Embracing Equality & Diversity for Gender & Social Justice:
G100 EU Meetings (Netherlands), 6-8 Nov 2021
The first part of the G100-EU meetings took place in the Netherlands – starting in Rotterdam, a hub of community and creativity, and concluding in The Hague, the city of Peace & Justice.
Across our meetings, we saw a strong focus of policy makers on sustainable development, innovation and inclusion.
The issues of racism and discrimination were discussed and also how these could be addressed by empathetic leadership across genders and generations. It was heartening to see the commitment toward social justice as a new independent Commission has been set up for the same.
Meetings with women leaders especially gave us the insight that domestic abuse and patriarchal mindsets with stereotypes on gender roles were as much a problem in the West as they were in other parts of the world, even when women are at the top of their careers.
We urged upon all the urgent need for equal involvement of women in addressing all SDGs toward accelerating their delivery and also making the development processes more inclusive and mindful of women, children, elders, underserved, and the marginalised communities. We also emphasises on the need for gathering gender segregated data to inform specific policy interventions – addressing small gaps can make a big difference.
In our meetings at the Dutch Parliament and with Dutch Royalty, ideas were generated on having continuing roundtables on gender equality by including corporate leaders, government authorities and women’s organisations in order to bridge the gap between vision, law, mindsets, policies & practices.
Everyone we met extended their utmost attention to our endeavours and offered support of their esteemed offices as well in taking our agenda forward for a gender equal world in this decade – delivering SDG 5 and thereby all SDGs by 2030 by embracing gender equal participation and leadership across all strata of society with equity, equality and inclusion.
Convenor & Navigator: We are most grateful to Karen Duys, G100 Global Chair – Education, for her great contribution to facilitating the meetings and building a robust agenda. Having helped earlier in hosting our Women Economic Forum (WEF) editions in the Netherlands from 2017-19, she continues to represent our cause to eminent leaders, influencers and policymakers in the Netherlands.
Testimonials
“One always feels everything is possible in The Netherlands ! And this experience for us is largely due to the great leadership of our Soul Sister Karen Duys over the years; by virtue of which we have a large network and presence in the region. We have thus continued to connect with policymakers in the Netherlands and they have always been keen to explore ways of working together. We count on our solid engagement with The Netherlands and its great innovation ecosystem to strengthen our agenda of gender equality in this decade.” – Dr. Harbeen Arora
“For the last 25 years I have been focused on making gender equality a reality. It is frustrating to see that while we had moved forward, but through Covid taken several steps backwards. So, it was heart-warming to hear leaders, responsible for policy making in The Netherlands, committed to promoting the rights of women in their fields. It was also phenomenal to be at the meet and greet and listen to the stories and achievements of amazing women who were also working on gender equality in The Netherlands, and amazing to discover that many of them were not originally from the country. The highlight however, has to be sitting next to Prince Carlos who never stopped advocating for the education of girls. Such a powerful statement that underpins making gender equality a reality.” – Madi Sharma
Participating Delegates
1. Dr. Harbeen Arora
Founder & President
2. Suman Gahlawat
Secretary General
3. Madi Sharma
Global Chair – Communication & Advocacy
4. Marguerite Soeteman-Reijnen
Global Chair – Corporate Governance
5. Karen Duys
Global Chair – Education
6. Catarina Fonseca
Global Chair – Water, Sanitation & Hygiene
Program
Saturday, 6 Nov
3-6pm: Meet & Greet with women leaders and networks.
Venue: Rooftop restaurant. Fontein, Hofplein 19, 3032 AC, Rotterdam.
Sunday, 7 Nov
11.00 am– 12.00 noon Catarina Fonseca, G100 Global Chair – Water, Sanitation & Hygiene
12.30 – 1.30 pm Dawlatram Ramlal, Former Alderman for Health & Welfare & MP
2-3 pm Alderman Arno Bonte (SDG’s, sustainability) and on the Executive Board of the Mayor & Aldermen
8pm Radio Interview with Radio Amor FM, addressing especially the Suriname community in The Netherlands and Suriname
Venue: Rotterdam Marriott Hotel, Weena 686
Monday, 8 Nov
10.00– 10.45 am Genevieve Lieuw,
Commissioner at The Netherlands Institute for Human Rights
10.45 – 11.25am Simone Filippini, President Leadership 4SDGs, President United Nations, Association for the Netherlands.
11:30am–12:30noon Petra Stienen, member of the Dutch Senate, member of the European Council for Foreign Affairs and former Diplomat.
Venue: Babylon Hotel, The Hague
13.00 – 14.30 Meeting at the Dutch Parliament
with Mustafa Amhaouch, Member of the House of Representatives
15.00 – 15.45 Rabin Baldewsingh, First National Coordinator against Discrimination & Racism
Venue:
4:15pm – 5pm HRH Prince Carlos de Bourbon de Parme, Member of the Dutch Royal Family, Netherlands. G100 Denim Partner – Corporate Governance for Marguerite Soeteman-Reijnen, Chairman of the Executive Board of Aon Holdings, Netherlands, G100 Global Chair – Corporate Governance
Venue: Babylon hotel, The Hague.
19.00 – 19.30 Mayor of the city of The Hague Mr. Jan Van Zanen
Venue: City Hall, The Hague.