Humanising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

HUMANISING THE SDGS

The power of Gender Equality

Our event “Humanising the SDGs - the power of Gender Equality” was a success and it was great to see so many clients, partners and new faces in the room.

There was high energy and enthusiasm from our chair Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu and the attendees took away some tangible actions from our inspiring speakers – Helena Morrissey DBE (Legal and General Investment Management) and Jacqui Hunt (Equality Now), Emily Auckland (UKSSD) and Avivah Wittenberg-Cox (20-First).

REFLECTING ON THE PANEL DISCUSSION

We believe that philanthropy plays a critical role, alongside business and society, to tackle economic injustice and social inequality. Through helping our clients develop strategies and programmes, we see the influence and impact that the SDGs can have. Our panel agreed, that in order to create systemic change, Gender Equality (SDG 5) requires collaboration, diverse views and a range of expertise. It should be about action not just words.

Watch our video on the left, where our panellists share their thoughts and feelings following the event.

For a recap of the event's key moments, you can visit our Twitter profile.

OUR CHAIR

Dr. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, Lawyer, Founder of Women in Leadership Publication; Political and Women's rights activist

Dr Mos-Shogbamimu is a New York Attorney and Solicitor of England and Wales with broad expertise in the financial services industry, an author, public speaker and political commentator featured in mainstream and online media. A political and women’s rights activist, she also teaches intersectional feminism to female refugees and asylum seekers; scrutinizes government policies from a gender and diversity inclusion perspective; and co-organises women's marches and social campaigns.

She founded the Women in Leadership publication as a platform to drive positive change on topical issues that impact women globally through inspiring personal leadership journeys; and established She@LawTalks to promote Women and BAME leadership in the legal profession through universities and secondary schools. She is also the Co-Chair of the American Bar Association Africa committee. An academic enthusiast, she has an Executive MBA (Cambridge); PhD (Birkbeck); LLM (London School of Economics & Political Science); MA (Westminster) and LLB Hons (Buckingham University).

OUR SPEAKERS

Helena Morrissey DBE, Head Of Personal Investing, Legal & General Investment Management

Helena is well known for her work on gender equality. She founded the 30% Club, a campaign for more gender-balanced boards in 2010. Since then, the representation of women on FTSE100 boards has risen from 12.5% to 28.9% and there are now ten 30% Clubs throughout the world. Helena chairs Business in the Community’s Gender Equality campaign, which has recently canvassed the views of working fathers through its Equal Lives survey.

Helena was CEO of Newton Investment Management for fifteen years, taking its assets under management from £20bn to £50bn. She joined Legal and General Investment Management in 2017, leading a new drive to engage the nation to invest more, with a particular focus on improving women’s financial wellbeing.

Helena has been named one of Fortune magazine’s World’s 50 Greatest Leaders and the Financial Times’ 2017 ‘Person of the Year’. She was appointed a Dame in the Queen’s 2017 Birthday Honours list.

Helena is a Philosophy graduate. Her husband Richard is a stay at home father and they have nine children, aged from 9 to 26. Her first book ‘A Good Time to be a Girl, Don’t Lean In, Change the System’ was published by William Collins in February 2018.

Projects that Helena Morrissey DBE has been involved in:

30% Club | Diversity Project | Girl Guides partnership | Good Time to be a Girl

Jacqui Hunt, Director of Europe and Eurasia, Equality Now

Jacqui Hunt is the Director of the Europe and Eurasia office of Equality Now, an international women’s rights advocacy organisation. She has spearheaded several of Equality Now’s successful campaigns, including for creation of a United Nations Working Group on ending discrimination against women in law and in practice. Jacqui led the establishment of an innovative Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, in collaboration with UNHCR and the Women’s Refugee Commission, among others. She worked closely with the International Bar Association, the Union Internationale des Avocats and the World Policy Analysis Center of UCLA, among others, to design and populate a global survey on laws on sexual violence which has formed the basis of Equality Now’s recent advocacy.

Prior to joining Equality Now, Jacqui practised law at Linklaters and for a development finance institution which invests in building businesses and creating jobs in some of the world's poorest countries. She started her professional career with Amnesty International.

Equality Now campaign with the cast of The Handmaid's Tale

Our guest speakers, Equality Now, has partnered with season two of the Emmy-award winning Hulu series "The Handmaid's Tale" to share real stories from real women - survivors of sexual violence, female genital mutilation, forced marriage and sex trafficking.

Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, CEO, 20-first

Avivah Wittenberg-Cox is CEO of 20-first, one of the world’s leading gender balance consultancies. She works with the CEOs, Executive Committees and top management teams of some of the world’s best-known companies to benefit from the business opportunities of more balanced, 21st century forms of leadership, customer connections and talent management.

Avivah Wittenberg-Cox speaks on ’gender bilingual’ leadership, marketing and talent management issues across the globe, is a TEDx speaker, writes for FORBES and Harvard Business Review, and teaches at HEC Business School. She is the Founder and Honorary President of GlobalPWN.net. By nationality Canadian, French and Swiss, she has an MBA from INSEAD and is a graduate of the University of Toronto. She has been recognized by ELLE Magazine as one of the TOP 40 Women Leading Change and is a judge on the Global SDG Awards.

Emily Auckland, Network Director and Co-chair, UKSSD

Emily Auckland is Network Director and Co-chair at UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development (UKSSD). UKSSD is a cross-sector network of organisations who work together to drive action on the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the UK. Emily ensures that the network responds to the expertise of its 90 Partner organisations, and that activities and projects continue to engage and support an extended network of over 1000 Friends.

Emily is a Fellow of the RSA and a former trustee for the Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development. Emily works for Bioregional, the award-winning environmental charity, who host her role for UKSSD having helped found it with others in 2015.