The Decade Of Women was launched with two powerful inaugural events in New York co-hosted by Thomson Reuters and 5th Element Group. The first, a private reception held at the United Nations, where a high level group of over 170 global leaders announced the elevation of the International Day of Women into the launch of The Decade Of Women solutions and action campaign – dedicated to Completing the Equity Revolution. Celebrated across eight billboards in Times Square and now live at DecadeOfWomen.org, The Decade Of Women is bringing forth a #WeUniteWe Pledge as part of a decade long series of bold commitments to Celebrate, Unite and Exponentiate the progress of both women and men to get to complete the gender equity revolution, and to realize UN Sustainable Development Goal #5 to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by 2030.
Opening the inaugural reception, Amir Dossal, President, Global Partnerships Forum, and HeForShe Champion for UN Women, said “The Decade Of Women is a critical and much needed initiative to ensure gender equality and women’s empowerment, which will go a long way to address the imbalances in society. It is incumbent upon men to step forward, and I am honored to be part of this important mission. Together, we can achieve SDG5!”
Patsy Doerr, Global Head, Corporate Responsibility and Inclusion, Thomson Reuters, followed in officially announcing that “Today, on the International Day of Women, we declare here forward a Decade Of Women.” She added, “I am immensely proud to be a part of The Decade Of Women campaign…Globally we must come together to ensure that women have equal access in order to build a sustainable future. Businesses must be at the forefront of this movement, ensuring that we are leveraging emerging technologies to achieve our objectives.”
The Launch was followed by an intensive “Quantum Impact and the Digital Frontier Collaboratory,” hosted at Thomson Reuters in Times Square session on Friday, March 9 attended by 130 leading influencers from Wall Street, the arts, science and technology, media and international development. The laser sharp focus was on actionable, large scale initiatives to harness the power of exponential new technology to advance The Decade Of Women and women’s financial independence.
Both events included mesmerizing performances by world renowned violinist and composer, Tim Fain a passionate believer in equality and opportunity for women. Astronaut Ron Garan, Jr. spoke compellingly about The Decade Of Women as someone having seen the Earth from space and shared luminous images of the earth, emphasizing that we are all together on one planet traveling through the Universe, where all of the earth’s people have the same shared destiny.
Vince Molinari, Co-Founder of Templum Inc. and Co-Founder and Principle in the 5th Element Group explained that “The exponential power of the new technologies of blockchain and security based digital assets enable us to do what has never been done before – to create assets that value the undervalued, see what has not been seen, and to finally level the playing field in women’s economic leadership, and grow an economy based on truth, trust, transparency, love and innovation. Who better to lead such an economy than women?”
The campaign is distinct in focusing on levering the vital power of frontier technologies across blockchain and digital assets to at last achieve economic engagement and financial independence of all women. This will require the unlocking of capital to allow frontier technologies to scale.
Nathalie Molina Niño, Founder and CEO of BRAVA Investments, one of G2 Capital’s investees, and an investment firm dedicated to investing in outcomes instead of optics to deliver gender equity, emphasized “We’re pretty far from the last mile, and that’s why there’s urgency to use every tool and innovation available in the market to accelerate the growth of the most undervalued asset in the world, women! Investing in women is just smart business, with a higher upside than other crowded and frankly, now well-explored sectors. Women don’t need the world’s charity, the world needs women.”
Amber Nystrom, Co-Founder and Principle in 5th Element Group and Co-Host for the March 8th and 9th events, reminded that “The Decade Of Women follows in the footsteps of giants – men and women who put themselves on the line for the universal human right of gender equity worldwide. In 1975 the UN first declared a Decade for Women. In launching the Decade Of Women, we aim to now complete the work.” Speaking about her passionate personal reason for standing for The Decade Of Women, she quoted her mother as one of the co-founders of the modern midwifery movement in the U.S.: “When something becomes necessary for everyone, and not just for a few, then everything is possible.”
Dr. Jane Thomason, CEO, Abt Associates Australia, a leading expert in frontier technologies and the recipient on March 8th of The Decade Of Women first Quantum Impact Champion award, noted “For the first time in human history, we have the technological tools that will enable us to connect the bottom billion unbanked to the global economy, to provide digital identity to stateless people, to make micro grid solar power ubiquitous and through smart contracts, to direct benefits to women and girls.”
Decade Of Women information and resources, live stream videos, photos and the clarion call invitation to sign The Decade Of Women #WeUniteWe Public Pledge, can be found on: DecadeOfWomen.org. This site will serve as a global hub for connecting Decade Of Women commitments, community and action ongoing.
Among the partners who supported the launch of The Decade Of Women, are: Thomson Reuters, 5th Element, Templum, Morningstar, Inc., Lottery.com, BanQu, PVBLIC Foundation, SCN Corporate Connect, GoodXChange, Women of Iceland, Global Partnerships Forum, Global Thinkers Forum, GameChangers500, OneForAll and G2 Investment Group.