 Hi everyone. Welcome. Good morning. Are we all wide awake? Have a little more coffee because we need to be we need to perk up My name is Katie Couric for those of you who don't know me and I'm with yahoo news And we may be headquartered in the United States But our work is seen in 60 countries and we're streaming live today on many of our international home pages Which we're very excited about so panelists no pressure But you definitely need to be awake this morning Today we're talking about ending poverty through parity in other words why gender equality is good for everyone And how we can all get there In a whole sea of game-changing initiatives Melinda Gates has learned firsthand that helping girls and women can solve many of the world's problems along with her husband She's made a bold new bet on the future that involves improving The lives of those girls faster in the next 15 years than ever before Just 21% of all members of Parliament are women, but it is much higher in Rwanda and President Paul Kagame will tell us why There are just 13 women who hold their nation's highest government positions One of them is Norway's Prime Minister Ernest Solberg We're happy to have her here as well as executive director of UN women Fumzila Amal Mlamdha Nuka and I'm so happy that I just have to need to call her Fumzila from here on out has the enormous task of Looking at the big picture and taking concrete steps to make that picture look better and brighter for women all around the world She says we're all at a critical crossroads right now when it comes to gender equality Quality and we'll talk about why and finally a recent survey found that women hold less than a quarter of senior management positions and companies around the world unilever Leaves those statistics in the dust more than 40% of their management is female and CEO Paul Pullman wants that number to be even higher. So please welcome our panelists this morning So Fumzila, I'm going to start with you in 2000 the UN member nations adopted a set of eight goals including cutting extreme poverty in half stopping the spread of HIV AIDS and providing Universal primary education the deadline is now this year 2015 you have said that we are at a crossroads as I mentioned why well We are at a crossroads Because in the implementation of the millennium development goals we've gathered a lot of evidence about what works We know that girls education is important that it's a game-changer We know that Enabling girls to have access to reproductive health services and Respecting their reproductive rights is also Important to reduce early pregnancies and therefore to give girls a chance to fulfill their potential so on a number of Aspects that we have implemented we know the answers But we have not used all the knowledge that we have to make a difference in many of the countries that's actually need To embrace and to adopt vigorously a What we know are not doing that so and that is a question of leadership So at a crossroads because we know what we know we know that it makes difference and if we just tip the other way around and Fully embrace and drive and implement we can bring about far-reaching changes Not just women and girls but for society and what are some of the biggest challenges you're facing when it comes to you Know if you know what works many of these countries know what works, but they're being resistant What are what are the challenges and actually implementing these goals? Well, there is a question of resources I think it's true. There are countries that struggle with resources. There is also a Intense gender stereotypes in many of the countries that way heavily against the women and girls and also because in many societies Women are not in leadership Positions, they're unable to implement what they believe will work for their countries so the exclusion of women in decision-making works against countries and works against a Girls, but also it works against society as a whole. We're gonna be further exploring both of those Issues, but but first Melinda in the same year 2000 you and your husband Bill started the Gates Foundation Why has gender equality become such an important a key part of your mission? Well, because I've been to have this huge privilege to travel in the developing world a lot all over the world But the developing world I'm out at minimum three or four times a year and and you just see it I mean you see the central role that a woman plays in society and so You know, it's like if you invest in a girl or a woman You're investing in everybody else because she's the center of the family so often And so she's the tutor the nurse the doctor the communicator the family member and yet If we don't do that you don't unlock the potential of what's what you can do for a whole family or community or society So we know that a woman for every marginal dollar she gets in her hand She plows 90% of it back into her family and women will tell you all over the world I'm the one that's in charge of feeding the kids if there's a health shock in the family I get an episode of malaria with a child. I have to have the household resources to pay for that So we know it's fundamentally important to make sure her health is is there Make sure she has a voice in decision-making in the family and make sure she gets an education Because if if she if a girl or it gets an education it becomes a woman her child is 50% more likely to make it to their fifth birthday and if she's educated she's twice as likely to educate her daughter So the estimate in the next 15 years is that if we could get Parity in the labor force in Africa of women you'd raise the GDP of these economies by 12% You'd raise India's GDP by 10% you see President Abe talking about how do we get more women in the workforce in Japan it just makes sense. So by contrast what do men spend their money on? Some people will say whiskey or beer It just it's it's the focus on the family and it's not all men believe me. I'm I have great men in my life I know many many great men We need men who are part of this conversation of lifting women up But they just tend to spend it on different things than the than the woman does if it's in her hands And she'll often tell you that she doesn't want to have to go back and renegotiate with her husband either once once they determine The household finances for a year don't make it harder on me to have to go redo that Negotiation if we run out in a hunger season or we run out because there are two episodes of malaria in our family not one Prime Minister Selver I know that you agree. I mean everyone I think on this panel agrees that when you educate a girl you change the world and it really does have a ripple effect And you've witnessed that firsthand as well Yeah, but can I just state one thing first because I'm a politician and I think we always make We always make sort of an argument for why we should invest in women About all the triple effects and all of this. I think it's very easy. It's just it's fair It's a human rights. I mean to me It's a more provocative that that we are not doing it then that we are doing it because we should have a Society where you invest the same in boys and girls But what we see is that we don't do that in a lot of communities. I agree, but don't you think you oftentimes need an economic reason as well? To to really pursue these kinds of goals. It would be great if everyone said this is fair But oftentimes there has to be another reason for them to get motivated to do this Yes But we shouldn't stop saying that it's fair because if everything is an economic argument and nothing is value-based Then we are going to get difficulties with a lot of other things when we are we are discussing at the human rights The basis should be in the in the bottom of this then of course giving education to girls. I think Nina said it she's it's It's about the fact that a girl that get educated can take control of her own life. She can earn more money She can Give more education to her children She get more control over her own body because she knows more about the body She know more about her maternal health. She can take care or she can use contraceptives I mean she taking control of your own life is probably the basic start To make development for you and your own family and that's that's what the education does to girls We know that they get better wages if they get to primary education There's a bigger effect for girls than boys of a secondary Education when it comes to wages around the world so educating that is good for the girl the lady themselves But it also triples down to the children. So if you want to have better nutrition of children if you want to have Children that also will go to school the best best Thing to do is to invest in their mother's education while she's young Then you will get generational effects in a society and in fact, you know I don't want to be a Debbie Downer here while some of the millennial goals have not been reached some There's some good news progress is being made all around the world and that often gets ignored doesn't it? Absolutely, so we've cut the number of deaths by half of children dying under the age of five since 1990 The world has cut those deaths in half And so when you think about what that means and Bill and I are predicting that that can be cut in half yet Again in the next 15 years, so what it's taken us 25 years to do they can happen in the next 15 Because we know the tools to use and we're rolling them out vaccines Malarial bed nets President Kagami's country Rwanda's had the steepest decline in childhood Mortality in the last five years that we've seen in the history of the world Because of his leadership and what he's done in the way he set up his health system and rolled out vaccines and tackled these issues So these things that we're talking about whether it's women and girls whether it's whether it's Children dying whether it's maternal health. They are absolutely possible and I agree with you that it's interesting You go to all these forums and we have to make the economic argument for women and girls Are you kidding me? It just I don't I mean I do that because I know how to do it But it just makes sense. It is a fundamental human right Why not unlock the rest of society? We're we're living in 2015 for Pete's sake So we should just do it. It makes complete sense for all kinds of reasons Do you find that the the conversation is is changing and shifting, you know I of course in Beijing Hillary Clinton talked about this these not being women's issues But human rights issues and do you do you sense that she also complained though as secretary of state She'd often talk about these issues and and various heads of states their eyes would kind of glaze over Do you find that people are embracing this as as a human rights issue rather than a than a women's Something that women only should care about or that really is focused on women Paul No, absolutely. We could we one of the values and you find that the many companies as respect for the individual I don't think you can create a Performing or a high performing organization if not if everybody doesn't have the chance to rise to its full potential And in many organizations, we don't achieve these targets because women say we're up against these ceilings or I don't get the same Opportunities so we spent a disproportionate amount of time and effort on programs obviously to help be it You know maternity leave programs are very important to us mentoring programs are very important to us Flexible work programs are very important to us I think we have more tools available Then then you can think of to create an environment for people to be successful the economic argument is actually time loss to spend time on that because anybody that just has a decent set of brains can figure out that it's better to hire out out of 100% of the population and only 50% or To have that diversity that comes in for us. It runs actually runs quite Much deeper than this. We've put a business model out there Which we call the Unilever sustainable living plan which really tries to grow and decouple that grows from environmental impact and really Significantly improve the social impact. That's why we come off panels on the sustainable development goals And what they might be or the climate negotiations that work That's why we're participating in you and women all of our products actually that we sell our development products We we are heavily involved in with our bar soaps in helping a child reach the age of five simply with sanitation maternal health Nutrition stunting and and any of these programs that we work with you come always come back to women Actually more so than men that you have to invest in to get your returns. So I think I think in terms of our whole value chain And anything we touch in terms of putting a gender lens on there And that's very refreshing not only for the returns on our investments if you want to talk that way But it's also actually for liberating everybody to pay that potential and if your purpose is that high Then the gender balance and I deliberately say gender balance. I don't say women or men this gender balance thing Actually will come automatically It's interesting if you think about just this week and I reflect on this week and still need some more time to do This but then the things we've been involved in young from silly was here doing you and women Helen Clark We just saw Christiana Figueras on the climate change Amina on the SDGs You have you know others that I forgot now but but all of them are women and it's not surprising that most of these Humanitarian efforts that are being worked in the world which are the essence of our model as well our business model Are actually run by women and if you think about why that is the case is because they're driven with a deeper level of purpose They have a little bit of a longer term Few they're probably a little better in partnership than we are and unashamedfully We have to acknowledge that so if we get that into our total system in Unilever I know we will be successful for the longer term But more importantly, I also know that we will be successful in Solving these issues for which we exist in the first place President Kagami, I know Rwanda was decimated after a horrific war in genocide back in the 90s And and this terrible legacy actually paved the way for women to take a greater role in So many aspects of Rwandan society. Can you explain that evolution? Well to start it off late to me I mean on a lighter note somebody in the crowd should be asking me how it feels to be On the panel that is balanced in in agenda, but in the favor of women I feel good in most cases it is In the favor of men Isn't this a refreshing change of pace? Absolutely I Was avoiding using male or female dominated so it's balanced in a favor of it helps to be called Paul So anyway, but right from the question First of all with the problems we had in Rwanda the tragic situation and so on and so forth when you look at the details of it more Women were actually affected and children and Find the were caught up in a mess that Was mainly not so much because of women but because of men But we during the process of liberation and then Cleaning up the mess after the genocide The first thing to come to our mind is Was how do we bring everybody in the country to participate to be part of the change that we want in the country? and that naturally had to Bring in women as well And here many people have eloquently said it. It's here an issue of right You can take it into economics or right or whatever, but it is everything that Is right to do So we thought even our policies and politics. We simply needed to involve everybody, but we are also aware that Women were a disadvantaged group in our society for many years for different reasons We didn't have to let it remain as such thought one of our Missions we had to bring change to our country was also to actually deal with that particular problem as well as benefit from it because 52% of our population is women Now we had to be thinking of a problem that involves everybody and that should have addressed Everybody's problem and then you want to keep out the 52% doesn't make sense So this is how we proceeded in putting policies in place that were intended to actually and that that included quotas Sorry that included quotas for your country. Yes in some cases for example in the parliament You must have heard this we have 64% Composition of our parliament is women Now this comes about in two ways the number of efforts actually while the quotas work say on the side of government on the side of government the constitution tells us that Say we shouldn't have a government ministers That does not have at least 30% of women in that government on that side it is easier because Government and cabinet ministers are appointed However, it is not the same when it comes to parliament Where members of parliament are to be elected? But still it helps From the beginning we have mobilized the population and the different political parties to this point of Making sure that women are significantly represented in At every level so we start with that 30% but the 30% in the parliament where the members elected It's due to mobilization. We mobilize women to say put yourself there To be elected and then we have had more than the 30% Which we initially had said we wanted to cover and went beyond up to 64% so it is not entirely dust quotas It's making sure that people are aware and mobilizing people to make sure that they consider this point But also encouraging women to be there themselves and make sure that they actually participate And Prime Minister Solberg, I know that many young women and women in your country actually The notion of quotas is really anathema to them. Yeah, we don't have quotas into Into the parliament but some of the political parties have But there and then we have quotas on all types of committees that is established Scrutinies and all of that that is not directly elected They have to be at least 40% of each gender and there is a 50% Well, there's a balance in the cabinet Same number of men and women but we have a woman prime minister and a women's finance minister, so we say Well, if you look at the powers it women have more Don't tell the other ministers. I said this It's but but there is a there is a reaction when I meet young people in Norway young girls University students and there are 60% of the universities now that are women They don't want to be quoted They say that I want to be elected as me with my qualifications based on my merit I don't want anybody to say she was elected because she was a woman and that is a balance You have to find in a way Maybe we have moved so far that it's more much more natural to have women in all types of position That no there will be a reaction that it's just sex that decided not your individual Competances because sometimes I think you will find men who get not elected to somebody saying oh that was because I'm a man Maybe it was because the girl was better than him, but it's easier to say it's because we are not representing the sex But it's a challenge. I'm an old-fashioned feminist. I think you be I think you as I I think you as a politician also Represents a bit your gender because there are different issues in politics between men and women But I think you you should also listen to the young voices So to say that we want to be in a situation where we are your own merits your own talent your own achievements that should Should be the focus by the way, we're taking context. Go ahead. It's a Norwegian context The playing field is relatively leveled There are many countries where the girls and women have their back against the wall so much that without special measures It's actually important impossible just to put the foot in the door Ideally Everybody should make it on their own merit and I'm sure many countries will reach where Norwegian has reached But they are countries where it is absolutely up loose difficult, but it's wonderful that you Women in Norway are able to take full advantage of their context and their situation But I don't think this is something that you could deal with as a one-size-fits-all Well, how do you feel about quotas in general? Do you think they're necessary in countries that are not as progressive? Well, for instance the fact that We have so underperformed on representation of women in politics. I mean look Rwanda just sticks out We are only at 22% of women representation in parliaments and it's taken us 20 years To actually just move by 10% and at the rate at which are going it's going to take us 50 years to reach gender parity Come on a child born during divorce 2015 will be 50 before this gender parity in the world Will be 80 until there's gender parity in the economy without extra measures without the kinds of things that Paul is doing in his company Can you just imagine how slow that will be? I think I look at the people in this room. I'm sure we all don't want the space So there's got to be something that you could do that is extraordinary to push forward I really want to agree that it is an issue of context and what we can do at any one given time Let's look at this issue of quotas like We practice in an ordinary life of social economic development For example on safety net issue that we create when you are trying to say bring people out of poverty There are certain Specific programs that are put there to try and accelerate people out of poverty While you could easily have said, okay, let's people struggle. We are putting it there everything Let's people struggle until they make it to themselves So it's just a principle of how how do you and it doesn't take away anybody's digging to all The fact that they wanted to make it to themselves You have to bear that in mind, but at the same time we also know it's like if you a man locked somebody in the room and He has that responsibility and said, okay, let somebody struggle until they open the door and get out No, this man sometimes has a responsibility to one open the door and let the person free to go where they want to go so it's in the same process that For sure in our society there was this huge gap and We are we want to see acceleration of making sure that a difference is made That short time so that's why we apply certain measures and it is very contextual No, I agree with some until it that you need to do something extraordinary But but if you look at it, there are actually more women graduating from universities now in nearly all disciplines than men and and frankly if you would recruit on scores or Capabilities with a lot of companies do that actually also score higher and I think there's enough data around that So but what we're talking here about is for companies and yet we're not making progress So I understand this challenge on quotas, but we actually don't have quotas in the company What we need to do even as leaders of this company need to ensure that these systems work Even if we are gone and others come in and that they become a normal part So you have to work the values and behaviors. So we obviously we like to Mid-career recruiting we like to do that 55 percent instead of 50 50 or entry that we have a little bit of a buffer Or move a little bit faster, but we really spent far more time on asking people why not and have people Explain why not and make that very transparent so if you would have a Precision open and and we have people apply or you look for who is who is available we say why isn't there a diversity candidate and Why are your numbers at 30 percent whilst in other departments? We are at 60 percent and it can't always be HR and legal so We what often what often do you hear at the ant what answers no There are there are answers that that what we are trying to do obviously sometimes people need help. There are there are time lags There are there are histories there are But but if they would be behaviors for example of biasness We work very hard to get them out of the system We bring that in our training and development if we then ultimately see that people still are not able to do this Then these people will not be successful and usually end up outside of a company like ours But if you don't work that behavior now The time pressure comes in here because some people are being forced also by the external environment to move fast And actually women don't appreciate that the majority of women certainly in our company But also if I go out there and talk to them So we have found out that we've moved about 10 percent in spines up in the last four years But all these 10 percent in spines Were winners for the company that I can tell you they were better people in better jobs And they've has made the system so much stronger including the business results ultimately that it then gets in there So that the moment that I move on or whoever takes after we don't have to worry about this And it doesn't become a program of the week or a program of the most for getting a price of the year It's it's really has to be part of your business model And you have to firmly believe that so it then boils down to leadership in all honesty I once in my former careers. I was given extra reward for diversity progress and I refuse that Because and it's not to be a hero here But I refuse that because I said instead of giving money to people that do something that you need to do anyway Why don't you start a system where you start to punish people that don't do it? And this is absolutely what is needed. And if that is how you change behavior That's a good idea. And zoom Zila, you know, you you talk about How how frustrating clearly you're frustrated with the the pace of change in many countries Is it a is it a leadership vacuum? Are there cultural obstacles that are so deeply ingrained that even if these programs and Opportunities are available. There's still a lot of pressure from all sides not to take advantage of them What what is keeping people from embracing these kinds of changes? Well, leadership is a big part of it again. Let's use Rwanda not because you're here president, but in 20 years So much can happen in a country because of leadership The culture in in Rwanda is not different from the culture of other African countries People are conservative There is pushback on some of these issues But people take the cue from the leader if you you send the right message and you are consistent People actually do change. So the issue of leadership is absolutely absolutely important The same thing I can say about implementing legislation that has to do with violence against women in countries where you have progress in addressing Ending violence against women and ensuring that perpetrators are brought to book it is because someone in in leadership makes sure that the system works and Implements and and follows up where people where things fall between the cracks you have good legislation But it does not get implemented But also when it comes into stereotypes one thing that we have is that you are we are born into a situation That has so such deep prejudice Patriarchy is bestowed on men at birth Whether you want it or not you have the privilege as a man and you either fight against it and reject this Patriarchy by becoming a feminist man or you enjoy the privileges that come with it and right now We're recruiting those who must fight against patriarchy if it was class would be saying that they must commit class suicide So we're asking them to actually take the active step to call for Gender parity in terms of pay to ensure that There's equal representation etc. Etc. And that means that they displace themselves from these privileges that are otherwise given to them at Beth Just because they are and that's a tall order isn't it? I mean do you find I mean for the guy sitting here? I'm not such a big deal. I'm sure But some of the some of the boys and men you're dealing with nicely Yeah But you know Emma Watson Delivered I thought a very compelling speech at the UN and then she was here yesterday But the message to boys was gender equality is your issue too and a man named Dan Moore By the way, we've asked for tweets with the hashtag gender gap Anybody if you're too shy to ask questions at the end feel free to tweet us a question But a man named Dan Moore asked what specifically can men do to help bring women out of poverty worldwide? I mean obviously we're talking about sort of men in general But Melinda, why don't you answer Dan's question then tell us more microcosmically what you're doing in terms of kind of having a Top-down approach when it comes to dealing with many of these patriarchal societies that you've been been trying to educate Well, I think if you have a Discussion first of all about what's important some of these issues come out with men because particularly in you know In anywhere that you go Whether it's the developed world or the developing world Men have a mother a sister a daughter quite often and when you Contextualize it and you say, you know, don't you want your daughter to live a better life? When I when I travel in the developing world and you ask people what their aspirations are Almost every single parent talks about wanting a better life for their children and that if they can get them on that path of Health and food and then education it can be a better life And so I think you have to start with that context and then I think all the the gender work Much like Paul talks about making an ethos and a value of his company once it starts to become that You it grows and it stops becoming this side issue I think one of things we are a bit doing ourselves a disservice of when we talk about gender is having women and girls Stuff be a side issue. No, it has to be mainstreamed in your work And that's what we're doing inside our foundations work And so a particular example is seven out of ten adults in Africa are farmers And so they farm plots of land that are about two hectares And they need to get more income off of their farm and particularly as the climate is changing for them They're seeing more drought. They're seeing rains come at different times when they come they they're torrential So they get more of a flood. So we were saying in our agriculture program Okay, we want to get this seed system working and we want to make sure we teach people to plant properly and use Fertilizer and get access to market. Well, if you just assume Gender parity is already there you assume when you get the seeds out in the seed system The new drought resistant seeds that exist for instance for corn that everybody is going to get them male and female Farmers their huge number of female farmers in the developing world Well, that's just not true unless you look at the agenda issue and say I'm going to specifically make sure that women have access to seeds Also, the reason it doesn't happen is that the agro dealers that is the extension workers who go out and Spread the seeds teach about planting teach about fertilizer They're men and they tend to reach the men And so what you have to do is make sure that those agro dealers start to reach women Pull women into the groups get the tribal leaders involved because again if a woman can get that extra income in her hands She will plow it back into her family and in so much so that we have to even look at Unintended consequences women will tell you that if we make it too hard for them That is the the crop only goes to their husband They're actually not going to plant that crop because again They might have to have that Negotiation with their husband yet again if it becomes a crash crop So they'll actually intentionally just sell things that they can sell at their farm gate because it's easier one last things I'll just say is a way to unlock this for women also is to get cell phones in their hand because if they have a cell Phone they can get the crop price at market And so if they put their crop at market with a middleman who takes it on a donkey or a bicycle or motorcycle And he sells it for ten dollars a bushel and tells her he only got five she gets taken But if she knows the crop price at market She knows it's both worth it descended to the middleman and she knows that she's getting a fair price And in fact put it into the program only 40% of the world is has internet connection and and Prime Minister Selberg how important do you think is obviously? Broadening that number for a whole array of reasons not only for access to information for education, but also for banking I think it's extremely important because that's the new way of connecting and it's a new way of of Building new types of businesses getting information out. I'm very I work hard on we co-chair the MDD advocacy group on and and I work hard on on the issue of education and I know education is in the way formal education But it's also the informal education is what do you as a person need not to get the certificates But to impact improve your own life The connection you can have with an internet connection learning more getting information out is extremely important That's why we are also exploring and inviting inviting Participant in social media areas to to to see can we do more on how we educate through the social media to reach out to Young people grown-ups who need more information more education to learn more To get teachers better trained There's an enormous way of moving The World Bank the chief said yesterday and a meeting I had you can you can move the best Best mathematical teachers all around the world Through that type of connection because you can you can get the most Backward African village if they have an internet connection in their classroom It could be possible to get the best mathematical teacher to help them improve the teaching of that school So there's an immense Possibility on that but also on businesses. I remember I have a friend who works for care She was in Niger 20 years ago and she made the first Niger women's project on on on Building women's group for for capitalization and savings and that's their care program today And she came back and she said it sort of this is this was a it was a good idea It improves think on how this really now functions when you can use a mobile phone and how much larger network the Grammy in bank for example, how how this Financing system changes totally You can all offer money for investments for small I have this the all of these NGOs said now run the possibility that you as a person can give $25 to invest in a new cow in Azerbaijan, which I have done Which is I think is to give a girl Give a partly sponsor a lady for a loan. I mean you can get this New type of financial system that is not through governments, but through civil society Well, you as an individual and I've enforced this and all the all the young people in my family who gets Christmas present They always get this investment present too because I think it's it's a great way of said telling that the day They get this expensive new presents. They should also have some social conscious to it. So this We are we are connecting you could you can now follow up on a loan Somewhere in the terrible if you're a school child in Norway and it gives you the feeling that you understand more It gives you the possibility and it gives women a Possibility to get that little extra money that means that you can enlarge your shop Have crops that you can sell And and you are seen and there's a there's a possibility to connect which you haven't had before You know, we have a tweet which you know I think we're talking about the promise of technology, but then that's often Stands in stark contrast with the realities on the ground Someone asked about what are we doing to encourage girls education considering the way terrorists are attacking them and of course you have a whole different situation in Nigeria right now as well as many other countries including in some cases Pakistan Afghanistan, so How can you operate in an environment like that where there is such a price to pay for gender equality? Well, ideally girls and boys should enjoy being at school and being with their peers But we have to work with what we have while living in this challenging situation including the invasion of terrorism and Technology is quite critical as a prime minister says it is Affordable in many cases compared to having to provide a full set of teachers for this different subjects That's a children have to learn you can maintain a credit table quality Education for learners in different parts of the world. It's the biggest way to have access to education and in fact With the use of technology we can reach universal access to secondary school within a generation Because one of the blockages we have about universal access to secondary education and primary education is Access to quality and trained teachers if we are able to get the best meds teacher in the world And he is in Brazil that teacher can teach children in war in South Africa and Giving exactly the same quality of education that you can give to a child who is living in Cambridge So we do need the ministers of education We need a head of state to embrace the dynamism of technology So that we can push it as far as we can where we can save girls from working in dangerous places from being exposed to genders of terrorism by Learning in safer places and at home as long as they have a device I think it's important to do that But that does not mean that you must not fight terrorism because we do need a free world where girls and women can go to Wherever we can but in the meantime and if also for the long term we must harness technology much better than we currently do Do you see that happening? Do any of you all see this sort of confluence of leadership technology and real-world changes on the ground? Absolutely We've seen that technology has brought many possibilities In education in health which are key to women as well as safety on other grounds For example, we have a program know which Melinda Supporters were in Where we have partnered with Nike Foundation created something called Garhub and this is targeting Adolescent girls focusing on education on their health So at least they grow into their lives as better citizens and we have seen this work and technology cuts across and people have access to Different parts of the country in places where otherwise it was very difficult to reach with the messages in area of health people sending What the problem is in their house and to the centers where there is the medical facility and getting feedback and without having to travel there And the box so it's very practical. It makes a big difference. Obviously. Oh, sorry I was just say on the cell phone. We're seeing just amazing things happen I mean a woman know and a girl knowing where the tap is now open in her slum where fresh water is actually coming through because it comes Through at irregular times of the day The village savings and loans being able now to hook up to the banks I mean there's a system now that's at scale 90% of households have mobile money now in Kenya 46% in Tanzania Bangladesh has mobile money Philippines has mobile money And what it means is if you're out in a remote rural area if your spouse goes in the city of the work They can send money back to you also means you can save a dollar a day two dollars a day So when the school fees come do as a family you have them the most ingenious thing I saw a group of women doing at one of these village savings and loan out in Tanzania Normally they have their lockbox with their three padlocks you have one I have one you have one with their keys They couldn't all each afford a mobile phone But they wanted to make sure they could save their money instead of the lockbox of the phone They got one phone amongst their group of 30 and you got two codes of the pin I got two codes of the pin and you got two codes the pin new kind of sharing economy exactly And so they not only save but eventually when that Tanzanian system gets hooked up They'll be able to get insurance a line of credit where they not only didn't want to spend the bus fees to go into the city before Men and women were unwelcome from the rural areas in the banks another thing I've seen in Islam with mobile phones is that women will give out it's called circle of six They'll give six people that they trust their phone number So and they have a one-button push these are women who now have a smartphone say in India in Islam The one-button push if there's an act of violence they push that button and they know six people know about it Immediately one in three women say they have they come up against an act of violence in the world So cell phones are gonna change that it's not the only thing we have lots of other things to do But boy cell phones is one of those innovations It's gonna unlock so many things and health farming banking information That'll change really will change things for people all over the world for sure Just an informal education that's friends. I was talking about we are involved in you and women with the quite ambitious Projects to reach out to men and boys Because to fighting the stereotype we've normally we normally would fight with Educates and and and reach out to girls and we've left boys Behind a lot so the empowerment of boys so that they can also embrace gender equality is actually quite agent And we are using technology in this campaign called he for she and of course a both Paul and and president Kagama big supporters and Champions in that but we actually are using technology just a week that we launched he for she last September Within two weeks. There were a billion people that were having a conversation About issue of feminism and men. I mean where else would you get that kind of outreach? Were you surprised by that reaction? Yes, I was I I read I mean even though I'm sort of a Techno frenzy type person even that for me was actually quite exciting event yesterday We were revamping the campaign involving private sector in which Paul participated leaders of state in which The president participated as well as encouraging boys in universities Again by the end of yesterday my social media people told me that they were actually about a billion conversations that were happening So there's something about this video if I can just get a billion good men Wouldn't that be great and and and Paul Paul and I just wanted to ask you all because you know It's one thing to have a lot of women in leadership positions But what concrete things have been accomplished because those women are in those positions What actual impact have you seen it have in terms of initiatives laws or any kind of policies? Paul that might be in your company Oh, there is no doubt and and I just want to build on this and get to your question because We've made a commitment to empower five million additional women in our value chain and Half of that will be smallholder farmers technology would never otherwise happen in India We have a hundred thousand women which we call shakti women which means strengths doing distribution in the little philatges Still very rural the technology saves them what I'm most excited about Actually was in the technology next to all the things that are being said is that it I think that it gives women a voice That can be aggregated to be heard and that is far more powerful and I hope we're seeing that soon So the he for she campaign which by the way is invented by women at you and women is helping men make a commitment That's the first thing and I would really encourage all the men to sign up because before you run a marathon you have to register and So also the case here and then you hold your mirror up and and you say do I really live it and Because you signed up and even people like ourselves feel sometimes and you become a little better every day So I think that program process need to go through then there are wonderful programs at the UN. We have the Business and human rights principles that actually get to because it's about rights Then it's about skills and then it's about opportunities is for women more important than anything else You have the UN women empowerment principles the girl declaration So there are wonderful programs that are actually driven by women that we can adopt as men If you are still in charge of your companies To really empower your organizations and then the most important thing I come back on that is is to live it in all You do just apply this gender balance. It's not a women's lens. It's a gender balance lens I give just a simple example. We have tea plantations I like tea because the smallholder farmer can make competitively a living and we cannot Africa's population is going to double seven out of ten already now are in agriculture If we don't create jobs in agriculture with the smallholder farmers, we're not going to solve the global employment problem We're talking sometimes in these parts of the world's problems that are miniscule first is what is happening in these emerging markets So we have to empower women all of a sudden you need to think about lighting at the tea plantations or safety You have to think about your education that you provide your health care You have to think about facilities that are different more importantly you have to think about these laws in these countries Are they really helping you and their sexual harassment is a big issue if these women go to the police? It's a big issue. So we have programs to educate the police How do how far do you want to go as a company when you make these commitments? You are really getting it into the DNA of all you do now interestingly these programs Are mainly driven by women because they better connect with the women that you're trying to lift up in the first place But they would not succeed if the men around them don't create the environment to accept that because it's very easy Whatever you put in to destroy with behavior you understand Yes, and that is what we're trying to drive and and again It's hard work and it cannot be fixed overnight But I think that's the best thing and then anything we do was our brands our brands are basically there I would say and I don't want to be because I'm on the panel, but they're 80% there to serve women actually we Dove is a very successful brand for us. It's a very successful brand not because of the product and what it tries to solve It tries to solve women self-esteem. It's hitting 300 million women now already and you and at their 12 to 14 year-age where they 4% of the women only feel comfortable in the bodies there and Don't even want to participate in public activities like swimming or other things because they feel uncomfortable These programs help them. No wonder that a brand like Dove is very successful all of our hand washing programs We do six million children don't make it past the eights of five You can cut that down by 40 50% just by hand washing. It's the cheapest solution. We happen to sell soap That's why it was invented in the first place you know so Focusing on again focusing on women Because the habit chains with women and then bringing it home and actually girls again and bringing it home It's the best way to get that adoption. So most of the things we do our food programs. It's all about nutrition It's not this calories. You need the nutrition again focusing on women to do that So if it's that and grant into your business models, I think you have a hard time escaping it Me will prime minister what tell us about the maternity leave that you have in Norway? And was that because we're women the driving force behind that policy? Maybe I can stop by saying that the large number of women came into politics in the beginning of 80s We've had about 40% of our parliament being women since the mid 80s I think there are and of course if you if you look at the correspondence to that Yes, there's been done some really large changes for women's life after that period Now we have full coverage of kindergartens and we have a maternity leave. That's a year We're paid at paid at pay up to a certain ceiling Which is the same we have for all welfare goods by the state and then most most employers and most And all government and local government will pay a hundred percent, but of course the government subsidies on the level about the the pay up to the income of a University trained teacher who has worked 15 years will get full coverage with it on a maternity leave So it's most mostly all women have full and then of course there's 10 weeks now that is mandatory for men to take So they're not we told the Prime Minister a lot of people are going to be coming to Norway to have children and and and this Did this come out because there was a lot of women in politics? Or became did they become a lot of women in politics because you needed to do this? I think it's the side the last question. What happened was that Much more women went into politics because they saw that their needs Went met that they had issues that they wanted to solve And I think it was a cross-party thing because you've got it in all the political parties. So then you get more Kindergarten's you get more maternity leave you get more focus on on on how do you solve? I think a critical thing for women's participation The possibility of being a mother and participate with a full career in the workforce I think that's what the Scandinavian countries have managed to do. That's why we have such a high Participant cessation of women in the workforce too. That's why so many goes to university and use their Academic skills afterwards because if you look at other European countries a lot of women get great career a great education and then they stay at home afterwards Because they tend for their family instead it also means that nowhere has one of Europe's highest birthwaist As you know, that's a problem in most European countries that the birthwaist allow low We are nearly reproducing ourselves. We are reproducing. We are growing because we have immigration too But we are nearly reproducing ourselves. That's because you can manage to have a family and Be active in in in the workforce and I think it's it's yes it's women's leaders in politics, but it's also why a lot of women went into politics because politics has to correspond with the people's needs and Not a majority of male didn't see the needs of women at that time So there were more in can I just say one thing about the he for she campaign or the tweet? What can man do if you look at one thing that is common in all of the world's countries? Developed and in the development Violence against women Is a large problem women security is a large problem sometimes that stops women for participating Sometimes it hindered them to live a full life and I think male activity against violence children and women are Crucial I've been to see men's group in Liberia discussing why we should not rape Which is I think I don't need It's a discussion. I wouldn't have heard in Norway, but of course why shouldn't why should why should we not harass women? Why should not women feel like sexual objects if they move around in a man's world? That's a western concept that you have to also do think men could be more Concerned about this work more on that because even in Norway we might have good degrees and all of this women still get raped Women women still feel harassed and and there's still a lot of violence against women And in fact president Kagami you have that issue in your country while you're doing so well in terms of women in leadership position Violence against women is a real issue for you This is what I wanted to say first of all what we what men can do simply starts with Don't be an obstacle to women's well-being We start with that then we go on and make sure that for example in the case of Rwanda and how women being in the positions of responsibility Has helped We have seen for example pieces of registration Past but of course followed to make sure that things are implemented For example in terms of protection of girls and women in fact we have a case Well, we used to have a police chief who was actually a woman and at that time Something very nice was put into operation was structured right from the police wherever the police has stations to Minister of Justice structures to districts where If in a case happened it would be reported almost real time to the point that with a combination of police and attorneys they would actually Immediately deal with the case and even possible prosecute in a very short time Without so and we would get feedback from all districts almost in a very short time whatever cases have happened And this was also supported by parliament and it has been operation. It's I'm sure the people dealing with the gender issues seen that the other side we saw women In the case of Rwanda They are never used to be women were not allowed to inherit property So women helped in the parliament to pass a piece of registration that actually allows women to inherit property And so on and so forth. So they their presence has has helped It's not alone that women could have done this It's because first of all generally in the government. They're thinking is positive like this But once women are there in decision-making Decision-making level it becomes much simpler. So education matters both of women and men And we have seen that of course where There is violence against women or anyway violence generally People expect that there will be accountability So through that education, we have seen You know what we used to have to see 15 years ago 20 years ago Historically come down drastically before we wrap things up I thought I'd give everyone in the audience or at least not everyone because we'd be here all day but a few of you an opportunity to ask a question and if you could their mics I think here and if you could just Identify yourself. We don't have much time to do audience questions But let's try to get some of them if we could you want want to just grab the closest person Would you just introduce yourself and first? Thank you. Sure. Hi, Danielle a blue airs. Thanks for an excellent panel This year in September world leaders will agree on a new set of sustainable development goals and Gender and quality is on the table for one of them And I wondered if the panelists thought we could actually achieve gender equality by 2030 in the economic and political spheres And a few things on how we might get there. Thanks. That's a great question In fact, that was going to be my wrap-up question, but which is you know, what are I know they're going to be announced in September? I believe so what are they going to be and are they achievable and I'd love to hear from each panelist What you would like a goal to be But you go ahead I think the goals are achievable as they are currently drafted What is good about these goals compared to mdgs is that across all the goals We've got indicators that focus on women because the women's issues are there in every issue in education and health in the economy But we also have a gender goal that focuses on women's leadership on economic participation including a issue of unpaid care work which affects a lot of women just by a stroke of a pen Providing social protection Recognizing reducing and redistributing unpaid care work. We could change lives of men women It also addresses violence against women something that we did not have in the mdgs Which I think is big as well as a practices harmful practices to women such as forced early marriages Female genital mutilation. So all of those things if we really implement them honestly This could be game changers for the life of women because it's got ripple effects If you take that and the mainstreaming of all the of the indicators in all the other goals That's quite a substantive package. Are you optimistic Paul? Yeah in the in the Report that the secretary general put out a road to dignity He had six elements one of them is people and he specifically calls out women and children and that's very important We do need to have a standalone goal on on gender equality and women empowerment That's also there and then as you are saying in each of the cross-cutting be it health be it financial services Be it education you need to put a women lens in just what I was talking about What we're doing in all the things in our company if we do this and achieve that with realistic targets behind that We just came out of a discussion around that. I think we have a fair chance of getting getting that What about you prime minister? Do you believe are you optimistic? Do you believe that some of the goals that we just heard that will be announced are achievable? I think some of the goals are achievable. It's whether you will create a lot of effort If you think parity now, we don't reach that in 15 years That will take a long time and that's about Economic redistribution and it's a lot of lot of definitions But if you look at the different items, yes, we can do more Do we for example abolish all violence against women? No, not in 15 years But we can make it a huge difference for a lot of women if a country like India Can stop the rape culture that they are have moved into if some of the West African countries are in post-conflict areas. It also has that type of rape culture South Africa has a problem with rape It will be an immense progress for the world's women if they could feel the security of walking in the streets without an escort and Without the possibility of getting raped in some of these countries We can do a lot in 15 years on that if we want to focus on it If we want to have civil actions on it if we want to mobilize grass for its roots But it will not be a prime minister who tells that you should stop rape that would stop the rapes It has to be that it becomes a part of a culture that is so depictable That people feel that it's so wrong and it's we are not there yet President coming. What do you think? I think I'm Optimistic and what is entailed in that report shows I mean it's a statement a statement of What is possibly doable and of ambition? Also a sense of urgency Now some of the things we may be able to actually achieve In a shorter time than in other cases. There are other things we may not achieve But at least it also remains as a statement that we need to seriously work on it So we need to continue doing much more of what we need to do like we have done in the previous case of MDG's and just continue and try and do more Since we have learned lessons along the way and know what is hard to achieve or what is difficult Even impossible and what is also possible and the mistakes that can be corrected Well, clearly you're an incredible role model and hopefully people will emulate all the things that you've done in Rwanda and are Continuing to do so. I think you should be applauded for that. You can applaud or you don't Literally Melinda you and Bill have set some pretty significant goals yourself for what you're trying to do with the Gates Foundation Tell us what those are and and I know you're optimistic. Yeah, because we talked to early I guess last week about your annual letter, but tell us the goals that you're hoping to achieve and and when you really Think about it. If you're you seriously believe they're doable The ones that we talk about in our letter I think are doable So we we basically set out on our letter that we thought we there's this big bet that we're putting out Which is that the lives of the poor will change more in the next 15 years than they've ever changed in the history of the earth Because of some of the innovations you heard all of us talking about because of what people are talking about Investments in women and girls and education and in health so we talk about those in four areas I won't go into each of them deeply, but we talk about them in health that is again as I said cutting childhood mortality again By half in the next 15 years getting maternal mortality down our goals mirror what the MDGs have in health getting Sorry, that's in health in Farming is really Africa being able to speed itself some of the things I talked about earlier about seeds and planting and access to Market that Africa being able to feed itself in 15 years would be a huge accomplishment We talk about breakthroughs in digital banking and again getting you know Literally hundreds of millions of people signed up in digital banking that then puts them on the path to not only savings But loans and credit and insurance and in the last when we talk about are the digital tools in education that was mentioned earlier Absolutely that you know as the digital tools come along in the developed world and are You're gonna start to see if them opening up in the developing world And so a child who lives in a remote place can still have access to a phenomenal teacher teaching in Johannesburg or Nairobi or Brazil or the UK or the US and that is going to transform things So it's gonna take the digital pieces some time to get out there We're not saying that all students will have digital tools, but I think when you see the importance of the MDGs It's what allowed us to make the advances in child health It's what allowed us to set this blueprint for the world in maternal mortality Why do we have gender parity now at primary school education for girls and boys around the the world? Because of the MDGs we have more work to do on secondary education and other things But that blueprint for the world shows each of us in our areas where we should all focus and grow and work Whether it's private sector philanthropy government rich world developing world etc. Well given the state of the world I have to say it's incredibly heartening gratifying and Inspiring to hear so much optimism coming from people who have walked the walk already and who are pledging to continue to do such Great work in this area. Thank you all so much for participating Thank you all for being here and thank you all for watching. I'm Katie correct