Company Signs the United Nations' CEO Statement of Support for the
Women's Empowerment Principles
NEW YORK, March 08, 2018 (GLOBE
NEWSWIRE) -- Nasdaq has enhanced its commitment to equal
opportunity for women by signing the CEO Statement of Support for
the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEP). This United Nations
initiative covers seven broad areas of engagement, committing
signatories to action on human rights, nondiscrimination, health
and safety, education, public reporting, and other principles
related to gender dynamics. The signing coincides with
International Women's Day (March 8) and caps off a day of
activities by stock exchanges around the world.
This also is a significant step forward for the UN
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)-and SDG 5, in particular, with
its focus on gender equality, inclusion, protection, and
empowerment.
"To compete and win in a global marketplace,
companies have to leverage every social and economic asset," said
Adena Friedman, President and CEO, Nasdaq. "Nasdaq strongly
believes that women's empowerment is a critical pillar of business
value creation, global sustainability and essential to creating
inclusive, prosperous economies. Nasdaq is committed to giving
women every opportunity to succeed and thrive because it ultimately
drives better outcomes for our business and stakeholders."
Commitment to the WEPs is the latest step in
Nasdaq's engagement on diversity and inclusion:
- Organizational changes recently enabled Nasdaq to
join the 30% Club, which is an organization committed to striving
for at least 30% representation of women on boards in U.S.
companies.
- Nasdaq has signed the Parity Pledge, in
which the company has committed to interview at least one qualified
female candidate for every open position at the VP level and
above.
- The company is now a part of CECP, a
CEO-based membership organization focused on creating a better
world through business.
- Nasdaq recently published a series of principles
and policy statements on its website, covering human rights,
diversity, inclusion, cultural values, and other related
topics.
- The company's Women in Nasdaq (WIN) initiative
launched in 2014 and today has 650 members in 20 local chapters
across its worldwide network of offices.
Among diversity-related initiatives that impact
global economies, the firm is working with the UN Women Global
Innovation Coalition for Change, which is a dynamic partnership
between UN Women and key representatives from the private sector,
academic and not-for-profit institutions. As part of this
initiative, Nasdaq is focused on developing the innovation market
to work better for women and to accelerate the achievement of
gender equality and women's empowerment.
"Nasdaq has long been a signatory and supporter of the UN Global
Compact," said Evan Harvey, Global Head of Sustainability, Nasdaq.
"That work requires an annual communication of progress on gender
equality and economic inclusion, and offers us an ongoing platform
to discuss these values and engage stakeholders on business
impact."
About
Nasdaq:
Nasdaq (Nasdaq:NDAQ) is a leading global
provider of trading, clearing, exchange technology, listing,
information and public company services. Through its diverse
portfolio of solutions, Nasdaq enables customers to plan, optimize
and execute their business vision with confidence, using proven
technologies that provide transparency and insight for navigating
today's global capital markets. As the creator of the world's first
electronic stock market, its technology powers more than 90
marketplaces in 50 countries, and 1 in 10 of the world's securities
transactions. Nasdaq is home to approximately 3,900 total
listings with a market value of approximately $13 trillion. To
learn more, visit: http://business.nasdaq.com.
Nasdaq Media
Contacts:
Emily Pan
+1 646.441.5120
emily.pan@nasdaq.com
Heli-Kirsti Airisniemi
+358 (0)9 6166 7941
heli-kirsti.airisniemi@nasdaq.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is
available
at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/783dc46f-ddbe-4615-bbf8-4ebada4ed6ef
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