A public celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women,  ‘Planet 5050 – Step it up for Gender Equality’ was hosted at the  Manhattan Center on March 10, 2015.   It was a star studded Public Event  providing the opportunity
to rally public giving, private sector pledging as well as governments and civil society re-commitment. It was also issue a Call to Action to accelerate progress and achieve gender equality, women’s empowerment and rights by 2030.   During this event ‘UBER’ announced a partnership with UN Women promising 1 million jobs for women.  Now you may be asking what is UBER?  UBER is an App that provides ‘safe, reliable, and affordable ride within minutes. Use Uber on your phone to connect to a driver. Uber is international and there are concerns that they are under-cutting the regular taxi service and are unregulated.  Here is the link to the announcement. Click here

A statement made by the Unions present at CSW 59 challenged this agreement. “The global trade unions and civil society supporters of labour rights present at UNCSW59 are deeply concerned by the partnership announced between UN Women and Uber, an American International company that develops, markets and operates a mobile app-based transportation network. This concern is due to the fact that it is far from certain that Uber’s promise to create 1 million jobs will actually promote gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.

Women’s economic empowerment is dependent on women’s access to decent work – this means fair wages, job security, safety at work, social protection for families, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives, and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men.” Read the statement

I applaud the Executive Director of UN Women for having withdrawn from this partnership.  Read more Click here!  A short video clip is inserted in the article.  I think this decision displays ethical and moral leadership.