Mary Kay Cosmetics
September 1, 2020
Mary Kay Inc. and The Mary Kay Foundation have joined CARE USA and the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women in a partnership aimed at protecting women and girls during the COVID-19 crisis.
The company said more than one in three women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, a figure it tied to the UN Trust Fund annual report for 2019. It said those risks rise in conflict, disasters, and other crises. UN Women, which manages the trust fund for the UN system, has warned that violence against women increased during the pandemic and that the effects could last as countries rebuild.
Melinda Foster Sellers, chief people officer of Mary Kay Inc., said the company has a decades-long commitment to ending violence against women and girls and that the new partners have records in on-the-ground social impact, gender data, and advocacy. Through four corporate foundations and the new global partnerships, Mary Kay said it is reaffirming work on Sustainable Development Goal 5, which calls for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.
Under the UN Trust Fund partnership, Mary Kay will help fund projects to protect women and girls in 70 countries and territories. Aldijana Sisic, chief of the UN Trust Fund, called violence against women the most widespread human rights violation and said lockdowns, strained health systems, and strained law enforcement have left survivors in a dangerous gap. She said womens organizations are acting as first responders and thanked Mary Kay for contributing to that work.
Mary Kay will also support CARE programs against gender-based violence in 100 countries and territories. Michelle Nunn, president and chief executive of CARE, said the COVID-19 crisis alone may cause 31 million additional gender-based violence cases over six months of virus-related lockdowns, and that investing in local womens grassroots movements is one of the most effective ways to prevent those abuses.