The international Conference Equal Pay Day, held in Prague on 11-12 April 2024, brought together around 800 participants, 40 speakers, 80 mentors and 2000 mentees from 16 countries.
By sharing good practices and experiences, the conference offered the opportunity to debate new trends in women's entrepreneurship and equal opportunities with high top corporate executives, HR managers, major experts as well as personalities from the public sphere and diplomacy.
Organised by the Business and Professional Women-BPW Czech Republic and regarded this year as “CEI Flagship Event”, the EPD conference included a plenary session and several mentoring tables in line with the idea of promoting "women role models" and contribute to professional development and personal growth, but also favoring networking opportunities and partnerships.
CEI Deputy Secretary General, Nina Kodelja, intervened in the panel with ambassadors from various countries debating different approaches on gender equality. As inspiring and encouraging examples, she mentioned some activities implemented in the CEI region by leading professional women and highlighted that promoting women empowerment is one of the priorities of the CEI Plan of Action 2024-2026.
“We support raising awareness activities on the need for advancing gender equality and meaningful participation in all levels of society” she added “and we particularly aim at advancing the opportunities for women’s access to education, employment, political participation in view of reducing gender-based social and economic inequalities and thus contribute to regional sustainable development ” she stressed.
Thanks to the CEI's support, the Equal Pay Day going International! project was further developed within this year’s conference with the participation of a group of professional women coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Italy, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine. They contributed to the debate and the mentoring tables, but also elaborated a “Call to action: Integrating Ukrainian women into the workforce and society “ to take steps to integrate Ukrainian women and young people into the workforce and contribute to their financial independence. By raising awareness and advocating for solutions, the project partners wish to pave the way for a more inclusive future for Ukrainian refugees.
For more info: https://www.equalpayday.cz/en/home/ ; fabro@cei.int
