UN Women Thailand launches WE RISE Together programme and announces winners for Women’s Empowerment Principles awards

Bangkok, Thailand — The six winners have been announced in the 2022 edition of the Thailand Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Awards, which recognizes outstanding initiatives and practices that promote gender inclusivity in the business sector. 

The winning companies and individuals in their respective categories are as follows:

• Leadership commitment: Major General Patchara Rattakul, Chief Executive Officer, HaadThip Public Co., Ltd.
• Gender-inclusive workplace: Siam Makro Public Co., Ltd.
• Gender-responsive marketplace: Unilever Thai Trading Ltd.
• Community engagement and partnerships: The Siam Cement Public Co., Ltd.
• Transparency and reporting: Electricity Generating Public Co., Ltd.
• Champion for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): Connecting Founders Co., Ltd.

The winners of the 2022 awards were announced today in Bangkok. The final selection was made by a panel of seven high-calibre judges assembled from across disciplines such as women entrepreneurs, government, social development, business and the academia. The selected winners were decided by the external panel, independent of UN Women. The laureates now go on to contest the Regional Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards set to be held on 23 November.

The WEPs Awards were initiated through the EU-funded WeEmpowerAsia programme. While the programme itself came to a close earlier this year, Sara Rezoagli, Chargée d’Affaires, a.i., the Delegation of the European Union to Thailand, underlined the value and importance of these awards, especially considering the urgent need to recognize and advance a gender inclusive business culture as a way to strengthen sustainable economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

“We have witnessed an encouraging rise in companies to promote gender equality within and beyond their businesses. We now have over a hundred WEPs signatories in Thailand and could not have achieved this milestone without the support and action of our local partners. Both, the government, and business organizations, promoted the principles and made the WEPs movement grow and the Awards possible over the years,” said Sarah Knibbs, Regional Director, a.i. of UN Women in Asia and the Pacific.

The WEPs consist of seven guiding principles to assist businesses in promoting gender equality in leadership, the workplace, the marketplace and the community.

As a growing number of Thai companies are taking leaps toward gender-inclusive businesses, the winners were among approximately 60 applicants, including representatives of the tech and investment sectors, from social-impact businesses to small and medium-sized enterprises.

This year, UN Women held the awards with support from the Australian Government, the International Federation of Business and Professional Women, the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organization, the Global Compact Network Thailand, the Thai Federation SME Association, and the Thai E-Commerce Association.

To recognise the support of the Thai government in recent years, WEPs Exemplary Ally Recognition tokens were offered to Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol, Secretary-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Wimonkan Kosumas, Deputy Director-General of the Office of SME Promotion, for their strong leadership and continued commitment to the WEPs.

The event took place in the context of the WE RISE Together programme, a partnership between UN Women and Australia to strengthen supplier diversity and create equal market opportunities for women in Thailand. Dr. Angela Macdonald PSM, Australian Ambassador to Thailand launched WE RISE Together at the event