Round Table Women in Industry: What Needs to Change for Equal Opportunities

Ensuring women’s full participation and leadership in industry is essential to building more inclusive, innovative, and resilient economies. Yet, across regions and sectors, women continue to face structural barriers that limit their access to – and advancement within – industrial and green jobs. 

This Round Table will explore the key challenges women face in entering, remaining in, and progressing in industry, and will highlight practical, evidence-based solutions that have demonstrated impact in diverse contexts. Drawing on UNIDO’s (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) global experience, examples will illustrate how inclusive skills systems, gender-responsive value chains, and safer and more equitable workplaces can strengthen both women’s economic empowerment and industrial competitiveness. 

The discussion will also reflect on the first observance of the International Day of Women in Industry (“IWDI” on 21 April), established to raise awareness, highlight progress, and mobilize collective action to advance gender equality across industrial sectors worldwide.

Carolina Gonzalez is the senior gender coordinator at UNIDO. She contributes to the implementation of the Secretariat’s policy on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, including facilitating knowledge development and the integration of gender considerations into institutional strategies, policies and programmatic work.

Helin Herlbauer is a human rights lawyer currently serving as a gender expert at UNIDO. She contributes to the integration of gender equality into inclusive and sustainable industrial development, including the incorporation of gender considerations into policies, programmes, and partnerships. She brings experience across United Nations agencies in advancing gender and human rights agendas.