Every year, thousands of companies around the world celebrate International Women's Day by sharing messages in support of gender equality, but too often these messages do not translate into real changes in the daily lives of women and girls.
Promoting gender equality is not only a moral duty, but also a lever that promotes business resilience, innovation, and sustainable growth. By integrating gender equality not only within the company—in its operations and supply chains—but also externally, with targeted actions for communities, businesses can create fair and inclusive work systems and increase their competitiveness and performance.
So how can the private sector truly empower women, not just on March 8, but every single day of the year?
A global campaign for collective action towards gender equality
To help companies move from commitment to concrete action towards achieving gender equality, the UN Global Compact is launching its Countdown to International Women's Day campaign again this year: a high-impact training course during which you will discover how a holistic business approach can generate tangible change, regardless of sector or region.
Why join?
- Gain insights into the latest trends shaping the business landscape and how gender equality is essential for business sustainability
- Access concrete frameworks and tools to set and make progress on ambitious corporate targets for gender equality
- Learn about actions your company can meaningfully take this International Women’s Day and beyond
- Receive certificates of completion from each session from the UN Global Compact Academy to share on social media
How it works?
By registering for the course, you will have access to free content: two weeks of training, four live sessions led by experts and leading global companies.
If you are unable to attend all the live sessions, you can receive on-demand recordings of the webinars.
Simply fill out the form at the bottom of this page and you will receive an email with all the details, a reminder of the activities, and links to the various live sessions.
The Journey – Live Sessions
From February 24 to March 8, 2026, you will have exclusive access to four live sessions accompanied by practical tools and concrete resources that your teams can implement immediately. Simultaneous translation into Italian will be provided for each of the modules that make up the course.
Tuesday, February 24 | 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. (CET) | Session 1 – Gender Data Trends & the Power of the Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs)
Thursday, February 26 | 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. (CET) | Session 2 – Closing the gender pay gap through collective action
Tuesday, March 3 | 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. (CET) | Session 3 – Building gender-responsive value chains
Thursday, March 5 | 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. (CET) | Session 4 – Centring Women in Digital Transformation
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