Mural Davos: Gender Equality? Reverse Reality created by Cornelia Vinzens and Fernando Morales-de la Cruz for ItiMa, The Itinerant Museum of Art
October 11 was the International Day of the Girl, sadly more than a billion girls and young women had nothing to celebrate. They have not been invited to share the wealth of opportunities that all human beings deserve. They are the victims of our indifference. On the other side of this appalling reality, there are those admirable women on top of the world that I dare to call, with great respect, the SUPER GIRLS of Davos. They have not only succeeded in a men's world. They could actually change the WEF from a forum of talks to one that does actually IMPROVE THE STATE OF THE WORLD with concrete deeds! Even if this women are the minority at the 83% male dominated World Economic Forum.
The SUPER GIRLS of Davos include: Angela Merkel, Christine Lagarde of the IMF, Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, Malala, Helen Clark of the UNDP, Ana Patricia Botin of Santander, Melinda Gates, Arianna Huffington, Indra Nooyi of Pepsi, Meg Whitman of HP, Mary Barra of GM, Alison Smale of the NYT, Gillian Tett of the FT, Anne Richards of Aberdeen Asset Mgmt., Winnie Byanyima of Oxfam, Katharine Viner of The Guardian, Yanet Yellen of the Federal Reserve, Michelle Obama, Virginia Rometty of IBM, Marissa Mayer of Yahoo, Irene Rosenfeld of Mondelez, Anne Venneman of Nestle, Abigail Johnson of Fidelity Investments, Ellen Kullman of Dupont, Ruth Porat of Google, Adena Friedman of NASDAQ, Marillyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin, Drew Gilpin-Faust of Harvard, Amy Hood of MICROSOFT, Angela Ahrendts of Apple, Margaret Chan of the WHO, Park Geun-hye of South Korea, Federica Mogherini of the EU, Anna Wintour from Vogue, Maria Bartiromo of Fox News, Nina Dos Santos and Christiane Amanpour of CNN, Emma Watson, Angelina Jolie, Moira Forbes, Francine Lacqua of Bloomberg; Julia Chatterley, Louisa Bojesen and Becky Quick of CNBC; Rosalind Brewer of Walmart, Beth Brooke of EY and Helle Thorning-Schmidt from Denmark, to name a few of those power women invited to the WEF. There are many other SUPER GIRLS most of whom are not invited to DAVOS.
As I published recently less than one cent per cup of coffee and tea drunk in the United States, Canada, Europe and the rest of G7 nations helps achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Which means that less than one cent per cup of coffee and tea drunk by the leaders who claim to meet in Davos to "Improve the State of the World" actually does make a difference. The same is true of the hot beverages consumed by the hundreds of journalists who go the the Swiss ski resort every January and should have published this story before me. It is unacceptable because these products come from rural areas that receive insignificant benefits from what they produce.
Therefore, I dare to ask all SUPER GIRLS OF DAVOS and all "good boys" at the WEF that they commit to investing on the girls and the SDGs 10CentsPerCup of each cofffee, tea and chocolate they and their families, their employees or subordinates and that their companies, institutions or governments consume or sell.
We can not claim to be committed to IMPROVING THE STATE OF THE WORLD if we do not believe and practice REAL Shared Value. See how Paul Bulcke, CEO of Nestle, refuses to answer my question in Davos 2015: How many cents of each Nespresso capsule are Shared Value for the coffee farmers?: See minute 34:20 video WEF
The SUPER GIRLS of Davos, with the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, could supervise that the 10CentsPerCup funds, which add up to billions of dollars per year, are invested to CHANGE THE WORLD in the communities where the products were produced, reducing poverty dramatically and avoiding the loss of another generation of girls. Helping to produce more SUPER GIRLS like Malala.
Today less than one out of twenty girls graduates from secondary school in too many of the coffee, tea and cocoa growing regions that produce what is enjoyed at the WEF. It is time to hold those men in Davos accountable for sharing less than US$0.01 per cup with the poor producers, helping to destroy the lives of hundreds of millions of girls due to their indifference.
It is time for real shared value for all nations not for false words or celebrations in the name of the more than a billion girls and young women that have not been invited to share the most basic opportunities.
I am certain the 'SUPER GIRLS' of Davos (all are inspiring women) know how to make this watershed change happen, a lot better than me. It is only 10CentsPerCup. Even Klaus Schwab and the WEF Foundation would be willing to share that much if challenged. It is only about investing CENTS FOR CHANGE!