IBSA has always been committed to gender equality and social inclusion, and the partnership with the Business & Professional Women (BPW) Club Ticino perfectly embodies these values.
BPW Club Ticino regularly organises events, initiatives and activities aimed at promoting women's empowerment in the Canton of Ticino (Switzerland). One of the latest projects taking place in September 2021 was the itinerant photographic exhibition BPW Experience21.
Mendrisio, Lugano, Locarno and Bellinzona were the cities that hosted the exhibition, an open-air path featuring several panels illustrating the association’s milestones. Through historical and current photos concerning events, projects and campaigns of the last decades, the event was aimed at celebrating the women who live and work in the Ticino area as well as the history of BPW.
BPW Club Ticino currently counts over 70 members coming from different age groups, countries and professional backgrounds such as entrepreneurs, business owners and executives. BPW Ticino has been active since 1983 and through BPW Switzerland is part of BPW International, the largest network of women in the world (30,000 members) founded in Geneva in 1930 and now present in Switzerland with 40 Clubs. BPW International has also been granted consultative status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and observer status in various organizations and bodies of the UN.
IBSA's partnership with the BPW Club Ticino began in 2020 as part of our efforts to share several of the "Sustainable Development Goals" of the UN 2030 Agenda, in particular the goal of Gender Equality. IBSA has always been committed to equal treatment and career opportunities – for instance, 43% of our managers or department heads are women – and found in BPW Club Ticino's activities and events a natural extension of our philosophy.
In addition to gender equality not limited to the professional sphere, the activities BPW promoted through its local, national and international network include influential partnerships in economy, society and politics, mentoring programmes and continuing education plans, as well as collaboration with European and international institutions, like the UN and the European Council.
