Coming as it did in the midst of an economic and health crisis, the 2009 Global Summit of Women nonetheless continued in gathering women together from diverse nations – from Australia to Bulgaria to the Congo to South Africa to all the Latin American countries – to connect, exchange best practices and to be inspired and motivated by fellow experts from around the world. “This Summit is testimony to women’s desire to reach across to each other globally,” stated Summit President Irene Natividad at the Opening Ceremony. The current economic meltdown was the backdrop for the Summit’s exploration of new paradigms of business and political leadership that women can bring in the coming decades.

          Among foreign delegations, China took the lead with a 70-member delegation of entrepreneurs led by the Vice Mayor of Beijing. The group met with their Chilean counterparts to look into future alliances. Vietnam’s Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan came with a 50-member delegation, who met with the President of the Chilean association of businesses (SOFOFA) Bruno Philippi. Mr. Philippi also spoke at the special session on “Doing Business with Chile” with Chile’s Undersecretary of the Economy Maria Olivia Recart. Spain’s 30-member delegation of women executives (including 4 CEOs) was led by Margarita de Cos of World Wildlife Fund Spain.

          Chile’s Minister for Women (SERNAM) Laura Albornoz shared many of the winning initiatives benefiting women which she undertook with the strong leadership and support of the President Michelle Bachelet.  At the Opening Ceremony, both announced a law now before Congress that would erase the pay gap in Chile.

LEADERSHIP AWARDS

 The Summit recognized the leadership of the following as part of its program:

• The 2009 Global Women’s Leadership Award was given to President Michelle Bachelet for her efforts to initiate laws that will leave a legacy of equity for the women of Chile long after her tenure.

• The Chilean Women’s Leadership Award was given to Judge Cecilia Medina, who chairs the International Court of Human Rights and who is lifelong advocate for women’s rights.

• Three Ministerial Best Practices Awards in Public/Private Sector Partnerships advancing women or girls were granted to the following ministers, each of whose projects were given US$5,000 in recognition of their leadership:

-- Peru’s Minister of Justice Rosario Fernandez for a women prisoners employment program involving laundry services.

-- Chile’s Minister of Agriculture Marigen Hornkohl for enterprise development of alpaca products among indigenous women;

-- Singapore’s Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports Yu-Foo Yee Shoon for their “Many Helping Hands” initiative which allowed Singaporean women to balance work and family.

YOUTH FOCUS

           The Summit’s growing commitment to involve youth in its programming also resulted in a US$5,000.00 grant to the U.N. Foundation’s Girls Fund, focused on highly vulnerable adolescent girls in developing economies. Scholarships to attend the Summit were also granted to 20 women business students from Chilean universities, and the Youth Forum, featuring young women executives, was opened up to 60 Chilean male and female business students. A highlight of the Summit’s Opening was the introduction of six South African high school students, who are entrepreneurs in their own right, who were sent by South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

          The Summit’s main activity, however -- from the Women’s Expo (WEXPO), which featured products from Chile to Egypt to Nigeria to India among others to the Networking Breakfasts, where participants met and made contacts, to the actual sessions where business and enterprise-building skills were honed – was sharing very practical skills, strategies and programs. An executive reports that the contacts she made may lead to future opportunities in another field. A Chilean entrepreneur focused on pastry production made contact with an organization that will help her expand into dietetic products. Another Chilean, Constanza Diaz of Hecho Para Ti (Made for You), which makes products from recycled materials, was invited by a Namibian business leader to her country to teach her people how to do the same. There are many more individual outcomes, a sampling of which will be posted on the Summit’s website.

          The program highlights featured the views of top women such those in the CEO Forum – Laura Gonzalez of Merck Spain, Carmen Mur of Manpower Spain, Sandra Yachelini of Microsoft Argentina & Uruguay, and Mardia van der Walt-Korsten of T-Systems South Africa – who spoke about how they were dealing with the economic crisis, as well as their personal strategies for making time for family and friends. Megatrends in the economy going forward, especially as it impacts on women, were shared by Wal-Mart Senior Vice President Esther Silver-Parker, as well as Felipe Aldunate of America Economia, as the crisis impacts on the Latin American region. The World Bank’s Myra Buvinic gave a thorough look at where women stood economically within that region as well.

           The responsibility of companies to serve their clients, customers and communities was ably dealt with by Julio Malo, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank of Peru, Maud Pagel, SVP of Deutsche Telekom, Daniela Fiori, VP of Wal-Mart Brazil and Liz Alicea-Velez, EVP of Western Union. “In every part of the Summit program, we try to showcase the three ‘legs’ of change in advancing women’s economic opportunities – business, government and civil society – which also reflects the composition of Summit participants,” states Summit President Irene Natividad.