"Women's equality and sustainability": To a Gender Equal Tomorrow

Imagine a gender-equal world. Free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. Can you see it? I believe I can.

Women are already leaders, teachers, mothers, warriors, and so much more. Despite their roles, access to education, learning achievement, and continuation in education remains lower for women. This lack of opportunities entails economic costs not only for our women, but also for their countries. Gender inequality in education levels has led to losses in women’s earning power, which contribute negatively to our goal of sustainable growth. All things being equal, both men and women will be better off if we try to meet the needs of the present without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Every year on March 8, we commemorate International Women’s Day—a day significant not only because it represents our continued commitment to driving gender equality for the benefit of all, but because it gave us a special day to break out of business as usual and take actionable measures. Companies, both locally and region-ally, decided to celebrate the achievements of women by raising the visibility of the issues affecting them. And through the use of social media campaigns, we are re-minded that they perform a variety of roles—in the professional world and on the home front.

While the business community continues to empower women and girls in the Carib-bean as a route to achieving sustainable growth, Republic Bank, in keeping with the Global Principles of Responsible Banking, has taken up a leadership role in contributing to the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs)-Gender Equality in the Carib-bean. Recently, its Women Entrepreneur Builder Programme has been successful by investing in developing a high-potential segment of the business community: our women. One hundred and fifty business owners were assisted in creating technology-enabled and future-proof profitable businesses through a combination of theory and practice, with mixed delivery methods of personalized coaching, online group train-ing, mentoring, and performance review sessions.

By empowering women, society will make tremendous gains in achieving sustainable growth as women offer a high level of performance in their daily lives. The number of women who occupy top executive positions not only at Republic Bank but world-wide speaks volumes about the contribution women make in sustaining economic growth at the business level. The leadership traits displayed by women will inspire our future women and girls to believe they can achieve all their dreams.

Without gender equality today, a sustainable tomorrow will not be achievable. I em-ploy you to empower and support each other in every country around the globe so that we can continue to achieve our goal of a better world for those coming after us.

Let's keep working to improve equality both as an issue on its own and as part of a long-term plan for a better world.