The Reykjavík Global Forum – Women Leaders 2020 takes off
The Reykjavík Global Forum – Women Leaders will be hosting its third annual event. Like so many international events this year, the forum will be an interactive digital conference. Seven hundred women leaders from all sectors and representing over 120 countries will be addressing many of the most pressing global issues today: politics, business, technology, science, and media.
The 2020 edition of the Reykjavík Global Forum (November 9-11) will provide a unique and meaningful gathering for women leaders to connect across borders and sectors. Furthermore, it will be a chance to take stock of the new reality created by COVID-19. To share solutions for fostering greater parity in decision-making and shape sustainable pathways that will help societies worldwide to ‘build back better.’
The event is bringing together such leaders as Katrín Jakobsdóttir, (Prime Minister of Iceland, 2017-present), Erna Solberg (Prime Minister of Norway, 2013-present), Hillary Clinton (U.S. Secretary of State, 2009-2013), Michelle Bachelet (UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and President of Chile, 2006-2010, 2014-2018), José Manuel Barroso (Chairman of Goldman Sachs International, President European Commission, 2004-2014), Denis Mukwege, (Medical Director and Founder, Panzi Hospital, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2018), Tao Zhang (Deputy Managing Director, IMF), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (Director-General of the World Health Organisation), and many others.
The Reykjavík Global Forum – Women Leaders is co-hosted annually by the Government and Parliament of Iceland and Women Political Leaders (WPL). For many years, Iceland has been represented as a global champion in the WEF’s Global Gender Gap Report. The report examines disparities between men and women regarding political empowerment, economic opportunities, education, and health.
Iceland established equal inheritance rights for men and women in 1850. Women gained the right to hold public office in 1908, with voting rights for women over the age of 40 instituted in 1915, and suffrage for all women in 1920. More recently, Iceland implemented Gender Budgeting (2009) to bring transparency to gender-related impacts and enable the re-evaluation of policies, expenditures, and revenue sources in-line with equality objectives. In 2013, a new law took effect, establishing a 40% minimum of women on the boards of both public and private limited companies.
More information is available at https://reykjavikforum.global
