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Introduction
Drawing on the global reach and reputation of the International Herald Tribune and the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the world’s biggest news and information provider, Trust Women seeks to empower women to know and defend their rights.
It aims to drive innovation and partnerships by connecting legal expertise with the financial, technological and educational resources that enable women to exercise their rights.
With this unique legal framework, Trust Women reaches across the profit and non-profit division, engaging both women and men, with resources from the legal, financial, government, corporate, and non-profit sectors, who believe women are an equal part of the solution to the world’s most pressing problems.
Trust Women is not your typical conference. It’s for those who demand action, not just talk.
Conference themes
Every day, more than 25,000 girls under the age of 18 are married worldwide, rights groups estimate. The practice affects a third of girls -- and some boys -- in developing countries, according to UNICEF, which describes child marriage as "perhaps the most prevalent form of sexual abuse and exploitation of girls".
Trust Women will convene a high level group of authorities from the public and private sectors to discuss key challenges and solutions to helping girls access their rights.
Click here for more information on child marriage.
From lack of access to business loans to the dearth of women-owned firms in supply chains, the exclusion of women from financial resources is costly to national and regional economies. In Asia-Pacific, for example, it is estimated that limits on female participation in the workforce cost the region $89 billion each year. Barriers to inclusion for women often have a basis in family and labor laws that restrict women's entry to certain industries, or their ability to enter into legal transactions or even open bank accounts without a husband's permission.
Trust women will convene a high level group of authorities from the public and private sectors to discuss key challenges and solutions to women's inclusion in the global financial market.
Female genital cutting is found in some communities in and from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The UNFPA estimates that between 100 to 140 million girls and women have undergone some form of genital mutilation/cutting, and at least 3 million girls are at risk of undergoing the practice every year. FGC has both immediate and long term consequences to a female's physical and emotional health.
Trust Women will convene a high level group of authorities from the public and private sectors to discuss key challenges and solutions to ending the practice worldwide.
Click here for more information on FGC.
The ILO estimates place the number of domestic workers at a minimum of 53 million, but experts say they could be as many as 100 million across the world. For some of these workers, particularly migrants, the conditions and circumstances of their work amount to forced labour.
Trust Women will convene a high level group of authorities from the public and private sectors to discuss key challenges and solutions to the slave trade in domestic labour.
The International Labour Organisation and the United Nations have estimated there are 12.45 million persons in situations of forced labour, of which 2.5 million are said to be trafficked. Other estimates place these numbers much higher, and while there is no definitive estimate, one thing is certain: the trafficking business is thriving.
Trust Women will convene a high level group of authorities from the public and private sectors to discuss key challenges and solutions to putting the business of trafficking out of business.
Click here for more information on trafficking.
In the wake of the Arab Spring, new constitutions are being written in a number of countries but the inclusion of women's rights often remain very much in question. Moreover, many current constitutions, even in highly developed countries, fall short when it comes to guaranteeing full equal rights for women.
Trust Women will convene a high level group of authorities from the public and private sectors to discuss key challenges and solutions to enshrining women's rights in national constitutions.
