International Women's Day

March 8, 2021

March 8 marks a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. International Women’s Day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality and recognizing the work and value they contribute to the growth of different countries.

In many countries, gender inequality is one of the biggest obstacles to sustainable development, economic growth and poverty reduction. However, Switzerland is listed as one of the UN’sTop-10 government partners.

Switzerland’s contributions to UN Women

Switzerland is recognized as a strong champion of gender equality engaging with Women around issues of equal pay, women’s economic and political empowerment, and ending violence against women and girls.

In words of the UN, Switzerland has prioritized regular resources and has remained consistent, providing a strong financial support that allows UN Women to strengthen functions essential to support delivery of its tripartite mandate. In 2020, Switzerland was UN Women’s third-largest government contributor to regular resources with USD 16.5 million and the seventh-largest government contributor in total with USD 20.6 million. Between 2011 and 2020, the Swiss Government has contributed an aggregate amount of USD 190 million to UN Women.

Additional commitments and contributions

In addition to Switzerland’s commitment and contributions to the UN Women, several initiatives support gender equality and empower all women and girls. Some examples worth mentioning on a National and local level are:

The 5th Goal of the Agenda 2030 of Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Goal 5 advocates equal opportunities for men and women in economic life, the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls, the elimination of early and forced marriage, and equal participation at all levels.

The Female Founders  aims to significantly increase the number of female founders in Switzerland. Their map provides transparency in the sector and portrays great female role models in the startup ecosystem. By portraying these role models, they intend to inspire women to become entrepreneurs themselves.

Femtrepreneurs is an initiative of the University of Basel’s innovation office, in collaboration with four other organizations (Impact HubWeHub IndiaHBA and womenmatters). The initiative promotes female entrepreneurship and enables women to found their business. FEMtrepreneurs are female entrepreneurs and women holding leadership positions in organizations.

Thrive With Mentoring and Impact Hub Basel launched EmpowHER, a six-month program for early-stage female founders. EmpowHER supports early-stage impact-driven founders with the knowledge, skills, and personal development to drive societal change and promote sustainable female-founded ventures in the Basel region and beyond.

At Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area, we join this celebration recognizing today the great ecosystem of women entrepreneurs and holding leadership positions in our ecosystem.

 

Residents at our Novartis site

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“Today we celebrate women in science and business. We are very proud to work for a company where gender parity is a reality, with 50% of women overall and 80% of women in managerial positions!”

Corinne Solier, COO- Scailyte

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“I am grateful to my female colleagues for fostering collaboration, cultivating empathy, and stimulating creativity; basic traits in advancing AI based companies as ours”.

Dr. Juana Lucia Flores-Candia, VP Strategy & Business Development- Scailyte

 

Residents at our Allschwil site

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“We women often lose sight of our dreams for the dreams of others. We should never give up on what we want to achieve – is it for our family or our careers- and accept that the path to fulfil one’s dream will not always be straight forward.”

Dr. Katrin Rupalla, CEO – Ymmunobio AG

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“The glass is always half full. Celebrating this Women’s Day with gratitude for the many friends and colleagues around the world I’ve been able to work with and learn from!”

Margrit Schwarz, Founder & Managing Director – BlackWay Bioscience AG

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“Trust yourself, be yourself.”

Dr. Qin Zhang, Application Specialist NGS Automation – Hamilton Bonaduz AG

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“On this special international women day, quotes of normal days do not apply anymore. I truly believe that girls and women can have the rights and chances to realize their dreams only in a society, which provides us needed education and above all, most important the safety and love. It is the dream that we can hold on, which makes us feel alive.”

Dr. Anna Wang, Business Development Manager Switzerland – ACROBiosystems AG

 

Residents at our Jura site

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“TOSA swisstech est une startup créée en Décembre 2020 spécialisée dans le développement de composants en composites pour les piles à combustible et le stockage de l’énergie renouvelable. Notre accompagnement par le Switzerland Innovation Park nous donne une image de marque Suisse de l’innovation et nous facilite le développement de notre réseau. C’est un lieu d’échange et de partage de créativité.”

Sawsane Queloz, Fondatrice – TOSA swisstech