In ‘Gender equality, diversity and inclusion: Roundtable’ summary report, The Institute fo Competitiveness and Prosperity presents the challenges of incorporating gender equality, diversity, and inclusion into clusters in Canada, particularly into the five Superclusters, as well as a number of recommendations.
The Institute, in partnership with the WE EMPOWER Programme of UN Women, hosted a roundtable on January 25, 2019 with 30 leaders from a variety of backgrounds. As the roundtable followed Chatham House Rules, individual respondents are not identified but their insights are incorporated into this White Paper.
The challenges identified include:
- There will be a learning curve for the superclusters to introduce and implement policies that advance gender equality, diversity and inclusion;
- Capability gap – There are not many who have the experience, knowledge resources to implement such policies especially for small businesses;
- Accountability – There is not enough accountability in the implementation of diversity and inclusion policies.
Recommendations to remediate the challenges include:
- Commit to the Women’s Empowerment Principles;
- Apply for Gender diversity certification;
- Stronger accountability measures;
- Create advisory councils;
- Develop sectoral initiatives;
- Collaboration and partnership;
- Commit to international labour standards.
For more information on the WE EMPOWER Programme and the Women’s Economic Principles, please visit empowerwomen.org.