Today, Professor Peter Tufano, Dean of Saïd Business School, Oxford and Professor Andrew Hamilton, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, were among the first signatories to a petition to world leaders to make financial inclusion for women a global imperative and to include it in the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals.
OXFORD, May 29, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - The petition was launched at Power Shift: The Oxford Forum on Women in the World Economy, at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. The launch was live-streamed on the Knowledge Gateway for Women's Economic Empowerment, and the petition was signed by the conference participants – a range of leading academics, investors, financial institutions, advisers and entrepreneurs. The petition wording says:
We, the undersigned, call on the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, in the articulation of the Post-2015 Development Framework, to emphasise women's economic empowerment, particularly with regard to increasing women's access to financial services, improving their financial capability, and increasing their access to skilled jobs including leadership positions in the financial sector.
The e-petition is now open for digital signatures at https://bitly.com/WomensFinancialInclusion until 6 June 2014. The full petition will be delivered in person to the UN in New York on 9 June 2014.
Professor Peter Tufano said: 'Financial inclusion is an essential prerequisite in order for women to assume a fuller role in society and to fulfil their economic potential, contributing to the prosperity of their families, communities and wider society. Research indicates that women have a key role to play in stimulating economic growth at all levels, so it makes sense to find ways to increase women's access to economic activity and services, and to enhance their financial capabilities. This petition focuses attention upon these key issues and calls upon the business community and policy makers to direct efforts to addressing them.'
Professor Linda Scott, convenor of Power Shift, said: 'Thousands of women throughout the world have the ambition and potential to make an increased economic contribution, whether through starting their own businesses, getting a job, or simply managing the family's finances. But so many of them are unable to do so because of a raft of legal and cultural barriers that prevent them even opening a basic bank account. For women to be free to engage with the world of finance – to open bank and savings accounts, to own land and other assets, to borrow money and have access to capital – is a vital first step on the road to economic and social equality.'
For further information or to speak with Linda Scott please contact the press office:
Clare Fisher, Head of Public Relations, Saïd Business School
Mobile: +44 (0)7912 771090; Tel: +44 (0) 1865 288968
Email: clare(dot)fisher(at)sbs(dot)ox(dot)ac(dot)uk
Josie Powell, Press Officer
Mobile +44 (0)7711 387215; Tel: +44 (0) 1865 288403
Email: josie(dot)powell(at)sbs(dot)ox(dot)ac(dot)uk or pressoffice(at)sbs(dot)ox(dot)ac(dot)uk
Notes to editors
1 About Power Shift
http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/community/our-people/women/power-shift/power-shift-2014-women-and-finance
2 About the Petition
The petition reads as follows:
We, the undersigned, call on the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, in the articulation of the Post-2015 Development Framework, to emphasise women's economic empowerment, particularly with regard to increasing women's access to financial services, improving their financial capability, and increasing their access to skilled jobs including leadership positions in the financial sector. https://bitly.com/WomensFinancialInclusion
3 About Women at Saїd Business School
http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/community/our-people/women
4 About Saїd Business School
Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford blends the best of new and old. We are a vibrant and innovative business school, but yet deeply embedded in an 800 year old world-class university. We create programmes and ideas that have global impact. We educate people for successful business careers, and as a community seek to tackle world-scale problems. We deliver cutting-edge programmes and ground-breaking research that transform individuals, organisations, business practice, and society. We seek to be a world-class business school community, embedded in a world-class University, tackling world-scale problems.
In the Financial Times European Business School ranking (Dec 2013) Saïd is ranked 12th. It is ranked 14th worldwide in the FT's combined ranking of Executive Education programmes (May 2014) and 23rd in the world in the FT ranking of MBA programmes (Jan 2014). The MBA is ranked 5th in Businessweek's full time MBA ranking outside the USA (Nov 2012) and is ranked 5th among the top non-US Business Schools by Forbes magazine (Sep 2013). The Executive MBA is ranked 23rd worldwide in the FT's ranking of EMBAs (Oct 2013). The Oxford MSc in Financial Economics is ranked 6th in the world in the FT ranking of Masters in Finance programmes (Jun 2013). In the UK university league tables it is ranked first of all UK universities for undergraduate business and management in The Guardian (Jun 2013) and has ranked first in nine of the last ten years in The Times (Sept 2013). For more information, see http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/
ENDS
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