International Women’s Day: Mary Kay and YSL fight for female prosperity
08 Mar 2024 --- Mary Kay releases its “Advancing Women’s Entrepreneurship: from Commitment to Action” report for International Women’s Day. It highlights the beauty brand’s accomplishments and commitments to propelling female-run businesses and details the company’s moves since founding its Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator (WEA) multi-stakeholder partnership four years ago.
Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) Beauty also announces a three-year commitment to partner with Women’s Shelters Canada to mark the Canadian launch of its Abuse Is Not Love program. The pair will raise awareness about intimate partner violence (IPV).
Meanwhile, the European Commission (EC) calls for more inclusion of women in politics and commemorates European suffragettes.
According to The World Bank, in the US, women-owned businesses are growing at more than double the rate of all other firms, contributing nearly US$3 trillion to the economy and responsible for 23 million jobs. Giving women entrepreneurs equal economic opportunities could add US$13 trillion to the global GDP by 2030.
Breaking down barriers
The Mary Kay report names a barrier to women’s entrepreneurship as companies founded solely by women garnered 2.1% of the total capital invested in venture-backed start-ups in the US in 2022. It writes that globally, women entrepreneurs face a US $1.7 trillion finance gap.
As a solution, the WEA says it provides them access to venture capital, loan opportunities and investor networks.
The WEA says it aims to “empower” five million women by 2030, reporting that over 600,000 women “have already benefited” from its intervention.
Mary Kay says WEA supports female entrepreneurs globally.Founding female entrepreneurs
Mary Kay founded WEA in 2019 in partnership with six United Nations agencies. Mary Kay provided the seed funding to support WEA in its incubation and early development phases.
The Special Report details WEA’s various programs and impact statistics, emphasizing its global reach and unique approach to addressing women entrepreneurs’ core challenges.
It also showcases Mary Kay’s approach to women’s empowerment through the WEA multi-stakeholder partnership, spanning access to education, capital, networks and markets, advocacy and policy.
“Through the WEA, we have created a robust platform that not only supports but celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit of women globally,” says Deborah Gibbins, chief operating officer at Mary Kay.
The WEA says it has reduced poverty rates in a Sustainable Development Goals pilot village project in rural China, capitalizing on women’s entrepreneurship and leadership development. It also organizes the Women’s Entrepreneurship Regional Exposition and in-country satellite events in Europe and Central Asia, which bring together women entrepreneurs, investors and business partners.
It also points to success in implementing training and mentoring programs conducted by “high-level partners” worldwide, such as the online Women’s Entrepreneurship Certificate Programme.
The WEA Digital Innovation Challenge for Women Entrepreneurs received 250 applications from Women-led start-ups from 54 countries. The program also promotes women’s entrepreneurship research for policy recommendations for gender equality in enterprise development in the Latin America region.
YSL against abuse
YSL Beauty and the Women’s Shelters Canada’s initiative aims to “give a voice to survivors,” with an initial focus on youth communities as a critical demographic for IPV regarding awareness and future prevention. Priority actions for the year include financial support, internal training sessions and raising awareness through paid media campaigns.
Juleah Love, Global Head of Brand Corporate Engagement at YSL Beauty, says: “The Canadian launch of the Abuse is Not Love program will continue to extend our global reach and support our objective of training and supporting 2 million people worldwide on the signs of abuse by 2030.” 
The EC plans on banning microplastics in cosmetics.
“If we can all learn to recognize and understand the warning signs earlier on, it will be easier to step in, stop abuse and create a positive long-term social impact.”
Women and cosmetics in politics
The EC and its high representative/vice-president maintain that “the percentage of women in politics is still far from being representative of our diverse societies.”
“The overall proportion of female members in single or lower houses of parliament currently stands on average at 33% in EU member states and 26.5% globally. We must continue to do more to inspire and promote the inclusion of women in politics.”
“2024 is a landmark year for elections throughout the world, with over 4 billion people being asked to cast their votes, including more than 400 million EU citizens who will vote in June in the European Parliament elections,” it continues.
“On this International Women’s Day, we recognize the courageous activism of European suffragettes who fought for the right to vote when it was the privilege of men, and to every woman in all their diversity who plays a part in shaping a fairer and more equal society.”
The EC is currently rolling out bans on microplastics in products such as cosmetics. These regulations will affect beauty businesses, which are often female-run. Therefore, having a gender-diverse parliament could provide a perspective that considers female interests more.
The EU previously said it would force cosmetic companies to pay 80% of extra micropollutant clean-up costs to protect the environment and bolster industry responsibility. Last month, the European Council and Parliament reached a provisional political agreement to revise the urban wastewater treatment directive.
By Sabine Waldeck
