In 2009 the GE Foundation initiated the Girls Education in Africa project to provide support to organisations that work to improve access and quality of primary education for girls. The program focuses on improving skills such as maths and languages, as well as educating students in life skills, hygiene and HIV/AIDS prevention. The Girls Education in Africa program aims to address the Millennium Development Goals relating to the achievement of universal primary education and the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women.

http://www.ge.com

International clothes and accessories retailer Gap, in partnership with the International Centre for Research on Women, has launched the P.A.C.E. (Personal Advancement, Career Enhancement) programme. This aims to empower and build the education, life and workplace skills of young female garment workers in the developing world, offer education in critical areas such as health care and legal rights, and provide leadership and job training to facilitate women moving into management positions. 

In order to assess the benefits of the programme, Gap commissioned a study in 2012 that aggregated data on female workers at five garment factories: three in India; one in Cambodia; and one in Vietnam. Women were asked to provide feedback on a range of areas related to their wellbeing and productivity at work, such as the quality and quantity of their output, and their personal control over finances and travel. The study found significant improvements in all areas, when compared to a pre-2006 baseline. 

Gap

In 2008, Goldman Sachs Group, a global investment banking firm, founded the 10,000 Women programme. 10,000 Women aims to provide educational opportunities in business and management to women, mostly from developing countries, through the creation of partnerships with women’s development organisations. Courses include marketing, accounting and strategic planning. The company has already set up partnerships to help women in Afghanistan, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Kenya, Liberia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa and Turkey.

An independent report of the programme, produced in 2014, found that by 18 months of graduating 69% of participants had increased their revenues, 58% had been able to create new jobs at their businesses, and that 90% of participants were involved in mentoring other women. 

http://www2.goldmansachs.com

Unilever, a consumer goods corporation, runs a partnership in rural areas of Sri Lanka which aims to empower women in their communities – raising their standards of living and those of their families. The Saubhagya project provides women with sustainable sources of income through selling Unilever brands in their own villages, while providing a new sales outlet for Unilever’s products. Unilever says that the project also aims to implement Principle 6 of the UN Global Compact, which is “the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation”.  According to Unilever, women’s lives have changed significantly since the project began, bringing them greater self-esteem, a sense of empowerment and an enhanced place in society.

Unilever

Newmont Mining Corporation, a multinational corporation primarily producing gold, has created a gender team as part of an effort to engage with local communities in relation to the Akyem mine north of Accra in Ghana. Following a study commissioned to look at gender within the scope of the project, the company identified a number of challenges which it is addressing through discussions with community members. These include alcohol consumption, teenage pregnancies, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS and prostitution.

http://newmontghana.com

Liz Claiborne Inc. has developed policies and procedures to make the workplace safe for employees who suffer from domestic violence. The company has created an Employee Assistance Program in the United States to assist employees who suffer from domestic violence. Internal policies and procedures that promote the safety of employees include providing secure work areas; escorts to and from transportation; guidance with legal processes; and a 24-hour helpline to provide counselling to employees.

http://www.loveisnotabuse.com

AstraZeneca, a multinational healthcare company, has created flexible work arrangements for employees at its Delaware office, enabling mothers to work from home. Around 90% of its field sales staff reportedly work from home, have flexi-time or compress their work schedules. In addition, AstraZeneca Delaware subsidises day care and provides small peer-mentoring groups to offer support, build leadership skills and discuss business solutions. In September 2014, the company was named among “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers”. 

AstraZeneca

CH2M HILL, a US-based global engineering and construction firm, has implemented an initiative to accelerate women’s advancement called ‘Constructing Pathways for Women Through Inclusion’. Since the initiative’s launch in 2003, the company has sought to counter the traditionally male-dominated nature of the industry through a variety of measures, including: regional women’s networks; mentoring opportunities; women’s leadership summits; informal mentoring and networking opportunities; and targeted recruiting of women into the firm. The company ensures that women are placed in important positions, are visible role models and are responsible for high-profile projects, linking their expertise to business success.

Catalyst

In 2012, South African mobile phone operator MTN established through its subsidiary MTN Afghanistan a kindergarten facility for its employees. This was in recognition of that fact that Afghan women often face significant cultural and practical challenges when seeking employment – including a lack of childcare facilities. The company also envisages that provision of the kindergarten facility (as well as professional carers) will support a “diversity problem” within MTN Afghanistan – and improve the ‘employee value proposition’ of their female workers. 

The company reported in 2013 that all MTN Afghanistan employees (both men and women) had welcomed the initiative and all eligible female employees had enrolled their children. It also noted that annual group culture auditing showed increased levels of satisfaction amongst female employees at MTN Afghanistan – rising from 67% in 2011 to 72% in 2012 – which the company attributed to the provision of the kindergarten facility.

MTN

In 2012, Walmart launched – in collaboration with participating local NGOs – a five-year Women in Factories programme – aimed at empowering 60,000 women working in factories that supply the US-based retail giant. The programme is focused on teaching “critical life skills related to communication, hygiene, reproductive health, occupational health and safety, identifying personal strengths and gender sensitivity”. Wal-Mart says that 150 factories in India, Bangladesh, China and Central America will be recipients of the programme.

The Women in Factories initiative will also deliver leadership training to up to 8,000 women to assist both their personal and career development. For example, recipients will undergo holistic training which is designed to empower women not only at work, but also in their homes and communities. In addition, participating suppliers and factory managers are being taught how to sustain and replicate the programme independently. 

Wal-Mart

In 2013, US-based global confectioner Mars announced that it had reached an agreement with Oxfam America for a ‘plan of action’ to empower women in cocoa farming communities. This includes a set of short-, medium- and long-term actions that “will help the industry evaluate and strengthen their current programs to ensure that women are able to both fully contribute to and benefit from development programs in cocoa”. Key elements include:

• Assessing the condition of women cocoa farmers in its existing Vision for Change development programme in Cote d’Ivoire
• Developing a plan of action based on the assessment – to ensure that Vision for Change addresses gender equality
• Fulfilling commitments as a signatory of the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles
• Developing a foundation for a sector-wide assessment on gender equality through the analysis of third-party data and the identification of knowledge gaps
• Establishing draft gender equality indicators aligned with Vision for Change – and that can be used across the sector
• Advocating and supporting a sector-level review of gender equality (through relevant sector bodies) – followed by a sector-level plan of action to address identified concerns
• Reporting transparently on the condition of women in cocoa production in the company’s top four cocoa-supplying countries – and establishing a plan of action to address concerns in these same countries.

Cocoa Sustainability

Coca-Cola’s 5by20 initiative aims to develop 5 million women entrepreneurs by 2020. The programme, first developed in 2010, focuses on enabling the economic empowerment of women across the company’s global value chain. By working with local NGOs, governments and businesses, Coca-Cola – the world’s largest beverage maker – works to break down social and economic barriers which hinder women’s success in business. The company provides women with business skills training, access to financial assets and services, and linkages to networks of peers and mentors. Female beneficiaries include: producers, suppliers, distributors, recyclers, retailers and artisans.= The programme has so far reached four “lead countries” – Brazil, India, the Philippines and South Africa – and is now being developed in China, Mexico, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Haiti and Egypt. In the years ahead, Coca-Cola says that it expects “to reach every region of the globe as the program grows exponentially.”

http://www.coca-colacompany.com

Tata Steel, an India-based multinational steel manufacturer, has created a ‘Women Empowerment Cell’, comprising members of management and junior staff, including unionised female employees. Their role is to monitor women’s issues within the company and organise needs-based training for female employees. Tata says that the programme targets “under-privileged” female employees for this training, with the aim to promote their empowerment in the workplace.

The company has also established a Complaint Redressal Committee, which deals with complaints of sexual harassment and provides mechanisms to address grievances. 

http://www.tatasteelindia.com

Newmont

Pax World Management, a US-based investment management company, actively promotes gender equality and women’s empowerment through its Global Women’s Equality Fund (GWEF). The GWEF is the only mutual fund in the US that specifically invests in companies which have taken progressive steps to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. When deciding on which companies to target for investment, Pax World assesses the diversity of their boards and management teams. It also analyses their policies and programmes that promote gender equality, as well as transparency and accountability around how the company is achieving its gender goals.

According to Pax World, as of 30 September 2013, 83% of holdings in the GWEF had two or more women on their boards of directors. Pax World also works to encourage companies to adopt the Women’s Empowerment Principles, a joint collaboration between the UN Global Compact and the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.

Women Empowerment Principles

In November 2013, Coca-Cola signed a sponsorship agreement with the government of Kenya to invest KES100 million (US$1,151,000) in promoting small businesses started by local women and youths. The project will support the government as it seeks to boost employment for women and young people across the country. To begin with, the successful female and youth entrepreneurs who apply to the scheme will be selling Coca-Cola beverages, before extending their wares to other basic commodities. Coca-Cola will provide the entrepreneurs with initial capital and sales equipment, such as ice boxes, to start their businesses. The beneficiaries of the scheme will also receive training and mentoring from Coca-Cola to support the sustainability of their businesses.

Standardmedia

Orange, a France-based telecommunications corporation, has developed a Women Intercultural Leadership Development (WILD) programme. The aim of the programme is to increase the percentage of women in senior management positions at the company – with a target of 35% to be achieved by 2015. The programme focuses on helping female employees to develop their skills across 32 countries of operation. Training is tailored to the specific context of the country in which the women are based. For instance, in countries with active female networks, Orange provides training to further develop women’s skills and potential to enable them to participate in senior level positions. In countries with a significant number of female engineers and technicians, training is focused on helping them reach the top management positions. 

Orange

In 2013, General Electric (GE) began working with Ashoka Changemakers – a global online mentoring community – to promote and advance economic opportunities for women in 18 countries across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Together, the organisations have developed an innovative competition called Women Powering Work: Innovations for Economic Equality in the MENA Region. General Electric, a US-based conglomerate, said that the ultimate aim of the competition was to increase the number of women in the region’s labour force, where women typically represent just one quarter of the workplace.

Winners of the competition (whether individual women or women’s organisations) receive US$25,000 to support their business innovations. Criteria for successful proposals included creativity, understanding of the systemic barriers in women’s economic advancement and the qualitative and quantitative measurement of social impact. Applicants are also required to demonstrate that their innovations are financially sustainable by providing current and future financing plans, as well as timeframes for implementation.

Changemakers

Anglo American, a US-based mining corporation, runs a female empowerment project in the Peruvian city of Moquegua, in conjunction with Pro Mujer, a women’s development and microfinance NGO. Pro Mujer provides local women with access to small loans and enterprise support to help them establish their own businesses. Moquegua is home to Anglo American’s Quellaveco copper project.

Anglo American said that it had built on its experience with enterprise development projects in South Africa and Chile to develop the project with Pro Mujer – on the basis that “entrepreneurship represents one of our most powerful mechanisms to promote socio-economic growth and make a real difference in the communities in which we operate”. Pro Mujer also works in Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru – with meetings taking place in 176 neighbourhood centres to provide financial services, training, and low cost primary healthcare. According to Anglo American, Pro Mujer operates almost 22,000 ‘communal banks’ made up of groups of 20 women who meet on a weekly basis to repay loans, receive training and benefit from peer support.

Anglo American

Coca-Cola is pursuing a global commitment to enable the economic empowerment of more than 5 million female entrepreneurs across its value-chain by 2020. As part of its ‘5by20’ programme, Coca-Cola seeks to give participants “access to business skills training courses, financial services and connections with peers or mentors -- along with the confidence that comes with building a successful business”. This includes women involved in:

• Agricultural production
• Supply of goods
• Distribution
• Retail
• Recycling
• Artisanal activity

5by20 has been launched in 20 different countries, including (for example):

• Brazil
• India
• Egypt
• Nigeria
• South Africa

Further details on in-country 5by20 projects can be found on the project’s dedicated website. The company is working with several high-profile partners on the campaign, including the International Finance Corporation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and UN Women.

http://www.coca-colacompany.com

Air France

Arafa Holding

Technology company IBM has appeared regularly in Working Mother magazine's 100 Best Companies, which lists companies that lead the way in providing family friendly work conditions, including in the 2013 version of the index. IBM's flexible working options allow for around 40% of its 400,000 employees worldwide to work either off-site or remotely on any given day. The company provides 100 day care centres across its operations for those working mothers who are unable to work from home. All new parents are granted full health benefits for an unpaid leave period of up to 156 weeks, during which their jobs are guaranteed.

IBM

Working Mother

In 2014, Unilever unveiled a set of ambitious new targets to empower women throughout its global supply chain. The consumer goods corporation is planning to empower at least five million women – in both its direct and indirect operations – through a variety of initiatives. These include: promoting women’s safety in the workforce and community: providing training for women to acquire new skills related to business, such as financial literacy; expanding opportunities specifically for women in the company’s retail operations; and advancing women to senior management positions. 

According to Unilever, “evidence shows that our targets to increase agricultural yields and secure our supplies…can be better achieved if women receive help, skills and opportunities more equally.” The company says that is working closely with its global suppliers to accomplish these targets, with plans to report on progress in 2015 – using a 2013 baseline to assess results. 

Unilever

As part of the company’s commitment to empowering women across the value chain, Nestlé launched an action plan in 2013 aiming to empower women in its cocoa supply chain. This focused on:

·         Promoting equal opportunities to improve women’s livelihoods

·         Providing training to enhance technical skills

·         Closing the wage gap

In order to ensure the action plan was rolled out effectively, Nestlé sought the help of the Fair Labor Association (FLAT), which conducted an assessment of gender issues in the company’s cocoa supply chain in Cote d’Ivoire. This assessment enabled the company to better understand the risks that women face in the cocoa supply chain, as well as potential areas for women’s empowerment. The assessment also brought attention to a lack of female participation in supervisory and management roles in cocoa farming. Therefore, one of the key features of the action plan was to implement training on the promotion of equal opportunities, as well as develop local women’s associations where women can engage in with each other and other parties in a supportive environment. As a result, the number of women leading and overseeing cocoa plantlet nurseries in Cote d’Ivoire increased from 3% to 23% between 2013 and 2015. In 2016, Nestlé rolled out the plan to Ghana and Nigeria to boost training and technical skills for women in their wider West African cocoa supply chains.

Nestle

In 2017, seven companies formed the Philippines Business Coalition for Women’s Empowerment (PBCWE) in cooperation with the Philippine Women’s Economic Network. This coalition, which comprises Accenture, Ayala, Convergys, Magsaysay Inc., Natasha, SyCip Gorres Velayo & Co. and Stores Specialists Inc. aims to institutionalise gender equality in the workplace.

To this end, the companies involved have committed to:

·         Closing the wage gap

·         Encouraging the creation of women in leadership and management positions

·         Increasing female participation in the workplace

·         Improving working conditions

This will be achieved by training and developing leaders and managers to help them push the equality agenda within their own organisations. The Coalition will also work to implement EDGE certification in Philippine companies. The EDGE tool is a global certifications standard that assesses policies and practices against gender equality indicators to help companies create more equitable and profitable workplaces. The funding for this will be provided by the Australian government through its Investing in Women Programme.

Philippines Business Coalition for Women’s Empowerment

As part of its commitment to diversity and inclusion, Italian utility company Enel partnered with Barefoot College in 2012 to improve the skills of illiterate or semi-literate women from rural villages in Latin America. Barefoot College is a voluntary organisation that provides rural communities with the skills to generate solar power and provide clean water for their villages. The partnership focuses on empowering women in remote areas with no access to electricity, by training them to become technicians and engineers in the provision of clean energy in their communities.  Not only does this programme provide skills training for women, it also encourages entrepreneurship and leadership skills. The programme includes a six month training course in Barefoot College in Northern India, before participants are brought back to their communities where they work as solar technicians and provide workshops on electricity generation. Since its launch, the programme has delivered clean energy to 19,000 people in Latin America. In 2015, it was extended to Kenya and Tanzania, where women trained as solar engineers are now helping fishing farms to become reliant on renewable energy sources.

Barefoot College

Enel

Recognising the important role that female farmers play in their value chain, Kellogg Company partnered with NGO, CARE International, in 2015 to create the Origins Program. The programme aims to empower women on smallholder maize farms in India, providing them with training in sustainable agricultural practices so that they can adapt to climate change. The programme also encourages improved female participation in the maize value chain to increase their earning potential. For example, 493 female smallholders have been provided with improved maize production practices, as well as post-production assistance and marketing and technological solutions to improve their productivity and access to market. Kellogg has also trained three female leaders in project villages who work to encourage women’s inclusion and equality in the wider community. The Origins Program forms part of Kellogg’s Global Sustainability 2020 commitments to support sustainable agriculture and female smallholder farmers. Results of this programme will be measured through two indices: the Women Empowerment Index in the Maize Value Chain Index and the Coping Strategy Index.

Kellogg's

As part of its commitment to promoting diversity and inclusivity, in 2017, Schneider Electric Brazil recognised the need to include women in the fight against climate change in South America. Knowing that women drive a large part of electricity consumption in villages, the company developed the Brazil Women Entrepreneurship Program. This initiative focused on creating training programmes to develop female entrepreneurs and equip them to help address climate change issues in their communities. By training women to become clean energy electricians, and encouraging some to open their own electrical repair shops, the company hopes to promote female entrepreneurship and increase the use of clean energy in rural areas. One of the key outputs of the programme to date has been the ability of female domestic workers and cleaners to better market themselves to potential employers due to their electrical training. Likewise, many women are also transferring their skills to their children, ensuring long term sustainability within communities.

Schneider Electric

As part of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, many companies have pledged to advance gender equality by committing to the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs). The seven principles aim to promote gender equality through business initiatives, as well as encourage businesses to measure and publicly report on their actions. Examples include the following:

·         As part of its commitment to the WEPs, Accor Hotels has pledged to reach gender equality in management and equal pay by employing 35% women as hotel managers and raising awareness among male employees on gender diversity.

·         ANZ Bank Ltd. has committed to increasing women in leadership roles, as well as rolling our parental leave to give fathers the same amount of time off as mothers in an effort to reduce gender pay gaps.

·         Multinational law firm Hogan Lovells has committed to supporting an increase of women-led businesses by providing free legal advice through partnerships, including CARE Internationals’ Lendwithcare project. The firm also wants to train its lawyers on the importance of social impact in order to advise clients to consider the importance of creating enabling environments for women and women-led businesses.

Accor Hotels

ANZ Bank

Hogan Lovells