender parity by 2030.

“We are thrilled to be extending our partnership with UN Women for another five years and to be joining the newly-formed HeForShe Alliance.” said Bruce Cleaver, CEO of De Beers Group “Achieving gender parity across our workforce is a business-critical priority for De Beers Group – not only is it the right thing to do, it’s the only way we will access the full talent pool and achieve our full potential. Now more than ever we have a societal imperative to keep working toward gender equality, as the Covid-19 pandemic has brought new challenges and we must work hard for sustainable change.  We look forward to continuing to work with UN Women and our fellow HeForShe Alliance peers to share learnings, scale impact and accelerate progress over the next five years.”

PwC, one of the Big Four, is a global network of professional services member firms delivering world-class assurance, tax, and consulting services. PwC is committed to embedding common ESG standards to aid companies around the globe in their sustainable value creation. In addition, PwC will explore the development of an internal credential to recognize learning in the areas of belonging and inclusive leadership. 

“At PwC we recognize the importance of learning in the areas of inclusion and diversity” said Bob Moritz, Global Chairman at PricewaterhouseCoopers “We are committed to work with HeForShe on bringing these learning opportunities to a wider audience, along with supporting the need for providing stakeholders with trustworthy information upon which to evaluate business performance against this broader conception of value. They can only reward value creation if they can meaningfully identify it.”

Finally, Vodafone, a British multinational telecommunications company, is committed to building upon their unique domestic violence policy with additional tools, awareness and leadership strategies to help ensure the safety of employees and communities globally.

"Vodafone is proud to join the newly formed HeForShe Alliance to accelerate progress on gender equality and expand our programme of support to survivors of domestic violence and abuse," said Nick Read, CEO of Vodafone "Our technology connects those affected by domestic violence and abuse to advice, support and information. As an employer, we are equally committed to supporting survivors with our policy and training. We hope that our work with the HeForShe Alliance will help end the cycle of abuse."

In line with the six themes of UN Women’s Generation Equality Action Coalitions, each partner’s commitment work will also contribute to this global mandate. 

HeForShe Partners from 2015 to 2020 are:

Heads of State/ Heads of Government from:

Canada, Finland, Ghana, Iceland, Indonesia, Japan, Malawi, Romania, Rwanda, Sweden and Uruguay

Global CEOs/Chairman of:

Accor, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Danone, Electronic Arts, Exelon, Koç Holding, McKinsey, PwC, Schneider Electric, Standard Bank, Unilever and World Bank Group

Vice-Chancellors/Presidents/Chief Constable of:

Georgetown University, Kenyatta University, Nagoya University, Sciences Po, Sussex Police, Stony Brook University, University of São Paulo, University of Waterloo, Wits University and World Scouts

Interested organizations or institutions are invited to complete this application form by April 15^th.

About HeForShe

Created by UN Women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women, the HeForShe solidarity movement for gender equality provides a systematic approach and targeted platform where a global audience can engage and become change agents for the achievement of gender equality in our lifetime. HeForShe invites people around the world to stand together as equal partners to craft a shared vision of a gender equal world and implement specific, locally relevant solutions for the good of all of humanity. For more information, visit http://www.HeForShe.org/en.