DGCX Honours International Women’s Day with Bell Ringing for Gender Equality

To mark International Women’s Day (March 8), the Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX) joined dozens of exchange houses around the globe to celebrate the 7^th annual ‘Ring the Bell for Gender Equality’ ceremony, aimed at raising awareness for women’s empowerment principles. The 2021 theme is “Women in leadership, achieving an equal future in a COVID- 19 world”.

The initiative is a partnership between the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative, UN Women, UN Global Compact, Women in ETFs and International Finance Corporation and highlights the significant role of the private sector in advancing and empowering women in the workplace, marketplace and wider community.

Les Male, CEO of DGCX, said: “Equality and diversity are core pillars of our business at the DGCX and we strongly believe it is vital to continue empowering women in the marketplace and the wider national community. Various studies have exhibited the benefits that greater gender diversity brings to organizations, such as more effective decision-making, better service for customers and strong operational performance. The importance of women’s leadership at the DGCX and indeed, across the UAE has also been starkly highlighted this year by Covid-19 pandemic and will continue be a key part of the country’s efforts to recover and come back better than ever before.”

Dr Mouza Al Shehhi, Director, UN Women UAE Liaison Office for the GCC, said: “We are delighted to see UAE-based companies join ‘Ring the Bell for Gender Equality’ campaign, show their commitment to gender equality and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 5) and actively promote women’s leadership in business. Women’s leadership is, more than ever, a pressing priority as the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic and they must be at the center of global recovery and reconstruction efforts.”

More than 86 exchanges around the world registered for the event, many of whom have made an internal commitment to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to achieve gender equality and empower women at all levels. This includes a pledge to encourage listed companies to publicly report on relevant gender metrics while further promoting gender diversity among their own workforces.

Maggie Mansour, Compliance Director of DGCX, added: “We are proud to join the WFE, UN organizations and exchange houses around the globe to recognize women for their contributions. As the region’s leading exchange, it is our responsibility to help facilitate the global conversation to support women’s empowerment and we are thrilled to be a part of such an important initiative while working towards advancing the gender equality gaps.”

In early 2020, DGCX announced that it became a signatory of the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), another initiative by the UN Women and UN Global Compact dedicated to promoting women’s empowerment and advancing gender equality.

As part of its commitment to the UN WEPs, the DGCX has pledged to further foster an inclusive work environment by assessing and evaluating its gender equality performance. Through the WEP’s Gender Gap Analysis Tools, the Exchange reviewed its policies and procedures, and reported significant progress by the end of the year, with working females increasing from 19% to 24% - as well as plans to increase this percentage even further this year.