Armenia Securities Exchange Rings the Bell for Gender Equality for the First Time in Armenia
Yerevan, March 12, 2019 – Today Armenia Securities Exchange-AMX and Central Depository of Armenia rang the opening bell for UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 — Gender Equality, alongside 80 stock exchanges worldwide.
In partnership with the Federation of European and Asian Stock Exchanges (FEAS), Armenia Securities Exchange and Central Depository of Armenia joined the Ring the Bell for Gender Equality initiative to promote gender equality and help businesses, especially banks and investment companies understand their pivotal role in achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 5.
“The stock exchange is the champion and the role model for private sector companies to promote gender equality and women empowerment principles. Gender equality is good not only for sustainable development but also for economic growth,” said Mehjabeen Alarakhia, Programme Specialist, UN Women.
The initiative, now in its fifth consecutive year, is a partnership between the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative, UN Global Compact, UN Women, the World Federation of Exchanges and Women in ETFs, to raise awareness about the business case for women’s economic empowerment and the opportunities for the private sector to advance gender equality and sustainable development.
Dmitry Mariyasin, Resident Representative, UNDP expressed hope to see more male CEOs joining the initiative next year. He ended his speech saying, “Let’s make every day a day for gender equality”.
Hayk Yeganyan, CEO, Armenia Securities Exchange, welcomed the guests and said: “Women make up to 52% of our employees. Women make 54% of traders working with the stock exchange. Nowadays they hold over 38% of tech jobs in Armenia and no wonder that the IT and financial sectors are recognized as most stable and relatively more developed ones within the Armenian economy. This shows how important women’s participation is.”
Luiza Igraryan, CEO, Global Credit UCO, said: “Having managed Global Credit UCO for over 10 years, I may state that the gender inequality stereotype in Armenia was broken a long time ago, and people are more open-minded and nowadays women leaders have comparatively more opportunities.”
Armenuhi Hovakimyan, FEAS Deputy Secretary General said: “It is the first time the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges joins the initiative and the first time we will ring the bell for Gender Equality in Armenia. Raising awareness for the importance of gender equality which is the fifth of Global Goals, we are doing step forward to encourage girls and women to be educated, confident and brave. The theme of the 5th Ring the Bell for Gender Equality is “Think equal, build smart, innovate for change”. I can’t agree more. Early childhood development and learning should start and be based on the strong statements of equality in all forms and spheres.”
About Armenia Securities Exchange
Armenia Securities Exchange (AMX) is Armenia’s only stock exchange and it also runs the Central Depository of Armenia, helping investors raise capital for 18 years.
By developing and introducing business-friendly products and services across trading, clearing, settlement and pension administration, the companies aim to promote an attractive business environment to engage local and international partners.
About IFC
IFC — a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group — is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets.
About SSE
The SSE initiative is a peer-to-peer learning platform for exploring how exchanges, in collaboration with investors, regulators, and companies, can enhance corporate transparency — and ultimately performance — on ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) issues and encourage sustainable investment. The SSE initiative is convened by four organizations — the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN Global Compact, the UN Environment Program Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).
About United Nations Global Compact
As a special initiative of the UN Secretary-General, the United Nations Global Compact is a call to companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies with ten universal principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.
About United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)
UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality, and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and truly benefit women and girls worldwide.
About the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE)
Established in 1961, the WFE is the global industry association for exchanges and clearing houses. Headquartered in London, it represents over 250 market infrastructure providers. WFE exchanges are home to nearly 45,000 listed companies, and the market capitalisation of these entities is over $82.5 trillion (at end 2017).
About Women in ETFs (WE)
Women in ETFs is the first women’s group for the ETF industry. Founded in January 2014, WE is a non-profit organization that brings together over 4,500 members, including women and men, in chapters in major financial centers across the United States, Canada, EMEA and Asia Pacific.
