2024 marks the 14th anniversary of the Women’s Empowerment Principles, or WEPs, which are emblematic of a global corporate network of nearly 9,500 signatories with a common mission to achieve gender equality in business. The Asia-Pacific WEPs Community has more than 2,500 Signatories, growing rapidly from less than 600 in 2019. Developed by UN Women and UN Global Compact in 2010, the WEPs are seven guiding principles providing a roadmap for a more equal, inclusive and sustainable future.

Run as an annual initiative by UN Women from 2020-2022, the Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards has become the signature regional intervention to recognize private sector action for gender equality aligned to the WEPs. Over three annual cycles from 2020-2022, the Awards generated more than 1,500 applications from over 1,000 participating companies across the Asia-Pacific. More than 300 leaders, business associations, companies, and SMEs have been awarded for their efforts and actions across the key pillars of the WEPs: Leadership, Workplace, Marketplace, Community and Transparency & Reporting.

The WEPs Awards is organized under the new UN Women programme Gender Action Lab (GAL): Innovation and Impact for Gender Equality in Asia-Pacific, powered by the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), supported by the Government of Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.