The Spanish Association for Standardization, UNE, and the Spanish Association of Women Executives and Directors, EJE&CON, presented the UNE-ISO 53800 Standard: Guidelines for the promotion and implementation of gender equality and the empowerment of women, on 16 October at the UNE headquarters. This is a pioneering international standard that will allow us to move forward as a society and make a qualitative leap in the sustainability of organizations around the world.
The UNE's Director General and ISO vice-president, Javier García, together with the president of EJE & CON, Cristina Sancho, opened the meeting. The event was concluded by Val Díez, Director General of STANPA, President of the CEOE Equality and Diversity Commission, and President of the UNE Gender Equality Committee.
The UNE-ISO 53800 Standard provides a clear roadmap for organizations, regardless of their activity, nature, size or geographical location, to implement policies and practices that promote women's empowerment. It proposes a working model for equality that includes guidelines, tools, best practices and other resources that will help organizations assess their current situation, identify barriers and opportunities, and develop specific actions. And it does so with a practical and measurable approach and a vocation for continuous improvement.
It will also help organizations align with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda, in particular with SDG 5, which seeks to achieve gender equality and empower all women.
Javier García noted at the presentation: “This international standard provides an effective response to the challenge of equality in society. Standards are based on values such as openness, transparency and consensus".
Cristina Sancho, meanwhile, stated that: “We must all be ambassadors of this Standard in the different sectors and areas; at EJE & CON, we will work to disseminate the value it provides to organisations".
Over 100 experts from 62 countries around the world collaborated on its development, contributing with their various perspectives to enrich the content. Spain actively participated through the UNE Gender Equality Committee, chaired by Val Díez, Director General of STANPA, UNE member and president of the CEOE's Equality and Diversity Commission. In addition, UNE, as the national representative of ISO, led the process of translating the standard into Spanish, to make it easier to understand and use for the nearly 600 million Spanish speakers around the world.
This UNE-EJE & COM Meeting featured presentations by: María José Gálvez, Isabel Alonso and Yolanda Pérez, of EJE & CON; María Jesús Aguado, of the Ministry of Equality's Women's Institute; Carmen Herranz, of KPMG; Jorge Cansinos, of People Talent Leadership; and Elena Ordozgoiti, of UNE.
