The Vicenza jewellery fair Vicenzaoro has heard calls to accelerate achievement of gender equality in the jewellery industry by developing and promoting partnerships and furthering government and corporate policy initiatives.
“We need partnerships that are transformational,” Iris Van der Veken, Executive Director of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC), told a discussion panel on September 12 about challenges facing women in the global jewellery industry.
“We need to accelerate action. It’s a shared responsibility. It will be partnerships that deliver on this goal.”
Van der Veken was speaking ahead of the release by RJC at Vicenzaoro of a report on gender equality, one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which aim to build on achievements to make sure that there is an end to discrimination against women and girls everywhere.
Vicenzaoro is the first leading international jewellery fair to take place in-person in Europe in 2021.
The panel, moderated by respected jewellery business consultant Donatella Zappieri, heard comments from women jewellery designers about the challenges they have faced establishing themselves in a male-dominated industry.
One of the panellists, Linda Kozloff-Turner, presented her new book “100 Women of Jewelry”, profiling 100 women who have achieved success in the global jewellery industry.
She said that benchmarks to measure progress in achieving gender equality included improved labour conditions for women so that they can earn a fair livelihood in safe working environments that are devoid of discrimination.
