Calvin Klein signs Women’s Empowerment Principles Charter on International Women's Day

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Mar 8, 2017

Calvin Klein joins PVH, Inc. in signing the Women’s Empowerment Charter of UN Women and UN Global Compact. The announcement comes on Wednesday, March 8, which is also International Women’s Day.

 
The joint initiative is comprised of seven areas where businesses can promote gender equality in the workplace, such as establishing high-level corporate leadership for gender equality, fighting against any form of discrimination, and ensuring education, training and professional development for women.
 
PVH signed the Women’s Empowerment Principles and The Global Compact of the United Nations in March 2016, and later expanded this engagement by signing the CEO Water Mandate joining companies Inditex, De Beers, Nike and H&M among others.

Calvin Klein is one of many brands to stand up for women’s rights and equality on International Women’s Day. Tory Burch launched an ‘Embrace Ambition’ PSA encouraging women to address the double standard that men can have ambition and women cannot.
 
Several designers and brands have used fashion to call for female empowerment and equality. Maria Grazia Chiuri used her debut ready-to-wear collection at Dior to challenge the traditional idea of femininity, and even included a t-shirt featuring the title of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s essay, “We Should All Be Feminists” in the collection (Chiuri is also the first-ever woman to serve as Creative Director of Dior). In addition, H&M on Wednesday encouraged its global suppliers to pay all workers digitally to avoid exploitation.
 
“I am honored to make the commitment to the Women’s Empowerment Principles on behalf of Calvin Klein, Inc. on International Women’s Day,” said Steve Shiffman, CEO of Calvin Klein, Inc. “Calvin Klein has long been a champion for gender equality, and our brand has led many cultural conversations surrounding this critical topic. It is important for us as a global leader to continue to fight for gender equality across the world, and lead true social change in everything we do.”