Empowering Women at Work

Empowering Women

at Work

Company Policies and Practices

for Gender Equality

Empowering Women

at Work

Company Policies and Practices

for Gender Equality

First published 2020

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ISBN: 9789220330654 (Print)

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Also available in French: Autonomiser les femmes au travail – Politiques et pratiques des entreprises enfaveur de

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Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

iii

Contents

Acknowledgements .......................................................................v

Executive summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vi

List of acronyms ..........................................................................vii

Introduction ................................................................................1

PART 1:

GUIDING FRAMEWORKS FOR COMPANY POLICIES TO PROMOTE

GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE ..................................7

1.1 Normative Instruments ..............................................................7

1.2 Other Normative Instruments ......................................................10

1.3 International Initiatives ..............................................................11

1.4 G7 and EU policy frameworks .......................................................14

PART 2:

TAKING ACTION FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE ........ 17

2.1 Achieving equal pay for work of equal value .......................................21

2.1.1 Key International Labour Standards and other instruments .............................22

2.1.2 Guiding principles for companies ...................................................23

2.1.3 Illustrative practices ..............................................................25

2.2 Preventing and ending gender-based violence and harassment in the

world of work .......................................................................30

2.2.1 Key International Labour Standards and other instruments ............................. 31

2.2.2 Guiding principles for companies ...................................................33

2.2.3 Illustrative practices ..............................................................36

2.3 Promoting work–family balance and equal sharing of care responsibilities. . . . . . . .39

2.3.1 Key International Labour Standards and other instruments .............................39

2.3.2 Guiding principles for companies ...................................................41

2.3.3 Illustrative practices ..............................................................44

2.4 Supporting women in business and management ..................................54

2.4.1 Key International Labour Standards and other instruments ............................ 55

2.4.2 Guiding principles for companies ...................................................56

2.4.3 Illustrative practices ..............................................................57

2.5 Building a future of work that works for women ...................................64

2.5.1 Key International Labour Standards and other instruments .............................66

2.5.2 Guiding principles for companies ...................................................66

2.5.3 Illustrative practices ..............................................................68

Conclusions ...........................................................................

ANNEXES

ANNEX 1: Principles of the ILO MNE Declaration ..........................................77

ANNEX 2: The women’s empowerment principles and targets ............................80

ANNEX 3: Helpful resources ..............................................................84

Endnotes

..............................................................................89

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

List of tables

Table 1. Illustrative practices by topic, geographical coverage and sector/industry

of economic activity ............................................................3

Table 2. The Business Case for the WEPs ............................................... 18

Table 3. Workplace guidance on empowering women at work .........................75

List of figures

Figure 1. Countries Ranked on 19 Gender Equality Criteria, Equileap, 2019 .............1

Figure 2. The Principles of the MNE Declaration ................................... 9

Figure 3. The Women’s Empowerment Principles ..................................12

Figure 4. The Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Journey .....................13

Figure 5. Share of survey respondents who experienced changes in productivity

as a result of exible working and/or remote or teleworking

arrangements by world and region, 2018 ................................20

Figure 6. The Baby Decalogue Program by Danone Nutricia ELN .................... 46

Figure 7. Share of women on the boards of the largest publicly listed companies,

G7 countries, 2017 ...................................................54

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Acknowledgements

This document was developed by the International Labour Organization (ILO) under the WE

EMPOWER – G7 programme funded by the European Union and jointly implemented by the

United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)

and the ILO.

WE EMPOWER – G7 convenes multi-stakeholder dialogues in G7 countries and the EU to

exchange knowledge, experiences, good practices and lessons learned. The project is

guided by the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), as well as international labour

standards on gender equality, and the ILO’s Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning

Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (MNE Declaration). See more at ILO website on

the project.

This technical report was drafted under the technical guidance and overall coordination

of Laura Addati, Annie van Klaveren and Emily Sims, ILO specialists at the Multinational

Enterprises and Enterprise Engagement Unit (MULTI) at the ILO Enterprise Department. The

preliminary draft and illustrative practice review was prepared by Angela Goulovitch (ILO

consultant). Camilla Bober, Rana Alotaibi and Sombul Munshi conducted further research

and drafting and helped nalize the publication while ILO interns. The report was reviewed

by the following experts from several ILO departments: Vic van Vuuren, Githa Roelans,

Emanuela Pozzan and Irini Proios Torras; and from UN Women: Anna Fälth, Meral Guzel,

Diana Rusu, Diana Ranola, Carla Kraft, Mariko Saito, Stephanie Dei, Stephanie Foster,

Madison Bailey, Nancy Mitchell and Sarah Merusi. Their inputs and contributions, which

have enriched the report, are highly appreciated.

Disclaimer

This publication was produced with the generous nancial support of the European Union.

The contents do not necessarily represent the views of the European Union, the ILO and its

constituents, UN Women, the United Nations or its member States.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Executive summary

Over the last 20 years, equality between women and men in the world of work has seen some

encouraging improvements, but there remains scope for further progress. The private sector,

including employer and business membership organizations, plays an important role in

accelerating progress on closing gender gaps in the workplace. Women represent more than

50 per cent of the population worldwide, but only 45.3 per cent of women had a job in 2018.

Women accounted for less than 4 per cent of board chairs across nearly 7,000 companies

in 44 countries in 2017.

Therefore, it is crucial to examine how key players in the private

sector can implement policies that promote a future of work that is decent by design and is

anchored in genuine and substantive gender equality.

This document focuses on ve key areas where companies can contribute:

1. achievement of equal pay for work of equal value

2. prevention and elimination of violence and harassment

3. creating a harmonious work-life balance for both women and men

4. equal representation of women in business and management roles

5. investment in a future of work that works for women.

Part 1 provides an overview of the guiding frameworks for company policies to promote gender

equality in the workplace. It includes an introduction to the leading normative instruments

and initiatives concerning women’s economic empowerment and gender equality at work,

and a brief summary of the international labour standards that underpin expectations

for companies concerning gender equality. For easy reference, annexes provide further

information on the normative instruments, initiatives and international labour standards.

Part 2 sets out the business case, provides 38 illustrative company practices and indicates

sources from which companies can obtain further information. The examples are drawn from

publicly available sources and do not assess impact. The objective is to present a range of

measures companies can take – from more modest to more ambitious – to inspire companies

of varying sizes, sectors and nancial situations to identify ways in which they might be able

to contribute to gender equality, in both the short and medium term, based on their unique

circumstances.

Despite the commendable eorts of companies to promote women’s economic empowerment

in the workplace, renewed and transformative eorts are needed, especially in the context of

COVID-19 policy responses and crisis recovery.

This document was prepared as part of a series of publications on key stakeholders’ illustrative

practices on gender equality at work under the EU, UN Women and ILO project “Empowering

women at work through responsible business conduct in G7 countries” (WE EMPOWER –

G7). WE EMPOWER – G7 aims at supporting sustainable, inclusive and equitable economic

growth by promoting women’s economic empowerment in the public and private sectors in

G7 countries. Hence, this report has a particular focus on companies operating in G7 and EU

countries, but can be of use to companies regardless of where they are located.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

vii

List of acronyms

AI Articial intelligence

BSDC Business & Sustainable Development Commission

CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination

Against Women

COBC Code of Business Conduct

CSR Corporate Social Responsibility

EBMO Employer and Business Membership Organizations

EPIC Equal Pay International Coalition

EU European Union

G7 Group of 7

G20 Group of 20

ICT Information and Communication Technology

ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

IFC International Finance Corporation

ILO International Labour Organization

ILO MNE Declaration ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational

Enterprises and Social Policy

OSH Occupational Safety and Health

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

SDGs Sustainable Development Goals

SMEs Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

STEM Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

UDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights

UN Guiding Principles UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

W7 Women 7

WE EMPOWER – G7 EU, UN Women and ILO project “Empowering women at work

through responsible business conduct in G7 countries”

WEPs The Women’s Empowerment Principles

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

viii

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Introduction

Equality between women and men in the world of work has seen some encouraging

improvements, but progress on closing gender gaps has stalled.

Persistent disparities

remain between women and men, including in labour market participation, pay for work

of equal value, representation of women in high-paying occupations and managerial

positions, and the distribution of unpaid care work. Violence and harassment, including

sexual harassment, also remains a reality for many women in the world of work.

Achieving

economic empowerment and gender equality for women will require proactive and

transformative policies from a variety of global stakeholders, including governments,

companies, employers’ and workers’ organizations, and civil society.

However, private-sector performance on gender equality varies widely depending on

country, sector and company size, as well as corporate leadership and culture, with small

and medium-sized enterprises experiencing the greatest challenges. The Equileap Index

of the top publicly traded companies leading on gender equality shows how countries

rank in producing top company performers. The index is built on the Gender Scorecard

methodology that was inspired by the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs). It reviews

data on 3,519 companies from 23 countries and is based on 19 criteria linked to a number

of workplace policies on gender equality (Figure 1).

Note: The dataset represents companies from 23 countries. Countries for which there are less than 50 companies in

the dataset have been excluded from the ranking.

Source: Equileap, Gender Equality Global Report & Ranking, 2019, 14.

X Figure 1. Countries Ranked on 19 Gender Equality Criteria, Equileap, 2019

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Companies that operate in G7 countries have total gender-equality scores ranging between

42 (France) and 21 per cent (Japan). The ranking indicates that areas in which all of the G7 countries

tend to display the highest scores include “Safety at work”, “Training and career development” and

“Recruitment strategies”, while the challenges are more signicant in respect of transparency on

gender equality, closing the gender pay gap and providing living wages.

Legal frameworks play

a key role in enabling better gender equality scores. Companies in Japan, France, Germany and

Italy tend to have the most comprehensive parental leave policies, in line with national legislation.

Furthermore, women’s representation in the workforce, including in higher echelons of job categories

and company leadership positions, varies across companies in G7 countries. Companies in Canada,

the United States and Japan have the lowest proportion of women in the workforce. In France and

Italy, these proportions improve as women move into higher level positions such as directorships,

while these numbers are low for Japan across all levels. The greatest challenge for companies in

G7 countries in this area is the promotion of women to executive and senior management positions.

The private sector, including employer and business membership organizations (EBMOs), plays a

central role in fostering an enabling environment in which women can meaningfully participate and

thrive in the economy through proactive, transformative and measurable workplace policies and

practices. Company policies are key in complementing, strengthening and enhancing national laws

and policies and help stimulate transformative change within societies.

This report is divided in two parts. Part 1 provides an overview of the normative instruments and

initiatives to guide companies in adopting and implementing the most up-to-date frameworks on

gender equality. Part 2 presents the business case for gender equality and illustrative company

practices touching on one or more of the following issues: achieving equal pay for work of equal

value, preventing and ending violence and harassment in the world of work, promoting a work–

family balance and the sharing of childcare responsibilities, promoting women in business and

management, and building a future of work that works for women.

This compilation of company illustrative practices on gender equality has been prepared under the

auspices of a European Union (EU) funded project to promote the economic empowerment of women

at work through responsible business conduct in G7 countries—WE EMPOWER G7. The project is

guided by the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) as well as international labour standards

on gender equality, and the ILO’s Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational

Enterprises and Social Policy (MNE Declaration). Further information on the MNE Declaration, the

WEPs and WE EMPOWER G7 is contained in Annexes 1 and 2.

Methodology

This report relies on a variety of sources. It draws on research carried out by the International

Labour Organization (ILO), the European Commission, Eurostat and the OECD; and on research

from Equileap, a Dutch organization that collects data on gender equality in the corporate sector.

Publicly available company documents were reviewed, in particular Communication of Progress

(CoP) reports submitted by companies that are signatories to the UN Global Compact’s 10 Principles

and by signatories of the WEPs, principally larger companies headquartered in G7 countries and

EU Member States. Particularly helpful in this regard were the 2018 and 2019 Equileap Gender

Equality Global Reports,

which review over 3,500 publicly traded companies from 23 high-income

countries to create a selection of 100 companies that are outperforming on gender equality.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

The selection of illustrative company practices featured in this document was made in the light

of their transformative and replicable nature, their positive impact on gender equality, where

assessed, and their alignment with the principles contained in international labour standards

and other normative frameworks.

The examples come from publicly available reports and hence are skewed towards larger companies,

which generally have more resources available to provide such disclosure. A variety of economic

sectors were selected in order to illustrate a wide range of eorts and promising practices across

dierent private-sector contexts. The WE EMPOWER G7 programme aims at supporting sustainable,

inclusive and equitable economic growth by promoting women’s economic empowerment in the

public and private sectors in G7 countries. Hence, this report has a particular focus on companies

operating mainly in G7 and EU countries, with examples from outside these groups that are notable

in terms of gender-equality policies. Nonetheless, we hope they will provide inspiration for a wide

range of enterprises to adapt to their own circumstances. Table 1 categorizes the 38 illustrative

practices by topic, geographical location and sector of economic activity.

X Table 1. Illustrative practices by topic, geographical coverage and sector/industry

of economic activity

Topic Company Headquarters Country Sector/Industry of economic activity Total

Equal Pay for Work

of Equal Value

France

Germany

Japan

Netherlands

Sweden

United States

• Financial services, Banking

• Retail, Furniture production

• Retail, Restaurants

• Technology, IT equipment and services

• Technology, Software services

• Utilities, Energy

Violence and

Harassment in the

World of Work

France

Spain

United Kingdom

United States

• Retail , Apparel

• Retail, Beverages

• Retail, Supermarkets

• Technology, Cybersecurity

• Utilities, Electricity

Work–family Balance Canada

France

Germany

Japan

Italy

Switzerland

Turkey

United Kingdom

United States

• Automotive Manufacturing

• Chemical production, Sales

• Financial services, Banking

• Food processing

• Pharmaceuticals

• Professional services, Accounting

• Professional services, Analytics

• Professional services, Consulting

• Retail, Household and personal products

• Retail, Real estate

• Retail, Footwear

• Retail, Sportswear

Women in Business

and Management

Canada

Italy

Germany

Norway

United States

• Communication, Telecommunication services

• Financial services, Banking

• Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

• Postal and courier services

• Professional services, Consulting

• Technology, Software services

Future of Work Canada

Ireland

Spain

Sweden

United States

• Communication, Telecommunication services

• Retail, E-commerce

• Technology, Business services technology,

IT services

• Utilities, Energy

Total 38

PART 1:

GUIDING FRAMEWORKS FOR

COMPANY POLICIES TO PROMOTE

GENDER EQUALITY IN THE

WORKPLACE

The resources available to companies seeking to promote gender equality in the workplace

come in two broad forms: normative instruments and initiatives. Normative instruments

derive their universal authority from the process by which they were developed.

International labour standards and other ILO normative instruments are adopted by the

International Labour Conference, which consists of delegates from the governments and

most representative employers’ and workers’ organizations for each of the 187 ILO Member

States. The UN Guiding Principles were adopted unanimously by the 193 UN Member States.

Initiatives build on normative instruments to make them more operational for business. The

most comprehensive of these initiatives is the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs),

which builds on international labour standards and UN treaties that address gender equality,

most importantly the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against

Women (CEDAW).

1.1 Normative Instruments

Normative instruments set out the broad objectives of gender equality, identify key

obstacles that need to be addressed and advocate for a systemic approach to tackling

gender discrimination. In the world of work these consist mainly of ILO conventions and

recommendations. Although directed at governments, conventions and recommendations

can nonetheless serve to guide company policies; and they are referenced in other

normative instruments and initiatives, serving to standardize and coordinate approaches.

Other normative instruments – most notably the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles

concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (ILO MNE Declaration) and the

UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UN Guiding Principles) – address

business directly and reference conventions and recommendations concerning particular

aspects of gender equality.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

PART 1: GUIDING FRAMEWORKS FOR COMPANY POLICIES TO PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

ILO conventions and recommendations on gender equality

Numerous ILO conventions and recommendations set out international labour standards

related to gender equality at work. These include: the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951

(No. 100) and Recommendation No. 90; the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation)

Convention, 1958 (No. 111) and Recommendation No. 111; the Workers with Family

Responsibilities Convention, 1981, (No. 156) and Recommendation No. 165; the Maternity

Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183), and Recommendation No. 191; and, more recently,

the Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190) and Recommendation No. 206.

The gender perspective is mainstreamed through many other ILO instruments on working

time, part-time work, home-based work, social security, occupational safety and health, and

domestic work.

ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work

Adopted in 1998, the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work commits

Member States to respect and promote principles and rights in four categories, whether or

not they have ratied the relevant conventions. These categories are: freedom of association

and the eective recognition of the right to collective bargaining, the elimination of forced

or compulsory labour, the abolition of child labour, and the elimination of discrimination in

respect of employment and occupation and the principle of equal remuneration of men and

women for work of equal value.

The ILO has worked hard to promote the ratication of the relevant conventions, with

great success. 173 countries have ratied Convention No. 100 on equal pay for work of

equal value

and 175 countries have ratied Convention No. 111 on non-discrimination in

employment and occupation.

ILO MNE Declaration

The ILO promotes synergies between government and business policies to promote

responsible business conduct, including gender equality in the world of work, through its

Multinational Enterprises (MNE) Declaration. It is the only global instrument in this area that

has been elaborated and adopted by governments, employers and workers from around

the world. It was adopted close to 40 years ago and most recently updated in 2017.

The principles of the MNE Declaration are addressed to multinational and national

enterprises, governments of home and host countries, and employers’ and workers’

organizations. Areas covered include employment, training, conditions of work and life, and

industrial relations (Figure 2).

A summary of the principles directed to governments and

companies is provided in Annex 1.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

PART 1: GUIDING FRAMEWORKS FOR COMPANY POLICIES TO PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

1. General policies

2. Employment

8 Employment promotion

8 Social security

8 Elimination of forced or compulsory labour

8 Eective abolition of child labour: minimum age and worst forms

8 Equality of opportunity and treatment

8 Security of employment

3. Training

4. Conditions of work and life

8 Wages, benets and conditions of work

8 Safety and health

5. Industrial relations

8 Freedom of association and the right to organize

8 Collective bargaining

8 Consultation

8 Access to remedy and examination of grievances

8 Settlement of industrial disputes

Source: Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (MNE Declaration).

The ILO has developed “A manual for gender audit facilitators: The ILO participatory gender

audit methodology (2

Edition)”,

which helps organizations to put the principles contained

in ILO normative instruments into practice.

X Figure 2. The Principles of the MNE Declaration

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

PART 1: GUIDING FRAMEWORKS FOR COMPANY POLICIES TO PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

1.2 Other Normative Instruments

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

In 2011, the UN Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed the United Nations Guiding

Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), which implement the UN “Protect,

Respect and Remedy Framework”. They provide global guidance to prevent, mitigate and

remediate business-related adverse human rights impacts.

The Council also established

the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights and the UN Forum on Business and

Human Rights to disseminate examples of good practices, assist in capacity-building, make

on-site visits, and maintain a consistent multilateral dialogue that is then reported to the

United Nations General Assembly.

The Working Group and the Forum play an important role in stimulating dialogue and

formulating recommendations to tackle every stage of women’s economic empowerment

within companies, from inception to implementation to analysing ecacy. In 2019, the

UN Working Group and the UNDP published guidance for companies concerning gender

equality.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development sets

out the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to

lift large portions of humanity out of poverty while

protecting human rights and the planet. Gender

equality and women’s empowerment are integral

to the achievement of all 17 Goals. The SDGs “seek

to realize the human rights of all and to achieve

gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”. Some SDGs are particularly

relevant to achieving women’s economic empowerment and gender equality at work:

8 SDG 3 on ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing for all at all ages

8 SDG 4 on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong

learning opportunities for all

8 SDG 5 on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls

8 SDG 8 on promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and

productive employment and decent work for all

8 SDG 10 on reducing inequalities within and among countries

8 SDG 16 on promoting justice and peace in implementing the SDGs

8 SDG 17 on strengthening the means of implementation and revitalizing global

partnerships for sustainable development

A 2017 agship report

BetterBusiness, Better World

of the Business & Sustainable

Development Commission (BSDC)

estimates that achieving the SDGs

could create 380 million jobs

and open at least $12 trillion in

opportunities for business by 2030.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

PART 1: GUIDING FRAMEWORKS FOR COMPANY POLICIES TO PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

Decent work for all women contributes not only to making poverty history, but also to

achieving better education, peace and safety, as well as food security and improved nutrition

and health outcomes for children and all members of households.

1.3 International Initiatives

All international initiatives recognize the importance of gender equality as a key contribution

that business can and should be making to economic and social development and respect for

human rights. The most important initiatives concerning gender equality are the Women’s

Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC).

The Women’s Empowerment Principles

Launched in 2010 by UN Women and the UN Global Compact, the Women’s Empowerment

Principles (WEPs) have been endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly, the G20

and the G7.

They provide a platform to mobilize business action for implementation of the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG5 on gender equality and women’s

empowerment. The seven Principles oer guidance to business on how to promote gender

equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and community.

Informed by international labour and human-rights standards, the WEPs are grounded in

the recognition that businesses have a stake in, and a responsibility for, gender equality and

women’s empowerment.

By joining the WEPs community, a CEO signals commitment to this agenda at the highest

levels of the company and to working collaboratively in multi-stakeholder networks to foster

business practices that empower women. These include equal pay for work of equal value,

gender-responsive supply chain practices and zero tolerance against sexual harassment in

the workplace. The full list of WEPs targets and a more detailed description are available in

Annex 2.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

PART 1: GUIDING FRAMEWORKS FOR COMPANY POLICIES TO PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

The principles are:

Source: The Women’s Empowerment Principles at weps.org.

The WEPs Journey is a learning ecosystem of resources and tools designed to assist WEPs

signatories through an eective journey of implementation, driven by accountability and

transparency. This ecosystem oers WEPs signatories a menu of actions so that they can

begin their WEPs journeys with a bold gender-equality action plan.

The WEPs Journey represents the ve stages of a company’s engagement with the WEPs:

Sign, Action, Capture, Engage and Report. This step-by-step engagement, oered to

signatories in the form of capacity-building, encouragement and assistance, forms the

basis for incentivizing companies to report. Finally, when companies reach the reporting

phase, they feature their progress publicly on the WEPs reporting platform.

X Figure 3. The Women’s Empowerment Principles

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

PART 1: GUIDING FRAMEWORKS FOR COMPANY POLICIES TO PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

X Figure 4. The Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Journey

Become a global role model for

gender equality

1. Sign: Apply, formalize and communicate

your commitment – welcome kit and

prole page. HQ & regional and country

oces welcome

2. Action: Develop and communicate the

WEPs action plan and start implementing

3. Capture: Develop and communicate

experiences, lessons learned through

an Interview or Case Study – workplace,

marketplace & community

4. Engage: Activate your business partners,

vendors and suppliers to foster a gender-

responsive and inclusive value chain

5. Report: Share your company’s progress

against your WEPs action plan

Sign

Engage

Action

Capture

Source: The Women’s Empowerment Principles at weps.org.

The Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC)

The Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) is an initiative driven by stakeholders committed

to reducing the gender pay gap and making equal pay for work of equal value a reality

across all countries and sectors. Led by the ILO, UN Women and the Organisation for

Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Coalition engages with governments,

employers, workers and their organizations, the private sector, civil society and academia

to take concrete steps to accelerate the closing of the gender pay gap and the achievement

of pay equity.

EPIC provides a platform for member companies to express their views, experiences

and ideas on how to tackle the gender pay gap. The ILO, UN Women and the OECD oer

resources to address this challenge through their expertise and convening power. EPIC also

has a network of experts in the eld of equal pay and opportunities to provide teaching and

inputs from a tailor-made perspective. Companies currently belonging to EPIC include the

Ingka Group (IKEA), Powher New York, The Fair Pay Innovation Lab (FPI) and The Equal Pay

Company.

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PART 1: GUIDING FRAMEWORKS FOR COMPANY POLICIES TO PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

1.4 G7 and EU policy frameworks

The G7 and the EU have both fostered on-going dialogue, often tripartite, and adopted

policy frameworks and calls to action to accelerate progress towards gender equality in the

world of work.

G7 Recommendations on Gender Equality at Work

Combining international standards and goals with social and economic dialogue, the

Group of 7 (G7) promotes the connection between gender equality and increased

prosperity.

At Taormina in 2017, the G7, along with Women 7 (W7), published a roadmap

of recommendations for dierent parties. They proposed positive action plans to fully

recognize the benecial eects of women’s activity in the workplace,

as well as the eects

of unpaid care work, violence, stereotyping and a lack of representation in leadership on

gender equality at work.

The G7 Social Communiqué of June 2019

called for a tripartite approach (engaging

government and employers’ and workers’ organizations) to identify market barriers that

create labour segregation based on gender; increase women’s representation on boards,

in management and in entrepreneurship; invest in skills development and education in all

elds (especially science, technology, engineering and mathematics – STEM); formulate

a gender-balanced care system; and close gender gaps in employment, pay (especially

after leave) and workplace participation.

To ensure success in these initiatives in both the

public and private sectors, the G7 additionally recommends prior and post-activity public

assessments to ensure transparency and the positive development of women’s economic

empowerment

and international cooperation.

European Union Frameworks

Gender equality is one of the core values of EU legal frameworks, embedded in the

Treaties, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Pillar of Social Rights. There

is extensive EU legislation related to gender equality, particularly in the workplace, that

touches on issues such as maternity and parental leave; equal opportunities and equal

treatment of men and women in employment and occupation, including equal pay, social

security, working conditions and harassment; as well as equal opportunities for workers in

self-employment, including access to maternity leave benets.

In June 2019, the European

Parliament adopted a Directive on the work–life balance for parents and carers, which sets

out the conditions for paternity, parental, and carers’ leave, and extends current provisions

on exible working arrangements for workers with young children and other carers.

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The European Commission has adopted a Gender Equality Strategy 2020-25, which focuses

on: ending gender-based violence; challenging gender stereotypes; closing gender gaps in

the labour market; achieving equal participation across dierent sectors of the economy;

addressing the gender pay and pension gaps; and closing the gender care gap and

achieving gender balance in decision-making and in politics. As one of the rst deliverables

of the Strategy, the Commission has prioritized binding pay transparency measures, to be

proposed by the end of 2020.

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TAKING ACTION FOR GENDER

EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

The Business Case

International instruments and frameworks, together with national laws, are crucial to the

realization of gender equality at work and women’s economic empowerment, but they

alone cannot address all the gaps that contribute to inequality. No amount of progressive

legislative solutions could work without meaningful and proactive action from social

partners and, in particular, employers in the public and private sectors. Remedying gender

inequalities is an end in itself, but also a critical means of achieving broader economic

growth and social justice.

ILO estimates indicate that, were the G20 “25 by 25” target (to reduce the gap in participation

rates between men and women by 25 per cent by the year 2025) to be realized globally, such

an outcome would raise global GDP by 3.9 per cent, or US$5.8 trillion (equivalent to raising

average global GDP growth over the next eight years by almost half a percentage point per

annum).

Gender inequality restricts the talent pool employers draw from and impedes the

development of new ideas, which is critical for entrepreneurship and economic diversication,

the important drivers of sustainable growth.

Research by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

shows that if the gender pay gap were lowered, even to 13 per cent, OECD nations could

experience a boost in GDP of US$6 trillion.

The causes of this anticipated large jump in

GDP, according to the ILO, include “increased female participation in the labour market,

entrepreneurship and women moving into higher-paid and higher-skilled jobs”.

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X Table 2. The Business Case for the WEPs

To uphold human rights and be inclusive, just and fair: It is really as simple as that. Gender equality in the

workplace, marketplace and community advances the Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development. It is

good for society; it is good for the economy; and it benets everyone.

To improve corporate performance: Women’s equal participation at every level of the company – from

the factory oor to the corporate board – leads to better nancial performance, and raises returns on

investment, market share and stocks.

To attract and retain talent: Companies with fair HR systems that respond to both women’s and men’s

needs lead to inclusive recruitment practices, improved retention rates, reduced absenteeism and

turnover rates, and an equitable promotion system.

To attract investments: Investors know that companies that promote gender equality are more

productive, more protable and maintain a positive reputation. They are holding companies to more

rigorous standards and choosing to invest in sustainable companies that balance purpose and prot

and meet the needs of both shareholders and stakeholders.

To increase innovation capacity: A diverse workforce fosters diverse ideas and generates dynamics that

encourage creativity and lead to innovation.

To diversify the supplier base: A diversied pool of suppliers enhances supplier availability and security;

promotes innovation through the entrance of new products, services and solutions; drives competition;

and increases market penetration and access to new markets. Investing in and engaging with women-

owned businesses in corporate supply chains also boosts the reputation of companies among their

stakeholders and shareholders.

To meet the needs and demands of consumers: Increasingly, consumers are demanding products

and services from companies with transparent, responsible business practices that advance gender

equality. Women inuence the majority of purchasing preferences and decisions. A diverse workforce

and supplier base, representing the composition of its consumer base, can help a company meet the

product and service needs of its consumers.

To end harmful gender-based stereotypes in advertising and outreach materials: An unstereotyped

world is no longer only a social imperative, but a business one. Advertisements which portray women

respectfully as progressive and modern, authentic and multi-dimensional helps advance gender

equality, while improving customer perception and brand reputation.

To fully integrate into communities: Companies that undertake community consultations with local

leaders – women and men – establish strong ties and programmes that benet all community members

and advance gender equality and sustainable development.

Source: The Women’s Empowerment Principles at weps.org.

Growing evidence for the specic benets of gender equality for business is also compelling.

According to the consulting rm Accenture, “the power of a workplace culture of equality

to drive employees’ innovation mind-set – or their willingness and ability to innovate – is

strong. It has more impact than age or gender and leads to an increase in innovation in all

industries and all countries. Furthermore, a company culture of equality is associated with

greater levels of innovation in its workforce.”

This translates into more productive and protable companies. The ILO report “The Business

Case for Change”, which surveyed nearly 13,000 enterprises across the world, shows there

are longer-term and strategic benets to the bottom line connected with gender diversity.

Enterprises with an equal-opportunities or diversity-and-inclusion policy are 3.8 per cent

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more likely to report increased productivity and protability.

Increased prots range from

5 to 20 per cent.

Statistically, gender diversity is a predictor of increased prots and productivity (62.6 per

cent); an increase in recruitment and retention (59.7 per cent); greater creativity, openness

and innovation (59.1 per cent); enhanced company reputation (57.8 per cent); and the

ability to better gauge consumer interest and demand (37.9 per cent).

When employees

feel that they will be valued equally, they are more likely to feel safe in making their unique

contributions and are more likely to remain with the company.

A commitment to equal pay for work of equal value also benets companies. By making this

commitment, a company attracts talents and experiences a higher retention rate of women

employees. Closing gender pay gaps helps increase the performance and productivity of

the workforce. It also contributes to increased growth and sustainability for companies and

the economy at large.

A proactive approach to ensuring employees’ work–family balance, including in times of

crisis, promotes the well-being and equality of a company’s workforce and enhances the

company’s bottom line.

Research by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) nds that most

businesses with paid family-leave policies report a positive return on their investment in

implementing the policies.

Employers reported benets such as “… improved employee

retention, the ability to attract the best talent, reinforced company values, improved

employee engagement, morale, and productivity, and enhanced brand equity”.

Similarly,

according to an EY survey, over 90 per cent of employers that oered paid family-leave

benets found that the impact was positive or neutral on costs.

These positive eects

are probably linked to improved employee satisfaction, which enhances recruitment and

retention. A survey found that 77 per cent of workers agreed that the availability of paid leave

can aect where they choose to work.

A study by the International Finance Corporation

(IFC) showed that the provision of childcare benets increased employee retention, and

made for better recruitment, higher productivity and improved reputation.

Finally, an ILO

study showed that small investments by SMEs in supporting breastfeeding yielded returns

on investment by maintaining employee retention and satisfaction.

Being able to balance work and life is essential for everyone’s success, both in and outside

the workplace. Conversely, the idea that top-level gures must be available “anytime,

anywhere”

can hinder the career advancement of women, who face a “motherhood

penalty” with respect to employment, pay and pensions.

In some companies, policies that

increase inclusivity and promote a better work–life balance have already shown increased

sustainability and eectiveness. Flexible working arrangements can also foster productivity

(Figure 5) and allow all employees to feel more valued at work and involved in contributing

to the success of the enterprise.

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Source: ILO, Women in Business and Management: The business case for change, 2019, 67.

Companies stand to lose when violence and harassment, including sexual harassment and

domestic violence, are not addressed. Violence and harassment may lead to low productivity

and increased absenteeism and turnover. By some estimates, for each employee who was

sexually harassed, a company lost an average of US$22,500 in lost productivity alone.

Nor

does this include the high cost of litigation and reputational damage,

which can impact

the market value of the company and deter valuable talent.

Victims of violence and

harassment, including domestic violence, may end up leaving their jobs, which leads to

talent loss.

As women now surpass men in tertiary education graduation,

the pool of potential

employees widens as companies recruit talented individuals for management roles.

Research shows that a broad range of talents and skills on executive teams contributes

to better decision-making, corporate governance and company protability, which drives

economic growth.

On average, an increase in inclusivity increases creativity, openness and

innovation by 59.1 per cent, which can lead to smarter and more longitudinal business

decisions, and enhances the company’s image by 57.8 per cent among consumers.

Multiple

studies have found that gender balance in company leadership is correlated with enhanced

nancial performance.

Increasing gender diversity in leadership roles, for instance on

boards, has even higher outcomes, with enterprises 20 per cent more likely to experience

better business outcomes.

There is mounting evidence around the globe that promoting

gender diversity among employees, management and boards can boost the performance

of a business.

Globally, only 27.1 per cent of managers and leaders are women – a gure

that has changed very little over the past 30 years.

X Figure 5. Share of survey respondents who experienced changes in productivity as a

result of flexible working and/or remote or teleworking arrangements by world and

region, 2018

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Concerning technological transformations in the world of work, as women increase their

technological skills, their productivity improves. Combining technology with changes in

workplace structure can increase company productivity, as both male and female employees

can work remotely and at dierent times to optimize their focus and balance work with other

responsibilities, thereby improving personal productivity.

Focusing company policies on

women during the digital revolution will also aid recruitment and retention. Transparent and

eective policies against online gender-based violence and harassment will help women to

feel safe in cyberspace, expanding a company’s customer or user base.

Workplace Policies and Practices

This section reviews policies aimed at companies, sets out useful steps that can foster

commitment and action towards gender diversity, and provides illustrative company

examples. The ve key aspects covered here that drive the promotion of gender equality

are:

8 achieving equal pay for work of equal value

8 preventing and ending violence and harassment in the world of work

8 promoting work–family balance and an equal sharing of childcare responsibilities

8 fostering women in business and management

8 building a future of work that works for both women and men.

2.1 Achieving equal pay for work of equal value

Achieving gender equality and women’s economic empowerment at work requires that the

work done by women and men is valued equally, and that they receive equal pay for work

of equal value. Despite the widespread support for the principle of equal pay, the gender

wage gap persists at about 20 per cent on the global level.

The pay gap prevails at all levels of employment, including management, and gap rates

vary based on employment level and region.

Gender pay gaps among women show wide

variations across countries and between dierent groups of women, depending on their

age, race, ethnicity, migration status and other categories of disadvantage. Women cannot

be treated as one homogenous group. For example, the gap between mothers and non-

mothers, known as the “motherhood pay gap,” ranges from 1 to as much as 30 per cent.

Women from ethnic minorities and other groups at risk of discrimination, such as lesbian,

gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) workers, face multiple barriers and even

wider gaps in pay and advancement in the workplace.

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The gender pay gap tends to grow at higher income levels, particularly in high-income

countries. To take the example of Belgium, while the gender pay gap at the lowest income

levels is only 3 per cent, it widens to 13 per cent in the top quartile.

The ILO Global Wage Report

identies various contributing factors, which are often

interrelated:

1. occupational segregation and undervaluation of feminized industries;

2. the “motherhood penalty” versus the “fatherhood premium” and the disproportionate

burden of unpaid care work driving women into lower-paying occupations;

and

3. dierences in participation in full-time wage employment.

The motherhood penalty contributes to the gender pay gap through a variety of factors,

including career interruptions or reductions in working time; over-representation in lower-

paying but family-friendly jobs; or discriminatory hiring and promotion practices that

disadvantage women who are or may become mothers.

To eectively address the gender

pay gap, eorts must encompass policies that enable both women and men to succeed

in their work, while thriving as parents and care-givers, and increase the expectation that

unpaid care work is a shared responsibility of both women and men.

Gender pay gaps can be partly explained by factors such as education and training, care

responsibilities, work experience, enterprise size and union density. However, other factors

may also be involved, in particular discrimination, implicit biases and social norms, further

replicated at the company level. These gaps lead to substantive disparities in lifetime

earnings, which continually reinforce women’s unequal position in the labour market and

the workplace.

The ILO has proposed a new methodology for calculating pay gaps: the

“factored weighted gender pay gap”, which aims to take into account some of these factors.

2.1.1 Key International Labour Standards and other instruments

The principle of equal pay for work of equal value is enshrined in the ILO Equal Remuneration

Convention, 1951 (No. 100) and Recommendation No. 111. The right to equal remuneration

applies not only in cases where men and women do the same or similar jobs, but also when

they perform work that is dierent but of equal value, based on objective criteria, such as

skills, working conditions, responsibilities and eort. Remuneration is not limited to the

basic pay or wage that the worker receives, but also other forms of compensation, such as

bonuses, stock options or overtime pay.

The principle of equal remuneration applies to all workers. Through their representative

organizations, enterprises should work with government and workers’ organizations to

establish job evaluation criteria. They should apply appropriate techniques for objective job

evaluation to determine value, comparing factors such as skill, eort, responsibilities and

working conditions.

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Other instruments

Women’s Empowerment Principle 2 calls for action by its signatories to pay equal

remuneration, including bonuses and benets, for work of equal value and to ensure at

least a living wage for all women and men employees.

For its part, the Equal Pay Directive

75/117/EEC prohibits both direct and indirect pay discrimination.

2.1.2 Guiding principles for companies

Through the adoption, eective implementation, monitoring, evaluation and public reporting

of comprehensive equal pay policies, companies can ensure that workers’ contributions

are valued equally, regardless of their gender. Comprehensive equal pay policies are more

eective when they:

1. Ensure commitment and leadership from the top

2. Promote social dialogue and collective bargaining

3. Establish and implement a comprehensive equal pay policy

4. Measure the gender pay gap and perform gender-neutral job evaluations

5. Promote pay transparency and reporting

Ensuring commitment and leadership from the top

Consistently communicating from the top that equality and inclusion are company priorities

contributes to creating an organizational culture and ensuring that any accompanying

initiatives will succeed. Demonstrating commitment and leadership in promoting gender

equality also involves engaging with other members of the business community and

stakeholders to share best practices and collaborate on building momentum for positive

change.

Leadership should extend to ensuring that adequate policies and practices are put in place.

Policies should include the necessary pay adjustments to close gender pay gaps and require

regular pay equity reviews. In addition, they should provide for the allocation of a special

(temporary) budget to eliminate any identied dierences in wages between women and

men.

Promoting social dialogue and collective bargaining

Although it is ultimately up to each company to determine how it wishes to develop and

implement gender equality policies, companies are encouraged to use social dialogue

and collective bargaining. These mechanisms provide a channel for management to

acquire the best possible information about existing obstacles to gender equality, and to

generate creative solutions that can be implemented in partnership with workers and their

representatives.

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Social dialogue and collective bargaining are most likely to promote inclusive and gender-

equal employment systems when such bargaining is coordinated and conducted at a

national or sectoral level.

Becoming a member of an employer or business organization,

and engaging in social dialogue and the formulation of collective bargaining agreements

that proactively address inequalities, can be an eective mechanism for closing gender wage

gaps.

Ensuring that a collective agreement covers workers in the lowest-paid categories

can also help to narrow the gender pay gap, particularly in highly feminized occupations or

sectors.

Establishing and implementing a comprehensive equal pay policy

If well designed, equal pay policies are powerful tools for achieving the equal pay principle.

Collaboration between management, workers and their representatives is at the core of

such workplace action.

In order to be eective, equal pay policies should promote sex-disaggregated pay data

collection and adopt job evaluation methods using gender-responsive and objective criteria,

as well as estimates of pay gaps between jobs of equal value. They should also provide for

the necessary pay adjustments to close gender pay gaps and require regular pay equity

reviews. Policies should also provide for the allocation of a special (temporary) budget to

eliminate any identied dierences in wages between women and men.

Equal pay policies should also set out improved recruitment and selection procedures that

refrain from requesting an employee’s pay history. Basing current wages on previous wages

perpetuates the existing gender pay gap. In other words, a woman’s (or man’s) pay history

or past salaries should not determine the level of her or his present or prospective salary,

but rather the value of the job itself (as outlined in the preceding section). Governments are

increasingly adopting laws and regulations that prohibit employers from requesting salary

history information from job applicants.

Measuring the gender pay gap and performing gender-neutral job evaluations

Evaluating and comparing the relative value of jobs helps determine whether they are fairly

and equally remunerated. Gender-neutral job evaluations help to establish the relative

value of jobs and thus determine whether their corresponding pay is just. The process takes

into account a variety of factors across dierent jobs, such as skills, the eort involved,

responsibilities and working conditions.

Objective job evaluations can be used to compare

work performed by men and women in dierent places or enterprises, or between dierent

employers, and the process achieves greater pay equity when it is systemic, formal and

inclusive, particularly in large organizations. It is a highly technical process, with multiple

methods available, requiring utmost care to eliminate gender bias during the classication

process (please refer to Annex 3 for introductory guides to gender-neutral job evaluations

and other resources and tools relating to equal pay).

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Once the gender pay gap has been identied, an ecient way to close it is for companies

to identify which employees are contributing the most to the gap, then allocate raises as

eciently as possible to close the gap (as opposed to across-the-board equal raises), taking

managerial objectives such as fairness and equality into account.

Although determining an overall gender pay gap gure for a company is a good start, an

overall gure may obscure more persistent pay inequalities at dierent levels within the

organization. Hence, best practice also includes examining pay disparities across dierent

employee categories, or pay bands, and disclosing this information publicly.

Promoting pay transparency and reporting

Transparency is particularly important in closing the gender pay gap, as it facilitates

discussion, both internally and externally, of what does and does not work and promotes

knowledge-sharing. Transparency is central to eliminating pay inequality. It gives employees

condence that their pay is fair and non-discriminatory, which has been shown to provide

motivation for greater productivity and team collaboration.

Pay transparency helps both employers and employees obtain the information necessary to

assess gender discrimination and rectify pay gaps, as well as negotiate fair remuneration,

individually or through collective bargaining. This will also reduce the risk of unequal pay

claims being made against companies. Conversely, not disclosing pay can reinforce gender

discrimination in business practice and create doubt and mistrust among colleagues or

between employees and employers.

A recent study shows that when companies disclose gender pay gaps (in this case as

mandated by legislation), gender pay gaps shrink. Moreover, pay transparency also

increases the company’s gender balance and the number of women promoted to more

senior positions, while reducing overall labour costs due to reduced growth of male wages.

There are many global partnerships and initiatives available to support companies in

achieving equal pay for work of equal value, such as the Equal Pay International Coalition

(EPIC).

2.1.3 Illustrative practices

Areva Group (now Orano)

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Utilities, Energy

Headquarters: France

Number of employees: 41,847

Share of women employees: 21.1 per cent

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A WEPs signatory since 2010, the Areva Group, a multinational company in the energy

sector based in France, signed a European framework agreement on equal opportunities

in 2006 with the European Works Council and the European Metalworkers’ Federation. The

agreement included provisions for equal pay, equal access to promotion, training, and non-

discrimination during recruitment. The agreement also created a Women’s Forum to bring

together women in the company from all areas and positions.

To further progress, in late 2012 the company also signed a group agreement on gender

equality, including guarantees in respect of equality in hiring, career paths, compensation

and promotions, training, work–life balance, and awareness-raising among employees.

The agreement also created a budget specically for the remediation of any “unjustied

compensation gaps at equal levels of responsibility”. Furthermore, it allows workers who

are on parental leave to continue to contribute to their retirement fund.

In 2009, 35 per cent of new technical sta hired by the company were women, while only

17 per cent of young engineering graduates in France were women.

Achieving a better

gender balance in the talent pipeline is an important step in overcoming the occupational

segregation that keeps the numbers of women in industrial enterprises, such as Areva, at

low levels. In 2014, the number of women workers in the company globally was 21.1 per

cent, with gures of nearly 22 per cent in management, 16 per cent in executive positions

and 33 per cent in board membership.

These gures show, in relation to 2005 levels, an

increase of 17.5 per cent among the general workforce, nearly 16 per cent in management,

and about 6 per cent in executive positions.

Fujitsu

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Technology, IT equipment and services

Headquarters: Japan

Number of employees: 32,969

Share of women employees: 16.7 per cent

A WEPs signatory since 2017, the UK & Ireland branch of Fujitsu, a multinational IT

equipment and services company based in Japan, has a holistic approach to promoting

gender equality and tackling the gender pay gap. This includes gender pay gap analysis and

reporting, striving for a better work–family balance and supporting the childcare needs of

its workforce, as well as measures to achieve a better gender balance in the talent pipeline

and increase the number of women in leadership roles.

In Japan, the company’s eorts to support the care responsibilities of its workers include

a teleworking policy, implemented in 2017, which makes telework available for all 35,000

employees in Japan. Policies are also in place to support employees who are pregnant,

have children or are nursing. These include a babysitter subsidy, three in-house childcare

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facilities and support groups for new parents. Furthermore, workshops have been held for

employees who are nursing, as well as training seminars for managers on how to support

employees who are nursing.

The company has a variety of initiatives to decrease the long working hours that are an

endemic issue in Japan, one that hinders career advancement for women, who shoulder

disproportionate care responsibilities at home.

The company also oers 14 weeks’

paid paternity leave for new fathers

and has seen a 40 per cent increase in its take-up

between 2015 and 2017.

Fujitsu has received the “Platinum Kurumin mark” award from

the Japanese government in recognition of its work–life balance policies, the highest level

of such certication.

IKEA

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Retail, Furniture production

Headquarters: The Netherlands

Number of employees: 208,000

Share of women employees: 52.5 per cent in the UK

IKEA has been a WEPs signatory since 2018 and is a member of EPIC. It has spent years working

to reduce the gender pay gap and, as a member of the UN High Level Panel on women’s

economic empowerment,

has committed to securing equal pay for work of equal value

by 2020. On 1 January 2019, an 18-month project was rolled out in all 30 countries of IKEA’s

franchise

to conduct annual assessments of dierences between men and women in IKEA’s

employment, and of base-pay policies. The company has committed to public reporting of

these results in publications such as the IKEA Group Yearly Summary.

In all countries in which

it operates, IKEA is taking part in pay-equity programmes, but many of these programmes dier

according to region and country. Some examples include: equalizing pay between part-time

and full-time workers in Japan,

especially because women hold 90 per cent of IKEA Japan’s

part-time positions;

oering childcare services for employees in South Korean facilities;

adopting a gender-inclusive recruitment process and running a childcare programme in India;

and prioritizing equal parental leave for men and women in the United States and India.

In 2010, IKEA focused on pay equality in relation to diversity and intersectionality, developing

principles to reduce multiple pay gaps.

Two years later, IKEA analysed gaps in the pay of

executive management. Adjustments were made to promote equal pay regardless of gender,

nationality and other factors.

Between 2013 and 2014, IKEA focused on ve countries,

which required greater attention to women’s economic empowerment.

A supervisory board

convened in 2016 to focus on budgeting with a view to closing the pay gap; this group meets

annually.

In 2017, it established a task force to create a pay-assessment tool with the help of

an external auditor, which is used by IKEA stores worldwide to analyse their internal pay gaps.

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SAP SE

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Technology, Software services

Headquarters: Germany

Number of employees: 96,498

Share of women employees: 33 per cent

Work to assess potential pay inequality at SAP US started in 2016 with an external gap analysis

that reviewed all applicable laws and best practices, and analysed the total compensation

for employees in the United States beyond base pay. According to Jennifer Morgan, then

CEO of SAP North America, the analysis found a 99 per cent rate of equal pay (for equivalent

work) and the company immediately addressed the remaining 1 per cent gap by increasing

compensation to aected employees, of whom 70 per cent were women and 30 per cent

men.

In 2018, SAP further examined the company’s gender-equality performance at global

level.

Moreover, SAP set a target (and measured progress toward it) of having 25 per cent women

in leadership by 2017, enabling women’s upward trajectory through leadership acceleration

programmes, digital professional development opportunities, and community networks.

After meeting the target, SAP extended its commitment by setting an additional milestone

of reaching 30 per cent by the end of 2022.

The company has been a WEPs signatory since

2015 and is ranked rst for gender equality among the top 10 companies in the technology

sector, according to the Equileap 2019, Top 100 Companies rankings.

Starbucks

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Retail, Restaurants

Headquarters: United States

Number of employees: 291,000

Share of women employees: Store partners 68 per cent, retail leadership 66 per cent,

directors 50 per cent, VPs 49 per cent, senior leadership 40 per cent

In March 2018, Starbucks announced that it had achieved 100 per cent pay parity for

employees of all genders and races in the United States, the culmination of a 10-year

eort.

The company credits this achievement to implementing the following policies and

principles:

8 stop asking candidates about their salary history

8 remove any caps on promotional increases

8 be transparent about wages, provide a position’s pay range if a candidate asks for it

8 report annually on pay equity progress across the organization

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8 conduct comprehensive analyses of compensation

8 analyse all compensation decisions before they are adopted

8 have an accessible pay calculator with transparent standards and calculation methods

8 adopt a policy of no retaliation or discrimination against employees who ask about or

discuss wages

8 address unexplained dierences in pay between women and men performing similar

work.

These principles were adopted under the umbrella of a company goal to achieve and

maintain 100 per cent gender pay equity globally and to maintain 100 per cent pay equity

in the United States.

Starbucks has also committed to encouraging other multinational companies to work

towards pay equity by sharing their knowledge and tools with the support of the Billie Jean

King Leadership Initiative (BJKLI) and leading national women’s organizations, such as the

National Partnership for Women and Families (National Partnership) and the American

Association of University Women (AAUW).

Swedbank

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Financial services, Banking

Headquarters: Sweden

Number of employees: 16,430

Share of women employees: 61 per cent

In 2014, Swedbank’s leadership team decided to go above and beyond the law, which

in Sweden requires companies to perform an equal-pay analysis and work towards

eradicating the equal pay gap. A new plan was adopted to tackle the gender pay gap in

the four countries in which it operates (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden). It set an

ambitious target: to reduce the pay gap to zero by 2017 for all employees in every part of

the Bank, and to maintain that gure. One of the measures taken was to put in place a job

evaluation system to map out, evaluate and compare each job in the organization. This was

a signicant step forward for the bank, moving from simply looking at job titles towards

a more comprehensive exercise that took into account each job’s complexity and level of

responsibility. This job evaluation exercise is now performed regularly.

The next step was to ensure that employees doing work of equal value were receiving

the same salary. If gaps were found, immediate corrective measures were taken with

the help of a special budget set aside for this purpose. Although not all companies can

allocate additional funds to close the gender pay gap, for Swedbank it was an option and a

conscious decision. Prioritizing spending on closing the gap was a useful exercise in itself

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and demonstrated that the leadership team recognized and were serious about tackling the

problem.

The Bank’s HR Compensations and Benets team conducts a pay gap assessment of each

part of the organization three times a year and shares the ndings with each business area

to make sure that no pay gap has been created. This assessment prevents pay gaps from

reappearing once they have been eradicated. HR also works with managers throughout

the annual salary review process, making sure that equal pay is considered at every step.

It again provides a checkpoint, calculating the impact on equal pay if salaries are raised as

proposed by managers. If the calculation reveals that a gap will be created, managers are

asked to modify their salary review proposals.

Education and training for HR professionals, who are leading the drive for equal pay, was

crucial to the programme’s success. This allowed them to eectively support managers and

competently tackle questions on equal pay raised by sta. Induction and periodic training

for managers, starting at the highest levels, on both equal pay and on broader topics of

gender equality and diversity, also played a key role. Over time, equal pay has become a

deeply embedded norm in the culture of the organization. It is part of the Bank’s scorecard

and a key performance indicator for the whole organization.

By 2017, the overall gender pay gap for all four countries was approximately 0.4 per cent.

The zero pay gap target has been achieved in Sweden, with work ongoing in the other

countries. Close monitoring and reporting of the programme means producing reports

on a regular basis and distributing them to the management teams. This allows for early

intervention if a gap starts to emerge. In 2019, Swedbank signed the WEPs and was ranked

among the top three companies in Sweden for gender equality, according to the Equileap

2019, Top 100 Companies rankings.

2.2 Preventing and ending gender-based violence and

harassment in the world of work

Gender-based violence and harassment, including sexual harassment, are incompatible

with decent work yet remain pervasive around the world, irrespective of sector or income.

Over a third of Canadian women reported that they experienced sexual harassment at work,

while 12 per cent of men reported the same in a 2018 survey.

In the European Union (EU),

between 40 and 50 per cent of women reported that they had experienced a form of sexual

harassment in the workplace.

Unfortunately, the experiences of many victims go unheard,

as four out of ve women do not report instances of harassment to their employers.

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Violence and harassment negatively impact the organization of work, workplace relations,

worker engagement, enterprise reputation, and productivity. Those experiencing violence

and harassment at work can suer harm to their psychological, physical and sexual health,

including physical injuries, anxiety, depression, stress and other lasting impacts of trauma,

as well as harm to their dignity and their family and social environment.

Women’s economic empowerment is also aected, as research has found that victims are

more likely to change jobs, and therefore suer nancial stress, rather than report incidents

to escape an abusive situation. Such desperate job changes can negatively impact women’s

career success and companies’ turnover

and may prevent persons, particularly women,

from accessing, remaining and advancing in the labour market.

Women may also be

reluctant to move or have greater dicult in moving into leaderships roles due to high levels

of sexual harassment. EU research shows that over 70 per cent of women in leadership roles

have experienced sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment results in an unsafe and hostile

work environment, undermines equality at work and reinforces stereotypes about women’s

abilities and aspirations.

Domestic violence also can aect employment, productivity and

the health and safety of workers.

Companies can take proactive measures to combat harassment and violence in the world

of work. The think-tank Business Fights Poverty (BFP) has produced a ve-step framework

that businesses can implement in daily company functioning: raise prevention awareness;

commit to all aspects of women’s empowerment; implement supportive and destigmatizing

policies; collaborate with other sectors; and ensure transparency and accountability.

These

steps, when combined, optimize the workplace as a safe haven for all individuals and

can have positive social and cultural impacts. BFP has also produced a diagnostic tool for

assessing the strength of company policies to combat harassment and violence.

In addition, the ILO and UN Women have jointly developed a handbook on addressing

violence and harassment against women (see Annex 3).

2.2.1 Key International Labour Standards and other instruments

The Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190) and the accompanying

Recommendation No. 206 recognize that violence and harassment take a huge toll on

individuals, businesses, society and governments. Women are disproportionately impacted.

The concept of “violence and harassment” in the world of work is dened as “unacceptable

behaviours and practices, or threats thereof, whether a single occurrence or repeated, that

aim at, result in, or are likely to result in physical, psychological, sexual or economic harm,

and includes gender-based violence and harassment”.

It includes sexual harassment and

covers work-related communications (including email and online platforms), work-related

social events, commuting to and from work, and domestic violence

within private homes

when they are a place of work.

Protection should cover all sectors, occupations and types of

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work arrangements, including job-seekers, interns and volunteers, and persons exercising

the duties of an employer.

Employers should commit to eliminating violence and harassment at work and adopt a

policy to:

8 arm that violence and harassment will not be tolerated;

8 establish violence and harassment prevention programmes with, if appropriate,

measurable objectives;

8 specify the rights and responsibilities of the workers and the employer, including the right

of the worker to remove her or himself from a situation involving violence or harassment

without fear of retaliation;

8 establish complaint and investigation procedures;

8 ensure that all internal and external communications related to incidents of violence and

harassment will be duly considered, and acted upon as appropriate;

8 specify the right to privacy of individuals and condentiality, while balancing the right of

workers to be made aware of all hazards;

8 include measures to address domestic violence: awareness-raising, leave for victims,

exible work arrangements, temporary protection against dismissal for victims of

domestic violence and referral to public mitigation measures; and

8 institute measures to protect complainants, victims, witnesses and whistle-blowers

against victimization or retaliation.

Workers and their representatives should take part in the design, implementation and

monitoring of workplace policies on violence and harassment. Associated psycho-social

risks should be incorporated into the management of occupational safety and health.

Workplace risk assessments should take into account factors that increase the likelihood

of violence and harassment, including psycho-social hazards and risks. Particular attention

should be paid to the hazards and risks that:

8 arise from working conditions and arrangements, work organization and human resource

management, as appropriate;

8 involve third parties such as clients, customers, service providers, users, patients and

members of the public; and

8 arise from discrimination, abuse of power relations, and gender, cultural and social

norms that support violence and harassment.

So far as is reasonably practicable, employers should provide workers and other persons

concerned with information, tools and training, in accessible formats as appropriate, on the

identied hazards and risks of violence and harassment, and the associated prevention and

protection measures, including rights and responsibilities.

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There are other international and regional instruments that address violence and harassment

at work. In interpreting the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

(CEDAW), the Committee on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

against Women (CEDAW Committee) considers workplace sexual harassment as a form

of gender-based violence that can reduce gender equality in the workplace and result in

health and safety issues.

The European Social Charter (revised) of 1996, the Convention

on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (known as

the Istanbul Convention), 2011, and several EU Directives also seek to prevent and prohibit

various forms of violence and harassment.

Principle 3 of the WEPs calls for actions by its signatories to establish a zero-tolerance policy

against all forms of violence and harassment at work.

2.2.2 Guiding principles for companies

Enterprises – both directly and through their employers’ organizations – can play, and are

already playing, a key role in ending violence and harassment, including sexual harassment,

by helping to shape public policies, calling on governments to ratify ILO Convention No. 190

and participating in social dialogue.

Individual enterprises have the ability to inuence

societal norms and behaviours on gender-based violence and harassment through

advertising and campaigning, particularly when the issues align with core business aims

and include culturally relevant reference points or actors.

Company policies that have

proved successful include plans that:

1. Demonstrate leadership commitment to a company culture of zero-tolerance

2. Adopt, implement and monitor a comprehensive and eective workplace policy on

violence and harassment

3. Promote occupational safety and health and systematic workplace assessment

4. Foster guidance, training and awareness-raising

5. Mitigate the impact of domestic violence in the world of work

6. Address unequal gender-based power relations

Leadership and commitment to a company culture of zero-tolerance

Organizational culture is one of the leading factors in the occurrence of sexual harassment.

Leadership shapes that culture. When leaders take sexual harassment seriously and make

prevention a high-priority, it impacts the way employees see the issue.

As a U.S. Equal

Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Task Force on the Study of Harassment in

the Workplace expressed it: “… leadership and commitment to a diverse, inclusive, and

respectful workplace in which harassment is simply not acceptable is paramount”, and “this

leadership must come from the very top of the organization”.

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“Clear and consistent” anti-harassment messaging from organizational leadership is

“essential” to combating sexual harassment.

Company leadership should communicate

strongly and frequently the tenets of the company’s policies, implement accountability

measures at all levels of leadership, reiterate zero-tolerance for violence and harassment,

prevent and protect against retaliation, and create a climate of civility and respect.

Management commitment indirectly encourages victims to report, particularly those who

fear reprisals. One of the recommendations of the EEOC Task Force was to implement a

system that rewards managers for an increased rate of harassment reporting, at least in the

short-term, in order to incentivize the creation of a climate in which employees feel safe to

report misconduct.

Adopt, implement and monitor a workplace policy on violence and harassment

To eliminate violence and harassment in the world of work, robust and comprehensive

workplace policies on violence and harassment, including gender-based violence and

harassment, are key. The recommended elements of an eective workplace policy include:

a denition of what is considered violence and harassment illustrated by examples, a

commitment to zero-tolerance, prevention, access to an eective complaint and investigation

procedure, access to remedies and assistance (including support and services for victims,

counselling and information, 24-hour hotlines, emergency services, medical care and

psychological support) and appropriate provisions to protect privacy and condentiality.

The system established by the policy should foster trust in the complaints procedures.

Measures include providing clear information about the complaints process, ensuring

anonymity through a variety of reporting platforms

and protecting against retaliation.

The workplace policy should establish an integrated approach addressing all related aspects

of the phenomenon (health, safety, equality, discrimination, sanctions and so on). It should be

drafted in consultation with workers and their representatives, using culturally appropriate

language,

and should be available in accessible formats. It should also be reected in

broader policies such as equality policies, collective agreements or codes of conduct.

Promote occupational safety and health and systematic workplace assessment

Ending violence and harassment in the world of work is inextricably linked to the promotion

of occupational safety and health (OSH). Certain factors may increase the risk of violence

and harassment: working at night in isolation, in contact with the public or working in

intimate spaces and private homes;

contract work;

intersectional factors such as race,

ethnicity, gender, disability, age and HIV status.

OSH programmes and risk assessments are key tools for integrating these issues into

prevention and mitigation strategies.

An honest and thorough qualitative and quantitative

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assessment of policies, hazards and risks, enforcement mechanisms, and the prevalence

and nature of complaints about violence and harassment helps to identify gaps in

protection and remediation mechanisms.

Information on any complaints made should

also be meticulously and condentially recorded. It is good practice to track numbers of

complaints by department, gender, outcomes and remediation options.

This data can then

be analysed to identify patterns and better understand where more proactive measures

may be needed.

Foster guidance, training and awareness-raising

Training is important in improving understanding of what constitutes violence and

harassment, and ensuring that measures to prevent and address it are enforced.

Frequent,

in-person, interactive training seem to be the best approach,

particularly when it features

content that is tailored to a specic department, company or cohort of employees.

Various

approaches may be required to transform the workplace culture, including implicit (or

unconscious) bias training, bystander intervention training, training to change stereotypes

and social norms, and peer-to-peer training, which empowers employees to help each other

disseminate information and change harmful practices.

Training should be evaluated to

assess its short- and long-term eects and ensure that the best methods are implemented,

based on sta characteristics and composition, and feedback.

Mitigate the impact of domestic violence in the world of work

The world of work can play an important role in mitigating the eects of domestic violence

on individuals and workplaces. Companies are encouraged to take a number of measures,

including leave for victims of domestic violence, exible working arrangements, and the

incorporation of domestic violence into workplace risk assessments and workplace policies

on all forms of violence and harassment in the world of work.

They can also provide

safety and support for survivors of domestic violence, for example by referring a worker

to local counselling support.

Companies can also refer to the eects of domestic violence

on individuals and the workplace when disseminating information to raise awareness on

violence in the workplace.

Address unequal gender-based power relations

Gender imbalances in an occupation or industry tend to increase the risk of sexual

harassment.

A male-dominated and hierarchical workplace culture poses risks,

as do

female-dominated occupations with gender stereotypical roles of care and service, in

which women are viewed as subservient.

Taking steps to increase gender diversity at all

levels and address unequal power balances would help to reduce this vulnerability. These

eorts will also involve engaging men as allies in proactive measures for equal gender

representation.

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2.2.3 Illustrative practices

Carrefour Hypermarkets

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Retail, Supermarkets

Headquarters: France

Number of employees: 360, 930

Share of women employees: 58 per cent

In 2012, the retailer Carrefour set up “Psya”, an active listening and psychological support

service for victims of sexual harassment. The service is free and anonymous, and can be

accessed 24 hours a day, seven days a week by telephone.

Carrefour signed the WEPs in 2013 and collaborated with UN Women in 2017 to publish

“Tackling violence against women in the workplace”, which explains how violence is

manifested and how to actively listen to people aected. Copies were distributed not only to

managers but also to all employees in order to raise their awareness, keep them informed

and support them. It will also direct victims of violence to appropriate bodies in both the

charity and public sectors. Carrefour employees in leadership positions based in non-G7

nations have received training on reducing bystander eects and on victim support.

Carrefour has signed the WEPs and works with UN Women and a number of other local NGOs

on awareness-raising and prevention campaigns in Italy, Romania and Spain. A campaign in

Argentina resulted in the establishment of a “gender-based violence committee”, and 200

store managers and directors have been trained so they can identify instances of violence

and provide the victims with support.

Diageo

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Retail, Beverages

Headquarters: United Kingdom

Number of employees: 29,917

Share of women employees: 31.8 per cent (34 per cent in leadership positions, 40 per cent at

executive level and 50 per cent of board members)

As part of a partnership with CARE International, a UK-based charity, Diageo performed an

assessment across its entire business to nd out to what extent the company was tackling

violence and harassment, including sexual harassment. The analysis compared Diageo’s

current violence and harassment mechanisms with the – at that time – proposed text of ILO

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Convention No. 190, as well as CARE’s best practice recommendations. This benchmarking

exercise was then validated by Diageo’s global team across multiple countries and business

functions, and the results were used to strengthen its global Dignity at Work policy.

Additionally, as a result of extensive human rights impact assessments in 12 markets,

Diageo identied the risks of sexual harassment faced by workers in the hospitality sector,

implemented initiatives aimed at preventing harassment, and developed contractor

standards in line with the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

Diageo has been a WEPs signatory since 2013 and was ranked #1 in Equileap 2019, Top 100

Companies for gender equality.

Endesa

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Utilities, Electricity

Headquarters: Spain

Number of employees: 1,295

Share of women employees: 65.9 per cent

Endesa, a Spanish multi-national electricity company, has been a WEPs signatory since

2010. It includes a commitment to tackling gender-based violence in its Plan for Equal

Opportunities and has taken action accordingly.

Employees who are victims of gender-

based violence, including domestic violence, are eligible for psychological support, medical

care and legal aid. They can also receive support to manage the multidimensional eects of

violence, including exible work arrangements, childcare, and nancial assistance with the

costs of relocating to ensure safety, such as the rent of a new home and the fees involved

in a child changing schools.

Fortalice Solutions

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Technology, Cybersecurity

Headquarters: United States

Number of employees: 11–50

Share of female employees: 44 per cent

Fortalice Solutions investigates cybersecurity breaches and provides prevention systems for

businesses, governments and individuals.

Fortalice also does pro-bono work for victims of

sex crimes and human tracking, and to combat violence against women and girls in and

outside the digital world.

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Fortalice created #HelpASisterUp to increase the number of women in cybersecurity,

who account for only 10 per cent of the industry workforce.

The LinkedIn group allows

women and girls to contact Fortalice professionals to set up potential mentorships. Women

wanting to embark on a cyber-career can utilize the #HelpASisterUp programme to nd

resources and discuss industry prospects, whether this is their rst career track or a change

in labour force status.

Increasing the presence of women in the heavily male-dominated

cybersecurity industry can lead to innovative company policies, especially to protect the

privacy of women and girls, who are at high-risk of online harassment in cyberspace.

Gap Inc.

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Retail, Apparel

Headquarters: United States

Number of employees: 135,000

Share of women employees: 76 per cent

Gap has been a WEPs signatory since 2015. Its “Zero Means Zero” sexual harassment policy

demands zero-tolerance for sexual harassment, emphasizing that every complaint will be

quickly and thoroughly investigated, and that the company strictly prohibits retaliation.

The policy stresses that it is “everyone’s responsibility” to voice any concern about potential

discrimination or harassment, whether as a target or a bystander.

The global policy applies to all employees and business partners, including directors,

managers, applicants, customers, contractors, vendors and suppliers.

Gap has established

a 24-hour Code of Business Conduct (COBC) hotline, which is managed by an independent,

third-party vendor and provides interpretation. The hotline access page stresses that

individuals submitting a complaint are protected by the company’s “strict enforcement of

the company’s zero tolerance for retaliation”.

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2.3 Promoting work–family balance and equal sharing of care

responsibilities

According to the ILO’s Care Work and Care Jobs report: “In no country in the world do men and

women perform an equal share of unpaid care work”.

The burden falls disproportionately

on women. In developed countries, women spend a daily average of 4 hours and 20 minutes

on unpaid care work, as against a daily average of 2 hours and 16 minutes spent by men.

In most countries, this divergence begins during a woman’s child-rearing years and persists

throughout her lifetime.

The disparity between women and men in care responsibilities has signicant ramications

for women’s economic empowerment. In every country around the world, women’s labour

market participation is lower than that of men, largely due to the unequal distribution of

hours of unpaid work in the household.

When women do work, “they tend to have more limited access than men to high-quality

employment opportunities”, in large part due to the disproportionate burden of unpaid

work in the household.

The need for more exibility to full their care responsibilities

prompts many women to take up paid work that is part-time or in the informal economy,

where wages are usually lower, perpetuating the gender pay gap.

Pregnant women are more likely to be discriminated against in hiring and ring. They

are also more likely to be denied the right to return to work once their maternity leave

is nished. Maternity discrimination pushes more women into gig employment or the

informal economy, where wages are low and hours less stable.

Gender equality and women’s economic empowerment are intimately intertwined with

achieving work–family balance, ensuring a more balanced sharing of family responsibilities

and investing in the care economy, as called for by the ILO Centenary Declaration for the

Future of Work. Moreover, family-friendly policies, such as supporting breastfeeding at work,

positively impact broader social well-being since they are correlated with lower mortality

rates and healthier mothers and babies, and hence lower healthcare costs.

2.3.1 Key International Labour Standards and other instruments

The ILO’s rst maternity convention (Maternity Convention, 1919 (No. 3)) was adopted soon

after the organization’s founding in 1919, pointing to its centrality in advancing gender

equality at work and social justice. International labour standards on maternity protection

have two main goals: to “preserve the health of the mother and her newborn” and to “provide

a measure of job and income security: protection from dismissal and discrimination, the right

to resume work after leave, and maintenance of wages and incomes during maternity”.

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The more recent Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183) applies to all women,

including those in atypical forms of dependent work. It focuses on providing adequate

nancial and other support; protecting pregnant workers and those with newborns from

discrimination; and supporting workers (both women and men) with family responsibilities.

The minimum length of maternity leave should be 14 weeks. Recommendation No. 191

recommends 18 weeks. The mother should receive nancial support equal to at least two

thirds of previous earnings provided through compulsory social insurance or public funds,

with no more than one third to be provided through employer liability, so as not to incentivize

employers to avoid hiring pregnant workers or women of child-bearing age.

Health protection in the workplace should be provided for pregnant and nursing workers.

This includes time o for medical examinations, workplace risk assessments, and prevention

and protection measures. It also encompasses accommodating and supporting workers

who are breastfeeding, allowing them time o to feed or pump and an appropriate space

to do so. These elements should be incorporated into the occupational safety and health

management system.

The ILO Workers with Family Responsibilities Recommendation, 1981 (No. 165) and the

Maternity Protection Recommendation, 2000 (No. 191) call for parental leave and leave for

adoptive parents. This serves both to expand the opportunity for all parents to bond with

their new-born or newly adopted child and to destigmatize maternity leave.

Actions deemed discriminatory include: refusal to hire; dismissal or denial of the opportunity

to return to work following maternity leave; the use of temporary contracts or non-standard

forms of employment to discriminate against pregnant women; and mandatory pregnancy

testing.

Recommendation No. 165 also encourages measures to enable workers to reconcile their

work and family life. These include adequate and appropriate childcare and family services

and facilities; more exible work schedules, rest periods and holidays; and vocational

guidance and training to enable workers with family responsibilities to become and remain

integrated in the labour force, as well as to re-enter the labour force after an absence due

to such responsibilities.

Many workers with family responsibilities work from home, where they often lack legal

protections and bargaining power. The Home Work Convention, 1996 (No. 177) and

Recommendation No. 184 promote equality of treatment between home workers and other

workers.

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Other international and regional instruments

Maternity protection is also enshrined in key human rights treaties, including the 1948

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Economic,

Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), 1966, and the Convention for the Elimination of All

Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 1979.

The WEPs include indicators on

paid maternity and parental leave.

In 2019, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted a Directive

to support a healthy work–life balance for parents and carers.

It introduces at least ten

days’ paid leave for a baby’s second parent, ve days’ paid leave per year for workers who

need to care for a sick or dependent family member, and the right to request exible working

arrangements.

Furthermore, the Directive includes guidance to ensure protection against

discrimination for workers with family obligations and pregnant women; promote a more

gender-balanced use of family-related leave and exible work arrangements; and improve

long-term and childcare services.

This legislation means that parents and carers will be

better able to reconcile their professional and private lives, and companies will benet from

more motivated workers.

Women’s Empowerment Principle 2 calls on its signatories to oer exible working

arrangements, gender-sensitive recruitment and retention practices, and leave and re-

entry opportunities to positions of equal pay and status, and to support women and men’s

access to child and dependent care through services, resources and information.

2.3.2 Guiding principles for companies

Eective company policies that can promote a better work-life balance for all include:

1. Providing maternity protection in line with or over and above international labour

standards

2. Preventing discrimination against pregnant women and workers with family

responsibilities in hiring, job assignment, training, conditions of work and ring

3. Providing paid paternity leave and encouraging uptake

4. Facilitating a smooth return to work after leave

5. Supporting breastfeeding in the workplace

6. Assisting with on- or near-site subsidized childcare

7. Supporting other care responsibilities

8. Providing exible working arrangements

9. Extending coverage to all workers and families

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Providing maternity protection in line with or over and above international labour

standards

To promote the equal sharing of care responsibilities between women and men, maternity

leave should be part of a comprehensive and integrated care-leave policy, as a minimum

guaranteeing maternity protection to all women in line with ILO international labour

standards (see Section 2.3.1). A review of research on maternity leave duration by New

America’s Better Life Lab found that periods of leave shorter than 12 weeks were associated

with negative health and well-being outcomes for mothers and infants, and that longer paid

leaves had long-term benets.

Research shows that periods of leave of less than one year

are optimal, to avoid long-term negative impacts on women’s labour market participation

and career development.

Preventing discrimination against pregnant women and workers with family

responsibilities

Workers are often discriminated against in hiring, job assignment, access to training and

promotion because of actual or expected maternity and family responsibilities. Enterprises

should avoid direct and indirect discrimination against pregnant and nursing women and

workers with family responsibilities. While having regard to operational needs, enterprises

are encouraged to guarantee healthy and safe environments and working conditions for

pregnant and nursing women. They should avoid excessively long hours and unpredictable

overtime, which makes it dicult to plan for care of family members, and scheduling work

on traditional days of rest.

Providing paid paternity leave and encouraging uptake

Paternity leave recognizes a father’s right and responsibility to care for his new child. Studies

show that there is a direct positive relationship between the duration of a father’s leave

and his ongoing involvement in household chores and childcare.

Easing of the burden

on women helps them to more fully integrate into the labour market. It also benets child

development and well-being, and contributes positively to children’s future attitudes to

more equal gender norms.

The ILO Global Wage Report nds that paternity leave can

reduce the gender wage gap by countering “…the perception held by employers – both

women and men – of women wage employees as mothers.”

Some companies are going beyond the maternity and paternity divide and oering

generous parental leave for all parents. This is very helpful in further reducing unconscious

or conscious bias against women during recruitment and in challenging gender stereotypes.

However, the particular needs of mothers to recover from childbirth should be factored into

the formulation of such policies.

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Facilitating a smooth return to work after leave

Facilitating a parent’s return to work after leave is crucial for both employer and employee.

Return-to-work policies can dier, depending on an organization’s structure. They may

include gradual change from a part-time to a full-time schedule, exible hours, working from

home, coaching and online communications. The integration of technology into daily work

tasks can support a uid return to work, while not sacricing any skills during the period

of leave. However, safeguards should be put in place to avoid pressuring the employee to

work during maternity, paternity or other types of leave for carers.

Supporting breastfeeding in the workplace

Support for breastfeeding workers is important for both the worker and her baby and

should at least include permitting breast pumping or feeding in or near the workplace,

and paid lactation breaks.

Other important means of support include educating sta to

decrease stigma and discrimination in respect of breastfeeding, and providing a lactation

space or paid breaks. These measures can be adopted with relatively low cost, so they are

feasible for all sizes of enterprise.

A basic and appropriate breast feeding/lactation space should have a door that can be

locked from the inside, a at surface other than the oor on which to place supplies, proper

lighting and ventilation, cleaning wipes and paper towels, and an electrical socket. It should

also be accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Many companies go beyond these basics

and include a sink with soap and running hot and cold water, a breastmilk-designated

refrigerator, a microwave to sterilize supplies and a comfortable chair.

Assisting with on- or near-site childcare

The needs of employees who are parents go beyond the rst few months of their child’s

life. Smart, secure and good-quality childcare helps parents to return to the workplace with

peace of mind that their child is being taken care of. Employer-supported childcare can

allow fathers to share the role of caretaker equally if their business oers this service, which

can help “remove stigma against men who embrace their roles as fathers”.

The quality of childcare services is linked to the qualications and working conditions of

childcare workers. The ILO has adopted Policy Guidelines on the promotion of decent work

for early childhood education personnel.

Employer-supported childcare is not intended

to replace the primary role of the public sector. There are multiple workplace solutions

to support working parents that can be adapted to the characteristics and size of each

company at zero or low cost.

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Providing exible working arrangements for a healthy work–life balance

Flexible working arrangements, such as adjusting working hours or working from home,

can be benecial for both workers and employers. They are valuable in enabling workers to

balance their work and personal life. Flexibility is especially important to women’s economic

empowerment, in that it enables workers to balance their care and career commitments,

and allows men to be more involved in caring for their children or other family members.

However, gender stereotypes will be reinforced, rather than challenged, if workplace cultures

continue to favour working on site and working long hours, and if women disproportionately

utilize exible working arrangements. Moreover, workers need to be condent that they

will not be penalized for making use of such accommodations: research by the European

Commission shows that 27 per cent of Europeans express this concern, and thus leaders

and managers must play a key role in decreasing this pressure.

A company culture that

encourages and enables all employees to make use of such arrangements without detriment

to their career is therefore an important element of any such policies.

Extending coverage to all workers and families

Ensuring broad coverage of employee categories, such as part-time workers and those

in low-skilled and low-paid occupations, is very important, given that women are more

prevalent in these job categories.

An increasing number of companies are extending leave

benets and family-friendly policies to part-time and hourly employees.

It is also essential

to ensure that coverage supports all family types (single parents, parents who adopt or use

surrogacy, same-sex couples and so on), so none is left behind.

2.3.3 Illustrative practices

Adidas

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Retail, Sportswear,

Headquarters: Germany

Number of employees: 57,016

Share of women employees: 57 per cent

Adidas, a worldwide sportswear company based in Germany, signed the WEPs in 2020 and

helps its employees to achieve a healthy work–life balance through its multiple exible

working arrangement options. Measures in support of new mothers and parents include

parental leave, activity camps when children are not in school, back-up childcare, lactation

rooms (in select branches) and subsidies for childcare if no on-site facility is available.

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Adidas has also implemented programmes for all employees, regardless of whether or

not they are parents, ensuring that all employees are accommodated and parents are not

stigmatized. Measures include individualized working hours and days, part-time hourly

models, work-from-home, and “myTime” (a salary-conversion option at their headquarters

for sabbaticals, early retirement and other needs).

Women sta can advance themselves

educationally, socially and nancially through this programme. Adidas makes sure employees’

voices are heard be establishing a “People Pulse” employee satisfaction database, which

over 90 per cent of employees have used,

empowering workers to help create an optimal

work environment.

BMO Financial Group

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Financial, Banking

Headquarters: Canada

Number of employees: 45,454

Share of women employees: 54 per cent

BMO Financial Group, a WEPs signatory since 2019, oers a wide range of work–family

benets. Broadly open to all sta with any sort of family responsibilities, the programme

encourages both women and men to make use of the benets. Employees who give birth

receive up to 17 weeks of maternity leave and an additional 61 weeks of parental leave,

making a combined total of 78 weeks’ leave, while fathers and parents of a newborn or

adopted child benet from 61 weeks of parental leave. Employees also receive a top-up of

public payments for six weeks from the date a child is born or comes into the care of the

adoptive parent(s), bringing their total net pay to 100% of their pre-leave earnings.

Parents can access up to 10 days of paid back-up childcare services, and paid and unpaid

leave is available for a wide range of family needs. Employees also receive paid time o

to address personal matters that cannot be scheduled outside of working hours and can

request exible working arrangements (working osite, working a shortened week and/or

sharing jobs). Employees can take up to 28 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to provide

care or support to a family member who is gravely ill with a signicant risk of death; and

paid time o to help cope with the loss of an immediate family member or close friend.

Moreover, they can request extended unpaid leave of absence for a wide variety of purposes,

including family responsibilities.

In addition to these programmes, the LifeWorks-administered Employee Assistance Program

oers a variety of resources, such as blogs, online toolkits, videos, podcasts, articles, self-

assessments and interactive programmes, as well as condential counselling services to

employees and their eligible dependents.

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Danone Nutricia ELN

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Food processing

Headquarters: Italy

Number of Employees: Over 100,000 for the whole Danone Group

Share of female employees: 30 per cent of the entire Danone corporation

Danone Nutricia ELN is an Italian-based subsidiary of a larger corporation, Danone, a WEPs

signatory. In 2011, Danone Nutricia ELN introduced a Baby Decalogue Program for its employees,

which later inspired the family welfare legislation adopted by the Italian government in 2015.

This initiative was conceived in response to the low rate of women’s labour-force participation

in Italy, which is 10 percentage points lower than in other OECD countries.

The Baby Decalogue Program aims to support both maternity and paternity in the workplace

through an awareness-raising campaign informing parents of their rights as caretakers at

work (see Figure 6). The programme increases maternity leave pay and oers paternity

leave. Leave for a primary caregiver in all subsidiaries of Danone extends to 18 weeks for a

birth parent and 14 weeks for an adoptive parent.

When a parent returns from leave,

Danone Nutricia ELN streamlines the return-to-work process by providing counselling. Once

the child enters childcare, the company oers exible working hours to parents and an

annual contribution for any childcare needs.

Source: Danone, slide presented at the ILO-EU Maternity Protection Centenary Event, November 2019.

X Figure 6. The Baby Decalogue Program by Danone Nutricia ELN

19 November, 2019

BABY DECALOGUE - 10 SIMPLE RULES TO SUPPORT PARENTS IN THEIR JOURNEY

7. Warrant

to the father

10 days of paid paternity

allowing him to experience

the first important moments

of his baby’s life

8. Postpone or anticipate

for mother and father the starting and

ending working time when children start

going to nursery or to school

10. Support

families (also in economical terms) in

the education and health care of the children

(Welfare)

2. Inform

the mother of the

existence of CentroPsicheDonna

and oﬀ er her the psychological support

of the Association for herself,

her baby and her partner

3. Establsih

a communication channel during

maternity leave to share

information about business and

new Company projects

4. Organize

Course on Nutrition to accompany

mother, during and after the

pregnancy, in a very delicate moment

from a physicological point of view

1. Make aware

mother and father

of all the rights and duties

that concern

motherhood and fatherhood

5. Increase

the pay with an additional economic

contribution during the period of

optional maternity leave

giving 60% instead of 30% of the total

salary

(doubling the social security contribution)

9. Listen

to the mother’s needs when she returns to work

after maternity leave, planning a meeting

with the HR Director

6. Oﬀ er

to the working father and

mother a Mother package

every year, for three years

containing Mellin’s products

for the baby from zero to

three years old

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During parental leave, parents can undertake skills training through the “Maternity as a

Master” (MAAM) programme on a PC or mobile device. The low-cost programme has 12

dierent training modules that can be completed remotely to improve soft skills for the

world of work.

These skills have had positive eects for new parents and for Danone, in

and outside the workplace: 76 per cent of parents on leave use the programme; 83 per

cent state that their skills have improved; 75 per cent feel more engaged in Danone’s

work; 79 per cent feel more energized. Other skills that have been developed include

empathy (with an increase of 35 per cent), the ability to delegate (35 per cent), better time

management (35 per cent), decision-making (15 per cent), intellectual agility (20 per cent)

and the ability to manage complex tasks or situations (10 per cent).

The long-term eects of Danone’s programmes have been outstanding in terms of

parental take-up, returns to work, rates of promotion for returning mothers and reduced

absenteeism; 51% of the company’s managers, executives and directors are women.

The

company received Italy’s Best Workplace Award each year from 2013 to 2017.

Deloitte

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Professional services, Consulting

Headquarters: United States

Number of employees: 286,214

Share of women employees: 44 per cent

In 2016, Deloitte, a WEPs signatory since 2010, initiated family leave of 16 weeks for all

employees at full pay. Leave covers care of a child or an ailing loved one (signicant other,

parent, sibling or grandparent). The leave is also exible, so it can be taken in its entirety or

in fragments. The gender-neutral nature of the policy aims at “relieving some of the often-

seen cultural pressure on women to be the default caregiver”.

Deloitte reports that over 5,000 workers made use of the programme in the rst two years

and there has been an increase in the number of male employees taking family leave, and

for longer periods of time.

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EY (formerly Ernst & Young)

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Professional services, Accounting

Headquarters: United Kingdom

Number of employees: 261,559

Share of women employees: 47.6

The consulting rm EY has been a WEPs signatory since 2010. In 2016, it announced a

revamped leave policy for its employees in the United States. The company provides 16

weeks of paid parental leave for all employees who are welcoming a child through birth,

adoption, surrogacy, foster care or legal guardianship. This gender-neutral parental leave

replaced its previous 12-week maternity leave provision and 6-week leave for new fathers

and adoptive parents.

The expansion of leave benets was accompanied by an eort to

encourage fathers to make use of the leave that included supportive messaging by men in

leadership positions.

The policy has thus far successfully increased the proportion of men taking leave to welcome

a child. Whereas 19 per cent of eligible fathers took paternity leave prior to the expansion,

a year after the policy went into eect the take-up rate by fathers taking 6 weeks or more

increased to 38 per cent.

The company’s Diversity and Inclusion Ocer, Karyn Twaronite,

also credited the expansion and increase in fathers’ take-up of paternity leave to increasing

gender diversity in company leadership.

L’Oréal

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Retail, Household and personal products

Headquarters: France

Number of employees: 82,606

Share of women employees: 69 per cent

L’Oréal operates in 130 countries, employing 50,500 people.

L’Oréal runs a “Share &

Care” programme, which provides a minimum set of social benets for all the company’s

permanent employees and encourages local subsidiaries to launch additional initiatives.

The company provides a minimum of 14 weeks’ maternity leave, paid at 100 per cent of

previous remuneration, and six weeks of paternity leave on full pay.

Additionally, the

company ensures that women on maternity leave are entitled to all of the salary increases

that they would have received, had they not been on leave.

Employees also have access

to major medical treatments, with 75 per cent of the costs reimbursed and 24 months fully

paid in the event of death or incapacitation of the mother.

The benets also include exible

working arrangements.

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The global programme serves as a basic platform upon which local operations can build,

depending on the needs of employees in dierent regions. For instance, Canadian employees

receive exible health benets; company branches in Central America and Argentina

partake in L’Oréal Mamá (which includes longer maternity leave, a shortened working week

and subsidized childcare); while working conditions in Indonesia have been improved, with

new lactation rooms made available through oce relocation.

The company has been a

WEPs signatory since 2013. In 2016, it received the WEPs Benchmarking for Change CEO

Leadership Award and was ranked #4 in Equileap 2019, Top 100 Companies on gender

equality.

Martur Fompak International

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Automotive manufacturing

Headquarters: Turkey

Number of Employees: 5,700 total, 918 in Kütahya plant

Share of female employees: 57 per cent (Kütahya plant)

Martur Fompak has made a strong commitment to supporting workers with families and in

this respect has become a national leader. In addition to complying fully with the labour law

provisions concerning maternity leave and paid breastfeeding breaks, all Martur plants have

lactation rooms with amenities such as armchairs, blinds, air conditioning and a refrigerator

for milk storage.

To ensure women’s safety, Martur provides free transportation home if a

mother needs to leave to breastfeed.

Martur learned from exit interviews that childcare would be benecial to the company

and thus decided to provide a free summer camp for children when school is closed.

One branch of Martur, the Martur Kütahya plant, pays the fees for near-site childcare

and transportation.

The results of these policies are striking: 84 per cent of women

who took leave in 2015 and 2016 returned to work and were still employed a year later,

while absenteeism fell from 4.15 per cent in 2013 to 1.9 per cent in 2016.

Since more

and more women are returning to work, sta turnover fell by over 3 per cent between

2013 and 2017.

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Novartis

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Pharmaceuticals

Headquarters: Switzerland (policy is for France)

Number of employees: 1,800 in France

Share of women employees: 60 per cent

In 2006, Novartis France launched an internal survey to analyse the inuence of care work

on its employees. It found that 40 per cent of employees had care responsibilities. Three

years later, the company published a “Guide for Informal Carers” to provide information

and resources to employees with a broad range of care responsibilities, including care for

children, older persons and sick relatives. Multimedia applications were also developed to

provide more advice on care.

Novartis France oers 27 days of annual leave and 14 days of reduced working time

(up to 50 per cent). Employees have access to a time-credit scheme and those with care

responsibilities benet from a “credit-hours scheme” to allow for an extra two-hours of paid

leave per month for care activities. Carers can receive an extra stipend by way of nancial

support.

To reduce stigma, Novartis France provides training for individuals in leadership positions

on how to better support employees with care responsibilities.

The Novartis Foundation

has gone even further in educating the public and policy-makers where care is concerned.

In 2008, it created an Observatory of the Family Circle to inform health policy-makers about

the challenges faced by workers with family responsibilities and propose policy solutions.

Novartis has been a WEPs signatory since 2010 and has recently joined EPIC.

Patagonia

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Retail, Sportswear

Headquarters: United States

Number of employees: 1,728

Share of women employees: 50.1 per cent

Patagonia has instilled a family-friendly culture into its workplace since 1983. It provides

16 weeks of paid maternity leave and 12 weeks of paid paternity leave.

To facilitate the

return to work and promote a healthy work–life balance, Patagonia provides a subsidized

childcare centre, which can welcome about 100 children ranging in age from new-borns to

9 years old.

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Patagonia has also made a strong commitment to supporting workers who breastfeed

their infants. What started as colleagues using a caravan for nursing breaks and childcare

needs

has evolved into the Great Pacic Child Development Center at its corporate

headquarters and the Truckee River Child Development Center at its national distribution

centre.

The company distributes information on prenatal and breastfeeding health

and

provides paid nursing breaks. Breaks can be taken in a private space in the childcare centre,

where trained sta are available to assist. Mothers can nurse while working, including

during meetings,

and they can make use of a travel-support programme.

This combination of policies has been very successful: 100 per cent of mothers return from

leave after having a child. Moreover, Patagonia’s turnover of employees who are parents is

25 per cent less than for employees without children. The company estimates that these

retention rates have oset the annual costs of the facilities by about 91 per cent.

It may also

be helping with recruitment. When Patagonia published a book entitled Family Business,

which discusses Patagonia’s family-friendly policies, trac to the company’s recruitment

website increased by 40 per cent.

RELX

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Professional services, Analytics

Headquarters: United Kingdom

Number of employees: approximately 30,000

Share of women employees: 51 per cent

The RELX Group, which is a member of the UN Global Compact and signed the WEPs in

2014, began the process of implementing a exible working policy by mapping existing

workplace measures across the business.

The company then explicitly endorsed the value

of exible working as part of its global exible-working principles and created an enabling

environment where “work–life integration is encouraged and supported”.

Flexible working arrangements include exitime, part-time working, job sharing,

teleworking, time o for care responsibilities for children and other family members, and

career breaks.

This option is available to employees all around the world in their Scientic,

Technical & Medical segment, one of the four parts of the company.

The use of these options is supported by positive messaging from company leadership,

and the company has proled female and male employees who have made use of these

arrangements on the company intranet and website. The case studies feature men’s and

women’s stories of how they work exibly, the practical realities of using these exible

working options, and the impact this has had on their careers and well-being.

100

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Sumitomo Chemical

Basic Characteristics

Sector: Chemical production, Sales

101

Headquarters: Japan

Number of Employees: 9,012

102

Share of female employees: 16 per cent

103

To support its workers with parental responsibilities, Sumitomo Chemical oers 98 days of

paid maternity leave and 5 days of paid paternity leave. It also allots 28 paid childcare leave

days per child to each parent, days that can be used either in one long period or in separate

short periods until the child is three years old.

104

It also subsidizes six on- and near-site childcare facilities, which are managed by a third

party. There are spaces for up to 180 children.

105

These childcare facilities allow parents to

spend time with their children and know they are safe nearby. The company particularly

encourages fathers to use these facilities, to stimulate greater balance in care responsibilities.

Although users are charged a small fee, it is less costly for parents than the fees of public,

government-run childcare initiatives.

106

The combination of a convenient and high-quality childcare facility together with nancially

supportive leave policies has had a large impact on recruitment, retention and the

advancement of women in this STEM-eld company. The proportion of women employed

rose from 11.8 per cent in 2009 to 13.6 per cent in 2016.

107

Between 2004 and 2016 (the

facilities have been open for 8 of those 12 years), 90 per cent of women who went on

maternity leave returned to work.

108

The company has been a WEPs signatory since 2013

and received the Kurumin Mark in 2008, 2012 and 2015 from the Japanese Ministry of

Health, Labour and Welfare (Platinum Certication in 2015).

109

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Financial services, Banking

Headquarters: Japan

Number of Employees: 117,321 (May 2019)

110

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi runs a variety of programmes to promote a healthy work–life

balance. These include paid parental leave, encouragement to fathers to be involved in their

children’s lives, a subsidized childcare programme and “Bring Your Child to Work Day”.

111

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The Bank has also set up a childcare portal for its employees, inspired by The Act on

Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workforce, which came into

eect in 2016 with the aim of improving women’s employment rates and supporting a

work–life balance for both male and female employees.

112

It nances the programme, which

is managed by an outside company. The online portal enables mothers to keep in touch

with the workplace while they are on maternity leave. A mother can communicate with her

managers and employers and work remotely on skills development and maintenance to

ensure a uid return to work.

113

The Bank’s work–life balance programmes appear to have positively impacted recruitment,

retention and the promotion rates of women. Women are recruited at higher rates and

are now more likely to return to the Bank from leave, ensuring their own career success;

the Bank estimates that it has saved US$45 million by retaining sta in this way.

114

Women

are more likely to attain leadership roles: the percentage of women middle and senior

managers grew from 5 per cent in 2006 to 19 per cent in 2016.

115

Unibail-Rodamco-Westeld

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Retail, Real estate,

Headquarters: France

Number of employees: 2,000

116

Share of women employees: 51.5 per cent

117

Unibail-Rodamco-Westeld, a commercial real-estate company based in France, has won

recognition for its proactive support of fathers’ care responsibilities and work–life balance.

118

This includes four weeks of fully paid paternity leave and shared parental leave of three

months at full pay, which can be taken exibly and is available from day one. The company

also oers three months at half pay and exible working arrangements.

Furthermore, the company has initiatives in place to support fathers in maintaining a

healthy work–family balance. Its Family Buddy programme brings together new parents

with a colleague who already has children and is able to provide advice and support on

their new role before, during, and after their leave. The company also hosts workshops

specically for fathers and partners, thus providing a further space where they can share

and gain insights.

119

These eorts seem to have paid o: the take-up of paternity leave by “relevant sta” was

reported to be 100 per cent, and a further 40 per cent of eligible fathers made use of the

shared parental leave in 2017.

120

All requests for exible work arrangements were granted.

121

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2.4 Supporting women in business and management

Achieving gender equality and women’s economic empowerment in business and

management requires improving the gender balance at all levels of company leadership,

as well as increasing the numbers of women who are business owners and entrepreneurs.

Women represent more than 50 per cent of the population worldwide, but contribute only

37 per cent of global GDP and represent only 39 per cent of the global labour force.

Globally, women occupy only 27.1 per cent of managerial positions, a proportion that has

not changed signicantly in nearly three decades.

Only 25.1 per cent of managers with

children under 6 years of age are women, whereas the gure for women without young

children is 31.4 per cent. However, where men share unpaid care work more equally with

women, more women are found in managerial positions.

The highest levels of leadership

remain resistant to gender diversity. Women accounted for less than 4 per cent of board

chairs across nearly 7,000 companies in 44 countries in 2017

and globally only 15 per cent

of board seats are held by women.

In G7 countries, the average proportion of women on

the boards of the largest publicly listed companies in 2017 was 27.04 per cent. France,

Germany and Italy are the countries where women are best represented on company

boards. These are also the only G7 countries that have established a quota system for

women’s representation on company boards.

Source: WE EMPOWER – G7, based on OECD, 2017.

At the very highest level, the picture is not much brighter. Globally, 22 per of all employers

are women and 21.7 per cent of enterprises reported that they have a female CEO, although

there is a great deal of variance across regions, countries, and sizes of enterprise.

In many

cases, women-run businesses are very small or micro-enterprises with little opportunity

X Figure 7. Share of women on the boards of the largest publicly listed companies,

G7 countries, 2017

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for growth. According to the ILO Women in Business and Management report, “the under-

representation of women in management positions becomes more distinct at the highest

echelons”.

Despite some progress in recent years, women’s under-representation in

decision-making positions in European business and industry persists.

Empowering women in the workforce also means giving them the opportunity to thrive

as investors and entrepreneurs; yet women investors and entrepreneurs remain a small

minority.

Globally, only 1 in 10 decision-makers at venture-capital and private-equity rms

are women, while private funds identied as operating with a gender-equality approach

report 72 per cent women partners. In Europe, all-men founding teams receive almost

92 per cent of all capital invested.

2.4.1 Key International Labour Standards and other instruments

The ILO Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) and

Recommendation No. 111 cover discrimination in relation to access to education and

vocational training, access to employment and to particular occupations, as well as

terms and conditions of employment. Gender-equality policies and measures should be

concrete and specic, and may require treating certain groups dierently.

They should

be continually assessed and reviewed in order to ensure that they remain appropriate and

eective in a constantly changing context.

Public procurement policies that give preference

to businesses owned by women and to women entrepreneurs have been identied as

particularly eective.

The ILO MNE Declaration calls on multinationals and other enterprises to make qualications,

skills and experience the basis for the recruitment, placement, training and advancement of

their sta at all levels. They should ensure that relevant training is provided for women and

men employed by them at all levels in the host country, as appropriate, to meet the needs of

the enterprise, as well as the development policies of the country concerned. Such training

should, as far as possible, develop generally useful skills and promote career opportunities

and lifelong learning. This responsibility should be carried out, where appropriate, in

cooperation with the authorities of the country, employers’ and workers’ organizations and

the competent local, national and international institutions.

The WEPs are particularly relevant in guiding companies to contribute to gender equality

at all levels of company operations, including women-owned and women-led businesses.

The EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 is focused on improving the gender balance

on corporate boards by introducing a Directive to require a minimum of 40 per cent of

non-executive members of the under-represented sex on the boards of listed companies

in Europe.

Companies would be required to demonstrate the application of clear and

gender-neutral criteria in their selection processes.

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The EU cohesion policy supports women’s entrepreneurship, women’s (re)integration

into the labour market, and gender equality in traditionally male-dominated sectors. The

Horizon Europe European Innovation Council (EIC) will develop measures promoting the

participation of women in start-ups and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises in

2020.

The European Commission will also promote the presence of women in decision-

making positions in private-equity and venture-capital funds, and support funds investing

with gender-diversied portfolios through the InvestEU programme, which aims to mobilize

private and public investment in Europe for more sustainable, inclusive and innovative

growth.

2.4.2 Guiding principles for companies

Companies committed to gender equality should drive change and action that fosters

diversity and inclusion across all levels, and thus contribute to transforming business culture

more generally. Some strategies for empowering women to enter and remain in business

and management roles include:

1. Demonstrating commitment and action on the part of company leadership

2. Diversifying company talent and the executive pipeline

3. Adopting a continuous improvement approach

4. Focusing on communication and transparency

5. Promoting women’s entrepreneurship and closing the gender nance gap.

Demonstrating commitment and action on the part of company leadership

As with any other endeavour to achieve gender equality, the agenda needs to be set from

the top. To truly succeed, it requires commitment, engagement and meaningful action on

the part of company leadership to ensure that women are equally represented and valued

in executive and leadership positions and on boards. This high-level commitment fosters a

gender-inclusive enterprise culture and paves the way for policies to enact change.

Diversifying company talent and the executive pipeline

Increasing women’s presence – at all levels, but particularly in the middle and senior ranks of

management and on boards – necessitates greater diversity in talent pipelines. Companies

should invest in gender-sensitive hiring processes and in promotion and succession

planning.

Oering opportunities adapted to the needs of workers with family responsibilities in areas

such as skills development and executive training is a good example of eective human

resources management. Programmes that provide tailored mentorship, sponsorship and

other career development support particularly focused on women can be invaluable in

giving them the tools and resources to attain leadership roles.

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Adopting a continuous improvement approach

Company leadership should frequently revisit current policies and practices to identify

possible areas for improvement. Identifying and addressing areas for further progress,

and addressing any structural barriers, can help companies to fully realize gender equality

across the entire organization.

Focusing on communication and transparency

Implementing an eective policy and specic programmes for promoting gender equality

at all levels requires consultation, particularly with women employees. Ensuring that

women’s voices are heard and valued requires action on the part of company leadership

to create an open line of communication that is itself free of gender bias. Companies can

create opportunities for women to communicate, set goals and discuss challenges with the

support of human resources. In addition, giving visibility to role models helps to shape and

reinforce a culture of gender inclusivity.

Transparency is also important for organizational learning. Enabling women to communicate

not only their successes, but also setbacks impacting their goals and progress is crucial.

Successes, setbacks and challenges should be shared to strengthen good practices and

eliminate less useful or counterproductive ones.

Promoting women’s entrepreneurship and closing the gender nancing gap

Finally, businesses can also support female entrepreneurs and women-owned enterprises,

for instance by lending support to community organizations and business associations that

support women’s entrepreneurship development, or seeking out women-led enterprises to

do business with. When women employees leave a company, in particular during lay-os,

those who are interested in starting their own businesses can be supported by, for example,

helping them to access nance, providing business development resources, lending or

donating equipment, and so on.

2.4.3 Illustrative practices

AT&T

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Communication, Telecommunication services

Headquarters: United States

Number of employees: Over 254,000

Share of women employees: 31 per cent

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The telecommunications company AT&T has adopted several initiatives to increase gender

diversity at various levels. This starts with the new talent pipeline: in 2017, the intern

programme included 45 per cent women.

Several leadership tracks have been developed that are either geared specically towards

fostering women’s leadership or are comprised on average of more than 40 per cent female

participants. To increase the representation of women and people of colour at higher levels,

an Accelerated Development Program (ADP) speeds up the professional development and

growth of mid-level managers, while an Executive Advocate Program targets the executive

and ocer levels. The Executive Women’s Leadership Experience programme invests

in 20 mid- and senior-level women leaders with potential to reach the executive level.

Additionally, 54 per cent of participants in the Leadership Development Program, which

provides career opportunities, hands-on training and mentorship for recently hired college

graduates, have been women.

AT&T has diversity councils at several levels of the company, including the Chairman’s

Diversity Council, headed by the Chairman and CEO, Randall Stephenson, and comprised

of a team that reports directly to him. This council meets quarterly to review diversity and

inclusion measures and to monitor the status of initiatives.

As of the end of 2017, women accounted for 35 per cent of the management at AT&T. However,

the trend towards greater representation of women in leadership has not signicantly

strengthened, and recently there has been a slight decline (women’s representation in

management declined from 37 per cent to 35 per cent between 2013 and 2017).

A number

of factors may be involved, but this highlights the particular challenge of increasing the

representation of women in STEM elds, as well as the long-term vision required for pipeline

diversity initiatives. AT&T has been ranked third for three consecutive years in the Diversity

MBA “Best Places for Women & Diverse Managers to Work”.

A.T. Kearney

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Professional services, Consulting

Headquarters: United States

Number of employees: 3,600

Share of women employees: 38 per cent

A.T. Kearney has adopted several initiatives to provide women with the resources and

guidance to enable them to reach leadership positions. Among these is a sponsorship

programme that pairs female workers of diverse talent who have demonstrated strong

potential for leadership with senior executives who “help these women think through their

career paths and serve as advocates for their interests, supporting their advancement

and development within the rm”.

The sponsors also provide professional feedback,

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facilitate skills development, provide network-expanding opportunities, and increase the

participants’ visibility to the company leadership.

Exceptional participants may also be

eligible for a fully-paid MBA degree from a top university, such as Columbia or Harvard.

The programme has been successful in improving the advancement and retention rates of

women: 40 per cent of the female participants have attained leadership roles.

A.T. Kearney’s “Encore Program” aims to speed the career development of women who re-

enter the workforce after a long career break.

The programme tools include a structured

internship plan, training, personal mentoring and access to senior leadership.

The rm also

has several initiatives to improve the work–life balance of employees, including part-time or

alternative-schedule working and innovative ways of enabling teams to accommodate each

other’s work–life balance needs while traveling.

A.T. Kearney also has a robust Women’s

Network that provides career development opportunities, hosts forums and runs mentoring

programmes.

The company claims that it has “increased the rm’s diversity prole, particularly global

gender diversity”. Progress is slower, however, where more balanced representation in

leadership positions is concerned: women account for only 22 per cent of the managing

partner leadership team and 11 per cent of the board of directors.

Deutsche Post DHL Group

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Postal and courier services, Industrials, Mail and Logistics

Headquarters: Germany

Number of employees: 519,544

Share of women employees: 35 per cent

In the company’s own words, the logistics industry remains a male-dominated sector, with

only one third of DHL employees being women. Remedying this imbalance is a top priority

for the company.

To begin with, the company performed extensive research to identify

challenges to women’s advancement in management. The results informed policies focused

on creating a gender-equal culture and mind-set, as well as providing exible working

arrangements, women’s career support, and monitoring.

These priorities were translated into the Women in Management programme, which

includes initiatives such as training courses, high-prole events to promote diversity and

women’s leadership, gender-sensitive talent management systems and exible working

arrangements to accommodate workers with family responsibilities without penalizing

them.

The programme is tracked and evaluated using data monitoring.

The initiative has been successful in helping DHL to increase the proportion of women in

leadership positions, with growth of 4 per cent at the managerial level and 40 per cent

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representation on the company’s supervisory board.

The company was a winner of the

Catalyst 2019 Award.

DNB Group

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Financial services, Banking

Headquarters: Norway

Number of employees: 9,638

Share of women employees: 48.1 per cent

DNB, a Norwegian bank, set itself a target for women’s representation at the top four

management levels of at least 40 per cent. To reach this target, DNB has implemented several

policies to prioritize gender equality and diversity in their hiring and promotion processes.

For every management position, the recruiters must identify the best-qualied male and

female candidates prior to nal selection. All internal management-development and

talent programmes are required to have a minimum of 50 per cent female representation.

Additionally, all lists of candidates in succession planning must include a minimum of 40 per

cent women. Restructuring processes also provide opportunities to improve the gender

balance of management teams.

This prioritization also extends to the selection of suppliers. Gender balance at the

management level is a criterion for selecting vendors, and DNB pushes for greater

representation of women at the partnership level when engaging providers of legal

services.

DNB’s eorts seem to have paid o. Between 2014 and 2018, the percentage of women at

the bank’s top four management levels has steadily increased from 30.5 per cent to 38.1 per

cent. Women’s representation in the Group’s general management category stands at

46.2 per cent.

The company signed the WEPs in 2020 and was ranked #8 in Equileap 2019,

Top 100 Companies on gender equality.

Eli Lilly and Company

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Headquarters: United States

Number of employees: 38,682

Share of women employees: 47 per cent

In 2015, Dave Ricks, then president of Eli Lilly’s largest business units and currently CEO,

commissioned a workforce analysis that revealed a signicant under-representation of

women in leadership positions (20 per cent). To address this, the company completed an

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external in-depth perceptions survey of 5,000 employees in the United States at all levels

and functions.

The study showed that many women “did not feel supported or recognized

for their work”.

Initiatives to overcome the problem included the implementation of

accountability measures, training for managers to recognize and overcome biases, and a

review of job promotion and talent management practices.

As CEO, Dave Ricks has also supported the development of policies to promote women’s

leadership, ensuring that senior leadership, the human resources department and the Lilly

Women’s Network (an employee resource group) are also involved.

Commitment from the top to improve gender equality in the company seems to have paid

o. Women’s representation in the company’s senior-level bands has increased despite a

decrease in the overall size of Lilly’s workforce. Women’s representation has increased from

29 per cent to 40 per cent in the C-suite; from 26 per cent to 29 per cent among senior vice-

presidents and vice-presidents; and from 34 per cent to 42 per cent among senior directors.

In the United States section of the company, representation of women of colour at the senior

director level has increased from 6 per cent to 11 per cent. Additionally, women account for

36 per cent of the board of directors.

The company was a winner of the Catalyst 2019

Award.

Intesa Sanpaolo

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Financial services, Banking

Headquarters: Italy

Number of employees: 94,032

Share of women employees: 54 per cent

The Italian banking group Intesa Sanpaolo decided to establish a “Business Gemma”

programme to provide tailored loans to women who own or run a business, or are self-

employed.

The programme also includes an insurance policy, which covers areas such

as health, maternity and “help and legal protection in times of diculty in the private life

of the businesswoman”.

Participants in the initiative who head small and medium-sized

enterprises (SMEs) can also participate in the “SMEs Guarantee Fund”, which allows women

to suspend repayments for up to one year in certain circumstances, such as maternity leave,

illness or care responsibilities for a child, spouse or other relatives.

The programme also

oers participating women access to training courses that support business management

and development.

Between 2014 and 2017, the programme provided €600 million in loans.

In 2017 alone, 420 loans were granted, worth a total of €16.3 million.

Intesa Sanpaolo, in partnership with several other banks, including the European Bank

for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), has established a “Women in Business”

programme, which supports micro, small, and medium-sized businesses run by women in

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the Western Balkan region. The programme provides female entrepreneurs with subsidized

loans, technical advice from the EBRD and informational workshops. The initiative granted

loans to 408 participants in 2017.

The company also aims to spur greater women’s labour market participation in Italy,

particularly in women-led businesses, through its “Women Value Company - Intesa

Sanpaolo” award, created in collaboration with the Marisa Bellisario Foundation. The award

is for small and medium-sized businesses that not only have great business potential,

but also implement innovative “policies that value women’s work and gender diversity

management”.

In 2019, two hundred and twenty-one nalists were short-listed from

approximately 1,000 businesses and multiple events were sponsored to provide them with

opportunities to network and share their knowledge.

Aside from these noteworthy initiatives, the company has a suite of policies to promote

gender equality and women’s representation in leadership. Women comprise 54 per cent

of Intesa Sanpaolo’s workforce, with 40 per cent at the upper management level and 25 per

cent of the executive.

The company has been a WEPs signatory since 2019 and was one

of the few Italian businesses featured in Equileap’s 2018 Gender Equality Global Report &

Ranking, as the top Italian company on the list.

Salesforce

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Technology, Software services

Headquarters: United States

Number of employees: Approximately 30,000

Share of women employees: 30.9 per cent

The CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benio, has been very outspoken on issues surrounding

gender equality and the need to increase the gender balance of management and executive

leadership. In an interview for 60 Minutes, Benio shared the experience of uncovering a

gender pay gap in the company, frankly admitting his initial reluctance to believe in its

existence before he understood that it was “everywhere” in the company, in “every

department, every division, every geography”.

Consequently, in addition to allocating over $6 million to addressing pay inequality, the

company decided that a broader approach to gender equality was needed. Benio introduced

a rule whereby he would not participate in company meetings with less than 30 per cent

women present, his aim being to improve women’s access to company leadership, and

ultimately increase their numbers within it.

The company is also committed to transparency in respect of progress on equality, with

a stand-alone website on the topic and an annual update, in addition to the annual

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Stakeholder Impact Report.

According to these sources, the proportion of women

in company leadership has increased from 19.4 per cent in 2017

to 22.3 per cent

currently.

Salesforce has also taken meaningful steps to encourage other businesses to make gender

diversity and equality a priority. In 2017, it launched a $50 million “Impact Fund” to invest in

companies that contribute to positive change by improving diversity, equity and inclusion

through tools that promote “equal opportunity and economic empowerment for women

and under-represented groups”. Thus far, $9.5 million from the Fund has been deployed to

companies, 70 per cent of which are led by women or representatives of ethnic minorities,

with 27 per cent of that sum directed towards the diversity, equity and inclusion category.

Salesforce has been a WEPs signatory since 2019 and also adheres to the CEO Action

for Diversity and Inclusion initiative, the largest CEO-driven organization committed to

advancing diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

TD Bank Group (The Toronto-Dominion Bank)

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Financial services, Banking

Headquarters: Canada

Number of employees: 87,665

Share of women employees: 58.1 per cent in Canada

and 63.5 per cent in the USA

TD Bank group has committed to diversity and inclusion through internal and external

communication. Diversity and equality actions are also formulated in consultation with

employee representatives during the quarterly meetings of TD’s Employee Council on

Employment Equity (ECEE).

The annual “Pulse” survey includes questions on potential gaps

in the experience of employees based on their gender or other demographic. Concerns

raised in the survey by employees trigger action planning to address the issue.

The Bank’s internal website contains an “Employment Equity” section, which gives

employees access to the Bank’s employment equity policy, surveys, annual reporting and

current equity strategy. The intranet also integrates social media features that are used

by employees and Bank leadership “to provide role models and practical tips on career

development, leadership, exibility, and work/life balance”.

It supports blogs related

to diversity and inclusion, which are highly popular and stimulate much discussion.

To provide further visibility to role models in the company, TD has helped to enhance

the LinkedIn proles of individuals in leadership roles “to strengthen their social media

presence so they can act as ambassadors and role models in their communities”.

The featured role models are also encouraged to become diversity champions and are

provided with a “key messages” guide to increase their visibility and impact in internal and

external communications.

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The Bank has also adopted a number of accountability measures. To increase their

awareness and accountability for progress, the senior executive team and their businesses

are required to provide regular reports on diversity in hiring, promotions, departures and

their workforces generally. The Bank’s Inclusion and Diversity Leadership Council (IDLC)

manages the measurement and monitoring of diversity and inclusion. The Council focuses

on ve priority areas, one of which is women in leadership.

TD Bank also focuses on transparency. It makes its annual Corporate Social Responsibility

report available to its employees and the public, providing transparent reporting on diversity

governance and diversity on the board, in the general workforce and among suppliers.

TD Bank has made great strides towards gender balance in leadership. In Canada, women

accounted for 39.8 per cent of senior management in 2017, a marked increase on the 2016

level of 37.3 per cent,

and for 44.2 per cent of sta at middle and other management

levels. In the United States, women comprised 53.2 per cent of the bank’s lower and mid-

level management, and 25.8 per cent of its executive category, in 2017.

2.5 Building a future of work that works for women

Rapid technological changes, such as automation, articial intelligence and the digital

economy, have already signicantly aected the world of work, with mixed implications

for the future of gender equality. Transformative changes that bring economic growth and

create jobs also risk deepening inequalities.

Persistent occupational segregation means

that women and men are likely to be impacted dierently by automation. The McKinsey

Global Institute elaborates:

In the automation age, women face new challenges overlaid on long-established

ones. Technology adoption could displace millions from their jobs; many others

will need to change the way they work. Globally, 40 million to 160 million women

may need to transition between occupations by 2030, often into higher-skilled

roles. If they make these transitions, women could nd more productive, better

paid work; if they don’t, they could face a growing wage gap or leaving the labor

market.

Nearly 40 per cent of jobs held by men are in routine physical roles, such as machine

operators and craft workers, which could potentially be lost to automation. Where women

are concerned, clerical support and service work are feminized occupations at high risk of

automation, and could give rise to job losses of up to 52 per cent (as compared with 27 per

cent of male job losses).

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Women are signicantly under-represented in the STEM elds, which generate higher-

paying jobs, such as software developers, mathematicians, engineers, IT managers and

biochemists. It is here that the future of work is being shaped, with serious impacts on

gender equality. Women are less likely to have digital skills,

and the digital skills they do

have generate lower returns than for their male counterparts.

Between 2000 and 2016,

women’s representation in the top three IT occupations actually declined in the United

States, especially in its largest tech hubs, despite gains in overall numbers of women,

“making the eld even more male-dominated than it used to be”.

In EU countries, women

comprise only 17 per cent of people in Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

studies and careers,

and only 36 per cent of STEM graduates, although girls outpace boys

in digital literacy.

Lifelong learning policies that encourage young women to expand their

skills into STEM elds can also help prepare women to meet the challenges associated with

the changing world of work.

Articial intelligence (AI) is particularly likely to transform the future of work. In the AI

sector globally, only 22 per cent of professionals are female, compared with 78 per cent

who are male, amounting to a 72 per cent gender gap.

Women who work in AI tend to be

concentrated in areas such as text analytics and mining, speech recognition and national

language processing. They are much less involved in the development of technology, such

as deep learning, articial neural networks and machine learning, which are more strategic,

higher skilled and better paid.

The relative absence of women in jobs in these transformative

elds may also risk perpetuating gender stereotypes. Therefore, government policies

should encourage women to enter STEM elds and support them in developing skills sets

and preparedness for success in this eld, in particular focusing on reskilling programmes.

Other tech innovations, such as mobile banking and Blockchain, can also help to support

women’s entrepreneurship.

Women are about as likely as men to participate in gig work,

and digital platforms have “opened new opportunities for women entrepreneurs”.

However,

the gig economy risks perpetuating gender inequality and trapping women in low-paid and

insecure employment if women do not have the necessary skills to obtain higher-paying

gigs or are forced into lower-paying areas because of caregiving responsibilities.

Technology also poses psychological, emotional and physical safety risks for women.

According to a study by the Pew Research Center, women in the United States are twice as

likely to have been targeted for gender-based harassment, and more than twice as likely to

have been sexually harassed online.

American women are also more likely to experience

the most severe forms of online harassment, including cyberstalking and physical threats.

These types of harassment cause harm and also reduce women’s voice and presence online,

as they self-censor to avoid becoming targets.

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2.5.1 Key International Labour Standards and other instruments

The ILO Centenary Declaration on the Future of Work commits to the empowerment of

individuals, especially women, at all stages of life, to work with technological advances

without sacricing their economic and social rights. The Declaration calls on governments

and social partners to promote workers’ qualications and skills by addressing current and

anticipated social, cultural and economic gaps; ensuring that education and training systems

are responsive to market needs, taking into account the evolution of work; enhancing

workers’ capacity to make use of the opportunities available for decent work and increasing

accessible opportunities for decent work; and investing in the care economy.

The MNE Declaration calls on companies to provide relevant training and lifelong learning

for all levels of workers in their employ in order to meet the needs of the enterprise, as well

as the development policies of the host country. Such training should develop generally

useful skills and promote career opportunities. This responsibility should be discharged,

where appropriate, in cooperation with the authorities of the country, employers’ and

workers’ organizations and the competent local, national and international institutions.

The EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-25 aims to address gender gaps in STEM-related

occupations through the “Updated Digital Education Action Plan” and the implementation

of the Ministerial Declaration of commitment on “Women in Digital”.

The goal of the

Declaration is to encourage women to play an active and prominent role in the digital and

technology sectors. EU countries and Norway will work closely with the public and private

sectors and civil society to achieve equality in tech.

In addition, the “Updated Skills Agenda for Europe” will help address horizontal segregation,

stereotyping and gender gaps in education and training. The European Commission has

put forward a proposal for an “EU Council recommendation on vocational education and

training”. It will aim to improve the gender balance in traditionally male or female-dominated

occupations and address gender stereotypes. The reinforced “Youth Guarantee” will also

specically address women who are not in education, employment or training, with a view

to ensuring equal opportunities.

2.5.2 Guiding principles for companies

The longer employees are with a company, the more productive they become. Companies

need to make sure each employee is completely engaged with and part of the company’s

ongoing success and development. Companies can play a key role in supporting older

women employees by optimizing their decent work conditions and active education up to

and through retirement. And they can help to promote education and training for decent

work for future generations of women.

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Companies can help to empower women for the future of work in a variety of ways:

1. Providing gender-sensitive training with a focus on skilling, reskilling and upskilling

2. Supporting the entry of women and girls into STEM elds and the tech sector

3. Ensuring that new technology does not perpetuate gender stereotypes

4. Supporting women entrepreneurs in the gig economy

5. Promoting the privacy and safety of women and girls in cyberspace.

Providing gender-sensitive training with a focus on skilling, reskilling and upskilling

Companies can play an important role by providing lifelong learning opportunities for

workers, especially women, to prepare them for change.

These opportunities should

be oered to all employees and be responsive to the needs of workers with family

responsibilities. In particular, they should seek to close the digital skills gap between men

and women to ensure that the jobs of the future are more gender balanced.

Company initiatives might include internships and career advice, awareness-raising and

job fairs on STEM careers for women, competitive grant programmes, nancial and in-

kind support for STEM programmes, and summer camps to encourage female students to

enrol in STEM secondary and tertiary education. They could also reach out to young girls,

for instance by running programmes which provide childcare and exposing girls to STEM

learning from as early as 3 to 5 years of age.

Supporting the entry of women and girls into STEM elds

Companies should also proactively encourage greater numbers of girls and women to study

and enter STEM elds. Companies in the forefront of the future of work can play a crucial role

in ensuring that a better gender balance is achieved at all levels, so that women’s voices are

included in shaping a more gender-equal tomorrow. To this end, technology companies will

have to engage with their wider communities to encourage women and girls to study and

gain STEM skills and so ensure that there is available talent for a more gender-diverse talent

pipeline. Through their employers’ organizations, they need to work with governments to

ensure gender-responsive educational curricula that counteract gendered occupational

segregation. This is key to promoting the presence of women in such elds.

Ensuring that new technology does not perpetuate gender stereotypes

Emerging technologies, particularly AI algorithms, are increasingly used by companies to

make decisions in areas such as job candidate selection and mortgage eligibility.

Although

AI is relied on for its accuracy and impartiality, it has become apparent that its algorithms

may reect the gender bias of their authors. In one high prole case, it was discovered that

Amazon’s AI recruiting tool showed bias against women applying for software developer jobs

and other technical roles. This prejudice seemed to stem from the historical occupational

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

PART 2: TAKING ACTION FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

segregation of the eld, which was baked into the new algorithm.

As a growing number of

companies use AI, diversity and gender-responsiveness will become even more important

in ICT, and technology must not be allowed to reect and perpetuate the devaluation of

women and other minorities.

Supporting women entrepreneurs in the gig economy

As companies transform their internal make-up, they can continue to implement decent

work principles in their contractual relationships with service providers in the gig economy.

Contracts should take into consideration the costs associated with decent wages, good

health and safety conditions, and social protection contributions.

Promoting the privacy and safety of women and girls in cyberspace

The dangers associated with new technologies that have a negative impact on women

have received extensive news coverage, yet few tech companies are proactively working

to address these problems. A recent review of nearly 500 online articles on the topic of

technology and women’s safety showed that the vast majority of the literature discussed

how women could use technology to protect themselves, while only 5.9 per cent discussed

policy solutions or company responsibility to protect women – a situation which “perhaps

inadvertently is reinforcing norms that hold women accountable for their victimization”.

Companies should anticipate these risks and design technologies and platforms with

prevention measures already in place to protect individuals, particularly women, at high

risk of cyber violence and harassment.

2.5.3 Illustrative practices

Accenture

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Technology, IT services

Headquarters: Ireland

Number of employees: 459,000

Share of women employees: 42 per cent

Accenture, a WEPs signatory since 2010, has a variety of initiatives to support greater

representation of women in the ICT industry. Through its “Women in Technology”

programme, the company runs a variety of events and resources to support the careers of

women in ICT, and also gives students and recent graduates an opportunity to interact with

women who are established in the eld.

The company also maintains a webpage featuring

female tech role models and their views as a way of attracting women and girls to STEM.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

PART 2: TAKING ACTION FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

The company also supports the career development of women tech professionals through

its “High-Tech Women” programme. This programme grants female professionals a

“tech architect” certication, enabling them to become a part of Accenture’s “technology

leadership”. The initiative has been extended to women outside the company who are

professionals in the ICT eld, partly by creating a LinkedIn group to facilitate networking

and exchange.

To help make up for the serious lack of women of colour in STEM careers, Accenture also

launched a series of events as part of its “Hidden Figures” campaign. The initiative included

events in several cities that gave new recruits the opportunity to meet leading women in the

eld, and to hear about their career journeys and the challenges they had to overcome.

Accenture has achieved a notable level of gender diversity at all levels: 47 per cent of its

new hires are women, and women account for 40 per cent of the external members of the

board of directors.

The company has won many accolades for its gender equality eorts,

including ranking in the Top 10 Working Mother 100 Best Companies for 16 consecutive

years.

Cogeco Communications

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Communications, Telecommunication services

Headquarters: Canada

Number of employees: 5,200

Share of women employees: 40 per cent

Cogeco Communications, a Canadian telecoms company, provides training and education to

give workers the necessary “knowledge and skills in current roles while preparing for future

roles”.

Employees and supervisors together curate an appropriate training programme

to achieve their agreed performance objectives. Cogeco Communications fully funds the

training, which takes place during working hours. At least 1 per cent of the company’s

annual payroll costs are invested in training. Subsidized continuing education assistance

programmes are also available for employees outside of working hours.

Cogeco Communications has achieved a high level of gender balance at the top level of

company leadership, with women accounting for 44 per cent of board membership.

It is

ranked among the top 10 companies in Canada in Equileap 2019, Top 100 Companies on

gender equality.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

PART 2: TAKING ACTION FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

Enagás

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Utilities, Energy

Headquarters: Spain

Number of employees: 1,449

Share of women employees: 27 per cent

For the Spanish energy company Enagás, a WEP signatory since 2019, workforce training

is one of its top priorities. Providing the appropriate training begins with an assessment of

employees’ competencies and skills, which then informs the individualization of professional

development programmes and training. Training is provided to employees throughout

their time with the company, with over 2,721 courses delivered online, in person, and even

through VR technology.

The company collaborates with academic institutions, such as the Energy Delta Institute,

to oer their workers high quality training. It also oers online English language learning

through its “English Campus” project. Recent graduates are awarded scholarships to

participate in vocational training programmes at company facilities.

Through its “Women

with Talent” programme, the company provides participating women employees with

training to enhance the skills they need to succeed in the company, as well as professional

development guidance.

The company reports gender-disaggregated data on training expenditures and hours of

training per employee, broken down by occupational category.

The data shows that a

larger proportion of women in management and operational roles benet from training,

while male employees in the technician and administrative categories receive slightly more

training than their female counterparts.

Such reporting and transparency are key to

ensuring that women have equal access.

Enagás has seen signicant improvements in organizational gender diversity, overall

and at the leadership level, though more progress is needed to reach parity. Women’s

representation on the board has nearly doubled, from 13.4 per cent in 2011 to 23 per cent

in 2016, while female representation in senior management roles has shown a similar rate

of growth.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

PART 2: TAKING ACTION FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

Etsy

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Retail, E-commerce

Headquarters: United States

Number of employees: 800+

Share of women employees: 55.8 per cent

Number of sellers: 2.1 million

Share of women sellers: 86 per cent

as of 2015

Etsy is an online marketplace, enabling individuals to start up their own businesses and sell

items such as handicrafts; it is a crucial player in the rise of the platform economy. About 30 per

cent of Etsy sellers have no other occupation

and over three quarters of them are women.

This exemplies the pro-con balance of the gig economy and its eect on women: women are

able to become entrepreneurs and enjoy workplace exibility, but at the same time this type

of marketplace provides no social protection for sellers, rendering many women susceptible

to economic inequity or nancial dependency on others. Etsy plans to combat this insecurity

by using its inuence as a major company and stakeholder in the gig economy to advocate for

policy reform on the part of the US government with regard to self-employment protection.

Etsy has conducted economic impact studies of the contribution it makes to the national

economy and employment,

revealing a crying need to protect gig workers. In 2015,

Etsy, with other gig economy companies such as Lyft and Handy, worked with academics,

union leaders and others on an open letter to the US government advocating for portable

benets.

The following year, Etsy published “Economic Security for the Gig Economy: A

Social Safety Net that Works for Everyone Who Works”, a white paper of policy proposals

to protect micro-business owners.

These consist of a Federal Benets Portal to enable

individuals to view all their benets, including universal tax withholding, and the creation of

a MyFlex account for pre-taxed savings to manage income volatility arising from the lack of

social protections. The account also provides 10 days of paid leave for any need.

Pymetrics

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Technology, Business services

Headquarters: United States

Number of employees: 51–100 (estimated)

Share of women employees: Not available

Pymetrics is a tech start-up that develops recruitment tools, including AI applications

designed to avoid potential bias.

Rather than reviewing CVs, the start-up uses algorithms

in conjunction with neuroscience games to evaluate job candidates, seeking to eectively

match jobs to candidates while avoiding bias and discrimination in the recruitment process.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

PART 2: TAKING ACTION FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

Companies that have used Pymetrics for their hiring processes include Accenture, Unilever,

Randstad and Mercer. Pymetrics estimates that the use of its technology can help clients

to increase the diversity of hires by between 20 and 100 per cent.

In the case of Unilever,

a company that used Pymetrics to complete the initial screening of 250,000 candidates,

the company hired its “most diverse class to date”, with gender parity and greater diversity

in racial and ethnic background.

Over half of the leadership at Pymetrics is composed of

women, including its CEO and founder.

Tele2

Basic Characteristics

Sector, Industry: Communication , Telecommunication services

Headquarters: Sweden

Number of employees: 5,184

Share of women employees: 40 per cent

The Swedish tech company Tele2, a WEP signatory since 2019, is working to challenge the

male-dominated nature of the technology industry, not only within its own business, but also

in its wider community. Tele2 launched its #GirlsmakeIThappen initiative in Latvia “to inspire

an industry that has always been looked at as masculine”.

The campaign outreach eorts

targeted students and young professionals, as well as their families and teachers, aiming

to encourage more girls and women to study, and ultimately enter, the Information and

Communications Technology (ICT) sector. It included a “Girls Make IT Happen” conference,

a scholarship programme in collaboration with the “Learn IT” initiative to enable girls to

learn coding at a young age, and an “Hour of Code” initiative. The campaign was distributed

across a wide variety of platforms, including media outlets and girls’ magazines, to highlight

that programming is a skill that girls can master.

The campaign has reportedly been very popular in Latvia, and has also gained growing

global visibility. Tele2 reported that its subsidiary in Latvia (Shared Service Center (SSC))

saw a 29 per cent increase in its workforce, of which 42 per cent were women. The initiative

earned the company the TOP Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Initiative of the Year

award in the Central & Eastern Europe (CCE) region from the Latvian Investment and

Development Agency.

While not yet at full parity, the company has achieved a high degree of gender diversity

across the entire business, a particularly commendable feat for a tech company. Women

in Tele2 comprise 40 per cent of the overall workforce, 32 per cent of management, 39 per

cent of senior executives and 32 per cent of board members.

The company was ranked

among the top three companies in Sweden according to Equileap 2019, Top 100 Companies

on gender equality.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Conclusions

This report has presented an overview of instruments, guidance and practices shaping

gender equality commitments and actions on the part of the private sector. It has reviewed

specic provisions of international labour standards and other normative frameworks and

initiatives across ve key areas, in particular from the Women’s Empowerment Principles

and relevant European Union directives, the better to understand what is expected of

companies in contributing to gender equality. It has also provided a breakdown of the

principles of gender equality as they apply to companies, giving concrete suggestions of

steps companies can take to boost their contribution, explaining the benets to companies,

and providing illustrative examples from companies in North America, Europe and Asia,

focusing in particular on companies operating in G7 and EU countries.

This report demonstrates the range of actions companies can take, which often work in

synergy and have compounding benets for women employees, men employees and the

company, and for society as a whole.

The business case for companies to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment

in the workplace, marketplace and community is clear: achieving full equality and equity is

benecial on the individual and collective levels, leading to more opportunities and greater

protability. The companies included in this report, and many other enterprises taking

measures in this area, have demonstrated the ability to lead the way in complying with

and going beyond international labour and gender-equality standards and national law.

The ndings presented in this document exhibit both successes and areas where greater

attention is needed from companies. Some points for consideration:

Social dialogue and consultation with workers and their representatives

Social dialogue – consultation and collaboration among workers and employers and their

representatives – is of signicance in transforming workplaces so they become gender-

responsive. Social dialogue can take the form of collective bargaining agreements (also

known as enterprise agreements, collective labour agreements or workplace agreements)

and can be the rst step in creating policies to foster a culture of trust, respect, diversity

and equality in an organization. Engaging in dialogue and consulting workers and their

representatives across groups of diverse characteristics can help companies accurately

identify the needs of their sta and respond to them eectively. Accounting for sta needs

and employers’ responsibilities in line with international labour standards ensures that both

employers and workers are promoting transparency and accountability in their current and

future actions on gender equality at work. Social dialogue enables organizations to address

gender-based inequalities and create a truly gender-equal workplace, which can have a

positive impact on society at large.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Conclusions

Public reporting of the effectiveness of gender equity in the workplace

Public reporting of company initiatives to empower women in the workplace, especially the

progress of these initiatives, is crucial for accountability and lasting change. Transparency

is in itself an awareness-raising initiative. A company can analyse which solutions do or do

not work, and other enterprises can follow the company’s example in their own policies.

Sometimes transparency is problematic due to condentiality considerations, but for the

most part transparency is proven to work. For example, the wage gap between women

and men has decreased in companies that are more transparent about the gap.

If this

policy transparency is applied to all aspects of women’s economic empowerment (leave

and childcare policies, technology, equal pay and so on), it may lead to a considerable

improvement in a business’s ecacy in achieving these goals.

Universal policies for women’s economic empowerment in all regions of company

operation

The commitment to women’s economic empowerment should be universal if good company

policies are to have a lasting social eect around the world. Companies that model good

practices in their headquarters or a particular country of operations should strive to export

those practices to the other countries in which they operate.

Shift to a more egalitarian and inclusive company culture and commitment to the

Sustainable Development Goals

Company policies to promote gender equality should start with a change in company

culture at all levels. A change in culture to cultivate a holistic respect for women coincides

with progress on the Sustainable Developmental Goals. Gender equality, according to the

ILO’s report A Quantum Leap for Gender Equality, is the “nexus of all the interconnected and

interdependent SDGs, as decent work for all women contributes not only to making poverty

history but also to achieving education, peace, and safety”.

The United Nations system and the European Union will continue to encourage companies to

implement policies for greater women’s economic empowerment. This report demonstrates

that gender equality at work is both possible and protable.

As a concluding snapshot, the following table summarizes the workplace guidance on

empowering women at work as set forth in the company policies and practices reviewed in

this document.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Conclusions

X Table 3. Workplace guidance on empowering women at work

Key theme Guiding actions

Achieving equal pay for

work of equal value

• Ensure commitment and leadership from the top

• Promote social dialogue and collective bargaining

• Establish and implement a comprehensive equal-pay policy

• Measure the gender pay gap and perform gender-neutral job evaluations

• Achieve pay transparency and reporting

Preventing and ending

gender-based violence

and harassment in the

world of work

• Demonstrate leadership commitment to creating a company culture of zero-

tolerance

• Adopt, implement and monitor a comprehensive and eective workplace policy

on violence and harassment

• Promote occupational safety and health and systematic workplace assessment

• Foster guidance, training and awareness-raising

• Mitigate the impact of domestic violence in the world of work

• Address unequal gender-based power relations

Promoting work–life

balance and equal sharing

of care responsibilities

• Provide maternity protection in line with or over and above international

standards

• Prevent discrimination against pregnant women and workers with family

responsibilities

• Provide paid paternity leave and encourage uptake

• Provide paid, gender-neutral parental leave

• Support care responsibilities for other family members

• Facilitate a smooth return to work after leave

• Provide exible working arrangements

• Support breastfeeding in the workplace

• Assist with on- or near-site subsidized childcare

• Extend coverage to include all workers and family types

Women in business and

management

• Demonstrate commitment and action by company leadership

• Diversify company talent and the executive pipeline

• Adopt a continuous improvement approach

• Focus on communication and transparency

• Promote women’s entrepreneurship and closing the gender nance gap

Building a future of work

that works for women

• Provide gender-sensitive training with a focus on skilling, reskilling and

upskilling

• Support the entry of women and girls into STEM elds and the tech sector

• Ensure that new technology does not perpetuate gender stereotypes

• Support women entrepreneurs in the gig economy

• Promote the privacy and safety of women and girls in cyberspace

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Conclusions TAKING ACTION FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

ANNEXES

ANNEX 1: Principles of the ILO

MNEDeclaration

PRINCIPLES DIRECTED TO GOVERNMENTS PRINCIPLES DIRECTED TO ENTERPRISES

General Policies

• Further the aim of the Declaration by

adopting appropriate laws and policies,

measures and actions, including in the

elds of labour administration and public

labour inspection [paragraph 3]

• Ensure equal treatment between

multinational and national enterprises

[paragraph 5]

• Ratify all the Fundamental Conventions

[paragraph 9]

• Promote good social practice in accordance

with the MNE Declaration among MNEs

operating in their territories and their

MNEs operating abroad [paragraph 12]

• Be prepared to have consultations with

other governments whenever the need

arises [paragraph 12]

• Respect the sovereign rights of the state

and obey national laws and respect

international standards [paragraph 8]

• Contribute to the realization of the

fundamental principles and rights at work

[paragraph 9]

• Carry out due diligence, taking account

of the central role of freedom of

association and collective bargaining,

industrial relations and social dialogue

[paragraph 10]

• Consult with government, employers’

and workers’ organizations to ensure that

operations are consistent with national

development priorities [paragraph 11]

Employment

Declare and pursue, as a major goal, an

active policy to promote full, productive

and freely chosen employment, and

decent work [paragraph 13]

Develop and implement an integrated

policy framework to facilitate the

transition to the formal economy

[paragraph 21]

Establish and maintain, as appropriate,

social protection oors within a strategy

to progressively ensure higher levels of

social security [paragraph 22]

Take eective measures to prevent and

eliminate forced labour, provide victims

with access to an appropriate remedy,

develop a national policy and action plan,

and provide guidance and support to

employers [paragraphs 23-24]

Endeavour to increase employment

opportunities and standards, taking the

employment policies and objectives of

governments into account [paragraph 16]

Before starting operations, consult the

competent authorities and the national

employers’ and workers’ organizations

in order to keep employment plans,

as far as practicable, in harmony with

national social development policies

[paragraph 17]

Give priority to the employment,

occupational development, promotion

and advancement of nationals of the host

country [paragraph 18]

Use technologies which generate

employment, both directly and indirectly;

and take part in the development of

appropriate technology and adapt

technologies to the needs of and

characteristics of the host country

[paragraph 19]

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

ANNEXES ANNEX 1: Principles of the ILO MNE Declaration

PRINCIPLES DIRECTED TO GOVERNMENTS PRINCIPLES DIRECTED TO ENTERPRISES

• Develop a national policy designed to

ensure the aective abolition of child

labour, take immediate measures to secure

the prohibition and elimination of the

worst forms of child labour as a matter

of urgency, and progressively raise the

minimum age of admission to employment

[paragraph 26]

• Pursue policies designed to promote

equality of opportunity and treatment in

employment, with a view to eliminating

any discrimination based on race, colour,

sex, religion, political opinion, national

extraction or social origin [paragraph 28]

• Promote equal remuneration for men and

women workers for work of equal value

[paragraph 29]

• Never require or encourage multinational

enterprises to discriminate and provide

guidance, where appropriate, on the

avoidance of discrimination [paragraph 31]

• Study the impact of multinational

enterprises on employment in dierent

industrial sectors [paragraph 32]

• In cooperation with multinational and

national enterprises, provide income

protection for workers whose employment

has been terminated [paragraph 36]

• Build linkages with local enterprises by

sourcing local inputs, promoting the local

processing of raw materials and local

manufacturing of parts and equipment

[paragraph 20]

• Contribute to the transition to the formal

economy [paragraph 21]

• Complement and help to stimulate further

development of public social security

systems [paragraph 22]

• Take immediate and eective measures

to secure the prohibition and elimination

of forced labour in their operations

[paragraph 25]

• Respect the minimum age of admission

to employment and take immediate and

eective measures to secure the prohibition

and elimination of the worst forms of child

labour [paragraph 27]

• Be guided by the principle of non-

discrimination and make qualications,

skills and experience the basis for

recruitment, placement, training and

advancement of sta [paragraph 30]

• Endeavor to provide stable employment

for workers and observe freely negotiated

obligations concerning employment

stability and social security, promote

security of employment, providing

reasonable notice of intended changes in

operations and avoiding arbitrary dismissal

[paragraphs 33-35]

Training

• Develop national policies for vocational

training and guidance, closely linked with

employment, in cooperation with all the

parties concerned [paragraph 37]

• Provide training for all levels of workers

employed to meet the needs of the

enterprise as well as the development

policies of the country [paragraph 38]

• Participate in programmes aiming at

encouraging skill formation, lifelong

training and development, as well as

providing vocational training, and make

skilled resource personnel available

[paragraph 39]

• Aord opportunities within the enterprise

for local management to broaden their

experience [paragraph 40]

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

ANNEXES ANNEX 1: Principles of the ILO MNE Declaration

PRINCIPLES DIRECTED TO GOVERNMENTS PRINCIPLES DIRECTED TO ENTERPRISES

Conditions of

Work and Life

• Endeavour to adopt suitable measures

to ensure that lower income groups and

less developed areas benet as much as

possible from the activities of multinational

enterprises [paragraph 42]

• Ensure that both multinational and national

enterprises provide adequate safety

and health standards and contribute to

a preventive safety and health culture,

including taking steps to combat violence at

work and attention to building safety; and

that compensation is provided to workers

who have been victims of occupational

accidents or diseases [paragraph 43]

• Across their operations, provide wages,

benets and conditions of work not less

favorable than those oered by comparable

employers in the country concerned, taking

into account the general level of wages,

the cost of living, social security benets,

economic factors and levels of productivity

[paragraph 41]

• Maintain highest standards of safety

and health at work, make known special

hazards and related protective measures

associated with new products and

processes, provide information on good

practice observed in other countries, and

play a leading role in the examination

of causes of industrial safety and health

hazards. [paragraph 44]

• Cooperate with international and

national safety and health organizations,

national authorities, workers and their

organizations, and incorporate matters

of safety and health in agreements with

representatives of workers [paragraphs

45-46]

Industrial

Relations

• Apply the principles of Convention No. 87,

Article 5, in view of the importance, in

relation to multinational enterprises, of

permitting organizations representing

such enterprises or the workers in their

employment to aliate with international

organizations of employers and workers of

their own choosing [paragraph 51]

• Not include in their incentives to attract

foreign investment any limitation of the

workers’ freedom of association or the

right to organize and bargain collectively

[paragraph 52]

• Ensure through judicial, administrative,

legislative or other appropriate means

that workers whose rights have been

violated have access to eective remedy

[paragraph 64]

• Ensure that voluntary conciliation and

arbitration machinery is available free

of charge to assist in the prevention

and settlement of industrial disputes

[paragraph 67]

• Throughout their operations, observe

standards of industrial relations

[paragraph 47]

• Respect freedom of association and the

right to collective bargaining, provide the

facilities and information required for

meaningful negotiations [paragraphs 48,

57 and 61]

• Support representative employers’

organizations [paragraph 50]

• Provide for regular consultation on matters

of mutual concern [paragraph 63]

• Use leverage to encourage business

partners to provide eective remediation

[paragraph 65]

• Examine the grievances of worker(s),

pursuant to an appropriate procedure

[paragraph 66]

• Seek to establish voluntary conciliation

machinery jointly with representatives and

organizations of workers [paragraph 68]

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

ANNEXES

ANNEX 2: The women’s empowerment

principles and targets

Principle 1: Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality

8 Arm high-level support and direct top-level policies for gender equality and human

rights.

8 Establish company-wide goals and targets for gender equality and include progress as a

factor in managers’ performance reviews.

8 Engage internal and external stakeholders in the development of company policies,

programmes and implementation plans that advance equality.

8 Ensure that all policies are gender-sensitive – identifying factors that impact women and

men dierently – and that corporate culture advances equality and inclusion.

Principle 2: Treat all women and men fairly at work – respect and support

human rights and non-discrimination

8 Pay equal remuneration, including benets, for work of equal value and strive to pay a

living wage to all women and men.

8 Ensure that workplace policies and practices are free from gender-based discrimination.

8 Implement gender-sensitive recruitment and retention practices and proactively recruit

and appoint women to managerial and executive positions and to the corporate board

of directors.

8 Assure sucient participation of women – 30 per cent or greater – in decision-making

and governance at all levels and across all business areas.

8 Oer exible work options, leave and re-entry opportunities to positions of equal pay

and status.

8 Support access to child and dependent care by providing services, resources and

information to both women and men.

Principle 3: Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women and men

workers

8 Taking into account dierential impacts on women and men, provide safe working

conditions and protection from exposure to hazardous materials and disclose potential

risks, including to reproductive health.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

ANNEXES ANNEX 2: The women’s empowerment principles and targets

8 Establish a zero-tolerance policy towards all forms of violence at work, including verbal

and/or physical abuse, and prevent sexual harassment.

8 Strive to oer health insurance or other needed services – including for survivors of

domestic violence – and ensure equal access for all employees.

8 Respect women and men workers’ rights to time o for medical care and counselling for

themselves and their dependents.

8 In consultation with employees, identify and address security issues, including the safety

of women traveling to and from work and on company-related business.

8 Train security sta and managers to recognize signs of violence against women

and understand laws and company policies on human tracking, labour and sexual

exploitation.

Principle 4: Promote education, training and professional development for

women

8 Invest in workplace policies and programmes that open avenues for advancement of

women at all levels and across all business areas, and encourage women to enter non-

traditional job elds.

8 Ensure equal access to all company-supported education and training programmes,

including literacy classes, vocational and information technology training.

8 Provide equal opportunities for formal and informal networking and mentoring.

8 Articulate the company’s business case for women’s empowerment and the positive

impact of inclusion for men as well as women.

Principle 5: Implement enterprise-development, supply-chain and marketing

practices that empower women

8 Expand business relationships with women-owned enterprises, including small

businesses, and women entrepreneurs; and implement gender-sensitive procurement.

8 Support gender-sensitive solutions to credit and lending barriers.

8 Ask business partners and peers to respect the company’s commitment to advancing

equality and inclusion.

8 Respect the dignity of women in all marketing and other company materials.

8 Ensure that company products, services and facilities are not used for human tracking

and/or labour or sexual exploitation.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

ANNEXES ANNEX 2: The women’s empowerment principles and targets

Principle 6: Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy

8 Lead by example – showcase company commitment to gender equality and women’s

empowerment.

8 Leverage inuence, alone or in partnership, to advocate for gender equality and collaborate

with business partners, suppliers and community leaders to promote inclusion.

8 Work with community stakeholders, ocials and others to eliminate discrimination and

exploitation and open opportunities for women and girls.

8 Promote and recognize women’s leadership in, and contributions to, their communities

and ensure sucient representation of women in any community consultation.

8 Use philanthropy and grants programmes to support company commitment to inclusion,

equality and human rights.

Principle 7: Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender

equality

8 Make public the company policies and implementation plan for promoting gender

equality.

8 Establish benchmarks that quantify inclusion of women at all levels.

8 Measure and report on progress, both internally and externally, using data disaggregated

by sex.

8 Incorporate gender markers into ongoing reporting obligations.

As of 17 June 2020, over 3,200 companies had endorsed and committed to the principles,

signalling a commitment to action in all seven areas.

Working together, the UN Global

Compact, UN Women, the Multilateral Investment Fund of the IDB and the Inter-American

Investment Corporation created the WEPs Gender Gaps Analysis Tool to guide companies

through the implementation of the WEPs.

The WE EMPOWER – G7 programme has elaborated the WEPs into a collection of indicators

to aid companies in their implementation, monitoring and measurement of progress on

women’s economic empowerment. This document focuses on Principles 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 and

utilizes the WEPs indicators, accompanied by examples of good practice, to help distil key

action points for companies.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

ANNEXES ANNEX 2: The women’s empowerment principles and targets

One of the most eective ways of promoting companies’ commitment to gender equality

and accountability for achieving it is to encourage enterprises to go beyond compliance

with national laws, following the guidance of international and regional frameworks (see

Section 1.3), measuring progress and publicly reporting on their commitments and the

results achieved. Transparency and public reporting allow for clearer analysis of progress

and provide resources for companies around the world. These resources include tools such

as the “WEPs Gender Gap Analysis Tool”, the “WEPs Implementation Guide”, the “Trainers

Manual for Gender Equality in the Private Sector”, “The Power of Procurement: how to

source from women-owned businesses” and the newly launched Empowering Women at

Work Capacity Development Platform.

In line with their commitments to transparency, a growing number of companies in G7

countries are signing up to the WEPs. Since the launch of the Principles in 2010, more

than 3,212 CEOs globally have signed the CEO Statement of Support for the Women’s

Empowerment Principles.

Within the G7, Japan is the country with the highest number

of WEPs signatory companies (254 signatories), followed by the United States (134) and

Canada (60).

Public commitment to women’s economic empowerment that translates into

concreate actions and transformative workplace policies can further progress in achieving

gender equality in all areas of the WEPs.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

ANNEXES

ANNEX 3: Helpful resources

ILO, Rules of the Game: An introduction to standards-related work of the International Labour

Organization,

https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---normes/documents/

publication/wcms_672549.pdf

ILO, Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social

Policy (MNE Declaration), 5

Edition (2017),

https://www.ilo.org/mnedeclaration

ILO, Helpdesk for Business on International Labour Standards,

https://www.ilo.org/business

UN Global Compact and UN Women, Women’s Economic Empowerment Principles (WEPs),

https://www.unglobalcompact.org/take-action/action/womens-principles

ILO–ITC, Empowering Women at Work Capacity Building Platform,

http://ewaw.itcilo.org/

Empower Women,

www.empowerwomen.org

European Commission, Gender Equality Strategy 2020-25,

https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/les/aid_development_cooperation_fundamental_

rights/gender-equality-strategy-2020-2025_en.pdf

WEPs Equality Means Business – Using our principles as a multiplier for action and progress,

https://www.weps.org/resource/equality-means-business-using-our-principles-

multiplier-action-and-progress

Equal pay

ILO, Equal Pay: Introductory Guide,

https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/WCMS_216695/lang--en/index.htm

The Women’s Economic Empowerment Principles Gender Gap Analysis Tool,

https://weps-gapanalysis.org/

Economic Dividends for Gender Equality (EDGE) Certication,

http://edge-cert.org/

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

ANNEXES ANNEX 3: Helpful resources

ILO, Promoting Equity: gender-neutral job evaluation for equal pay. A step-by-step guide,

https://www.ilo.org/declaration/info/publications/eliminationofdiscrimination/

WCMS_122372/lang--en/index.htm

The Equality and Human Rights Commission, Gender-Neutral Job Evaluation Schemes– An

Introductory Guide,

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/les/gd.13.101-1_gender_neutral_

jes-ig_18-03-14_nal.pdf

Institute for the Equality of Women and Men, Checklist Gender neutrality in job evaluation and

classication,

http://genderpaygap.eu/documents/Belgium_Checklist_ENG.pdf

Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC),

www.equalpayinternationalcoalition.com

UN Women, Diagnosis for Equal Remuneration (DIR) self-evaluation tool,

https://www.weps.org/resource/diagnosis-equal-remuneration

WEPs Equal Pay Guidance Note,

https://www.weps.org/resource/closing-gender-pay-gaps-achieve-gender-equality-work

Violence and harassment in the world of work

Catalyst, Sexual Harassment in the Workplace – How Companies Can Prepare, Prevent,

Respond, and Transform Their Culture,

https://www.catalyst.org/system/les/sexual_harassment_in_the_workplace_report.pdf

Business Fights Poverty, How can business tackle gender-based violence in the world of work:

AToolkit for Action,

https://www.empowerwomen.org/en/resources/documents/2019/10/how-can-business-

tackle-gender-based-violence-in-the-world-of-work-a-toolkit-for-action?lang=en

Cleary Gottlieb, Confronting Sexual Harassment in Today’s Workplace: 8 Questions Companies

Should Be Asking Themselves,

https://www.clearymawatch.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/106/2018/02/2018-02-06-

confronting-sexual-harassment-in-today-s-workplace.pdf

ILO Portal: Eliminating Violence and Harassment in the World of Work,

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/violence-harassment/lang--en/index.htm

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

ANNEXES ANNEX 3: Helpful resources

ILO and UN Women, Handbook: Addressing Violence and Harassment against Women in the

World of Work,

http://endvawnow.org/uploads/browser/les/work-handbook-interior-web-rev.pdf

ILO, Sample Sexual Harassment Policy,

https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---ilo-suva/documents/

policy/wcms_407364.pdf

United Nations, UN Code of Conduct,

http://un.org/codeofconduct

Alteristic, “Green Dot” Bystander intervention training,

https://alteristic.org/services/green-dot/

Eversafe, Online Workplace Violence Training,

https://eversafe.ca/online-workplace-violence-training/

Work–family balance and childcare

IFC, Guide for Employer-Supported Childcare,

https://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/topics_ext_content/ifc_external_corporate_site/

gender+at+ifc/resources/guide+for+employer-supported+childcare

ILO, International Labour Standards on Work–Life Balance,

https://www.ilo.org/travail/areasofwork/WCMS_249047/lang--en/index.htm

ILO, Work and family: Creating a family-friendly workplace,

https://www.ilo.org/gender/Informationresources/Publications/WCMS_410189/lang--

en/index.htm

ILO, Maternity Protection Resource Package,

https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/ilo-bookstore/order-online/books/

WCMS_193968/lang--en/index.htm

ILO, Wise-R Action Manual Module 5– Family-friendly measures,

https://www.ilo.org/travail/whatwedo/instructionmaterials/WCMS_145380/lang--en/

index.htm

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

ANNEXES ANNEX 3: Helpful resources

Women in business and management

ILO, Women in Business and Management,

https://www.ilo.org/actemp/areas-of-work/WCMS_578474/lang--en/index.htm

International Organization of Employers (IOE), Policy Priorities: Diversity,

https://www.ioe-emp.org/en/policy-priorities/diversity/

McKinsey & Company, A CEO’s guide to gender equality,

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/a-ceos-guide-to-gender-

equality

World Economic Forum, Accelerating Gender Parity: A Toolkit,

https://www.weforum.org/whitepapers/accelerating-gender-parity-a-toolkit

Women at work and the future of work

ILO Portal: The Future of Work,

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/future-of-work/lang--en/index.htm

International Organization of Employers (IOE), Policy Priorities: The Future of Work,

https://www.ioe-emp.org/en/policy-priorities/future-of-work/

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

ANNEXES ANNEX 3: Helpful resources

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Endnotes

PART 1: GUIDING FRAMEWORKS FOR COMPANY POLICIES TO PROMOTE

GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

ILO, A quantum leap for gender equality: For a better future of work for all, 2019, 12.

ILO, Women in Business and Management: The business case for change, 2019, 53.

Commission on the Status of Women, Review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration

and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly. Report

of the Secretary-General, 2020, 3.

ILO, A quantum leap for gender equality: For a better future of work for all, 2019, 12–14.

Equileap, Gender Equality Global Report & Ranking, 2019, 6.

Ibid. 22.

Other recent Equileap resources are available here: https://equileap.org/publications/.

Equileap, Gender Equality Global Report & Ranking, 2019, 14.

United Nations, Women’s Empowerment Principles, https://www.weps.org/

United Nations Human Rights Oce of the High Commissioner, The Committee on the Elimination of

Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

ILO, Gender equality, accessed 5 June 2020.

As of June 2020, the United States was the only G7 country not to have ratied Convention No. 100.

As of June 2020, Japan and the United States had not ratied Convention No. 111 among G7 countries.

ILO, What is the ILO MNE Declaration?, accessed 5 June 2020.

ILO, A Manual for gender audit facilitators: The ILO participatory gender audit methodology (2

Edition), 2012.

United Nations Human Rights Oce of the High Commissioner, Guiding Principles on Business and Human

Rights, 2011, ii.

United Nations Human Rights Oce of the High Commissioner, Working Group on the issue of human rights

and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, accessed 30 September 2019.

United Nations Human Rights Special Procedures, Business and Human Rights, and UNDP, Gender Dimensions

of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, 2019.

ILO, A quantum leap for gender equality: For a better future of work for all, 2019, 102.

W20, Women’s Summit Communiqué, Istanbul, October 17, 2015.

Ibid. 17.

G7 2017 Taormina, G7 Roadmap for a Gender-Responsive Economic Environment, 2017, 2. See also, Partenariat

de Biarritz pour l’égalité entre les femmes et les hommes.

Ibid., 2–4.

G7, G7 Social Communiqué, June 2019, 3. See also, Partenariat de Biarritz pour l’égalité entre les femmes et les

hommes

Ibid., 18.

Ibid.

European Parliament, Brieng: EU policies – Delivering for citizens, October 2018, 5.

EU, Work-life balance factsheet.

European Commission, Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, March 2020.

PART 2: TAKING ACTION FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

ILO, World Employment Social Outlook: Trends for Women 2017, 2017, 18.

UNDP & UN WOMEN, Gender Equality as an Accelerator of Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,

2018, 11.

PwC, “Increasing the female employment rate across the OECD to match that of Sweden could boost GDP by

US$6 trillion

”, 3 March 2020

ILO, Women in Business and Management: The business case for change, 2019, 71.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Endnotes

Accenture, Equality = Innovation, Getting to Equal 2019: Creating a Culture That Drives Innovation, 2019.

Ibid. 21.

ILO, Women in Business and Management: The business case for change, 2019, iii.

Ibid.

WE EMPOWER G7, Closing Gender Pay Gaps to Achieve Gender Equality at Work, 2020, 3.

UNICEF, ILO, UN Women, Family-friendly policies and other good workplace practices in the context of COVID-19:

Key steps employers can take, 2020.

Boston Consulting Group, Why Paid Family Leave is Good Business, 2017, 4.

Ibid., 13.

EY, Viewpoints on paid family and medical leave: Findings from a survey of US employers and employees, 2017,

ii.

Unilever and Oxfam, Business Brieng on Unpaid Care and Domestic Work, 2019, 4.

IFC, Tackling Childcare; The Business Case for Employer-supported Childcare, 2017, 21.

ILO, Maternity Protection in SMEs: An international review, 2014.

ILO, Women in Business and Management: The business case for change, 2019, 67.

ILO, A Quantum Leap for Gender Equality: For a better future of work for all, 2019, 42.

Harvard Business Review, Study: When Leaders Take Sexual Harassment Seriously, So Do Employees, Chloe

Hart, Alison Dahl Crossley and Shelley Correll, 14 December 2019.

Ibid.

BSR and Women Deliver, How Business Can Build a ‘Future of Work’ That Works for Women, 2019, 35.

Business Fights Poverty, How can business tackle gender-based violence in the world of work: A Toolkit for

Action, September 2019, 7.

Ibid., 25.

ILO, Women in Business and Management: The business case for change, 2019; McKinsey, “Women Matter

report”, 2017; Catalyst, “Why Diversity and Inclusion Matter”, 2018; “Gender-Balanced Teams Linked to Better

Business Performance: A Sodexo Study”, Anand, R., 2016.

Ibid., 21.

ILO, Women in Business and Management: The business case for change, 2019, 16–17.

Ibid., 54.

Ibid., 16.

ILO, A quantum leap for gender equality: For a better future of work for all, 2019, 13.

ILO, Women in Business and Management: The business case for change, 2019, 67.

2.1 Achieving equal pay for work of equal value

ILO, Global Wage Report 2018/19: What lies behind gender pay gaps, 2018, 23.

ILO, Women in Business and Management: The business case for change, 2019, 68.

WE EMPOWER G7, Closing Gender Pay Gaps to Achieve Gender Equality at Work, 2020, 1.

ILO, Global Wage Report 2018/19: What lies behind gender pay gaps, 2018, 37–38.

Ibid., 97.

Ibid., 68–81.

Ibid., xvii.

Ibid. 78.

ILO, Equal Pay - An introductory guide, 2013, 2.

See Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100), Articles 2 and 3, and Recommendation No. 111.

See WEPs, Principle 2, Treat all Women and Men Fairly at Work without Discrimination.

UN Women, Closing Gender Pay Gaps to Achieve Gender Equality at Work, 2020, 4–7.

ILO, Closing the gender pay gap: A review of the issues, policy mechanisms and international evidence, p. X.

ILO–ITUC Issue Paper, Social dialogue as a driver and governance instrument for sustainable development,

2017, 17.

ILO, Global Wage Report 2018/19: What lies behind gender pay gaps, 2018, 92.

ILO, Equal Pay - An introductory guide, 2013, 83.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Endnotes

WE EMPOWER G7, Closing Gender Pay Gaps to Achieve Gender Equality at Work, 2020, 4–7.

Ibid. 5.

For an explanation the comparison of works of equal value, see ILO InfoStory: Tackling sex discrimination

through pay equity.

Equileap, Bridging the Gap: How governments, companies and investors can tackle gender pay inequality, 2018,

18.

WE EMPOWER G7, Closing Gender Pay Gaps to Achieve Gender Equality at Work, 2020, 4.

Harvard Business Review, Research: Gender Pay Gaps Shrink When Companies Are Required to Disclose Them,

23 January 2019.

EPIC, Equal Pay International Coalition at www.equalpayinternationalcoalition.org

Areva, Communication on Progress, 2014, 155.

Ibid.

ILO, Promoting gender equality through social dialogue: Global trends and persistent obstacles, 2011, 6.

Areva, Communication on Progress, 2014, 161.

Areva, Press Release: Areva is organizing the rst European Day on gender equality in the workplace,

29 September 2009.

Areva, Communication on Progress, 2014, 155.

Areva, Communication on Progress, 2005, 41.

Fujitsu, Fujitsu Group Sustainability Report 2018, 179.

Ibid.

Fujitsu in UK and Ireland, Shaping the gender balance of tomorrow, 2017, 14.

Fujitsu, Fujitsu Group Sustainability Report 2018, 158–159.

Ibid., 160.

Fujitsu, Employee Benets, accessed 4 September 2019.

Fujitsu, Fujitsu Group Sustainability Report 2018, 180.

Fujitsu, Creating Good Working Conditions, accessed 29 April 2019.

IKEA, IKEA Facts and Figures 2018, 2018, accessed 23 September 2019.

IKEA UK, Gender Pay Gap Report 2017, 2017, 2.

WE EMPOWER, Webinar - Achieving Equal Pay: Lessons from the ILO 2018-2019 Global Wage Report and Global,

22 January 2019.

Ibid.

IKEA, Working at the IKEA Group, accessed 23 September 2019.

WE EMPOWER, Webinar - Achieving Equal Pay: Lessons from the ILO 2018-2019 Global Wage Report and Global,

22 January 2019.

IKEA, Working at the IKEA Group, accessed 23 September 2019.

IKEA, Opening doors to diversity,, accessed 23 September 2019.

IKEA, Working at the IKEA Group, accessed 23 September 2019.

WE EMPOWER, Webinar - Achieving Equal Pay: Lessons from the ILO 2018-2019 Global Wage Report and Global,

22 January 2019.

Ibid.

SAP SE, Communication on Progress 2018, 252

Ibid., 253.

SAP SE, Pay Equality at SAP: An Industry-Leading Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion, Jennifer Morgan,

9 September 2019.

SAP, SAP Diversity and Inclusion, 2020, accessed 26 June 2020.

Equileap, Gender Equality Global Report & Ranking, 2019, 28.

Starbucks, Annual Report, 2018, 8.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Endnotes

Starbucks, Diversity at Starbucks, accessed 23 September 2019.

Starbucks, Starbucks announces 100 percent gender, racial pay equity for U.S partners, sets global commitment,

Starbucks Newsroom, 21 March 2018.

Starbucks, “The Path to Equal Pay”, infographic, provided by company for the webinar: WE EMPOWER, Webinar -

Achieving Equal Pay: Lessons from the ILO 2018-2019 Global Wage Report and Global, 22 January 2019.

Starbucks, History of Partner Benets at Starbucks, 18 July 2016.

This illustrative practice draws extensively on WE EMPOWER G7, WEPs in Action, Case Study: Swedbank. Closing

the Gender Pay Gap, 2020.

Swedbank, 2019 Compiled Sustainability Information, 2019, 206.

Equileap, Gender Equality Global Report & Ranking, 2019, 24.

2.2 Preventing and ending gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work

National Post, Online survey suggests high rate of sexual harassment in the workplace in Canada, Joanna Smith,

7 March 2018.

ILO, Fact Sheet: Sexual Harassment at Work.

Business Fights Poverty, How can business tackle gender-based violence in the world of work: A Toolkit for

Action, 2.

McLaughlin, H., Uggen, C., & Blackstone, A. (2017). The Economic and Career Eects of Sexual Harassment on

Working Women. Gender & Society, 31(3), 333–358.

ILO, Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190), preamble.

Ibid, 7.

ILO, Sexual harassment in the world of work (Brief No.2; Series of technical briefs: Violence and harassment in

the world of work), 2020.

Business Fights Poverty, How can business tackle gender-based violence in the world of work: A Toolkit for

Action, September 2019, 16–17.

Ibid., 44–51.

ILO and UN WOMEN, Handbook. Addressing violence and harassment against women in the world of work,

2019.

ILO, Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190), Article 4.

ILO, Domestic violence and its impact in the world of work, Brief No. 3; Series of technical briefs: Violence and

harassment in the world of work, 2020.

ILO, ILC Ending violence and harassment against women and men in the world of work, 2018, p. 19.

ILO Violence and Harassment Recommendation, 2019 (No. 206), Paragraph 7.

Ibid., Paragraph 8.

CEDAW, General Comment on Art. 11 of General Recommendation No. 19 (11

Session, 1992).

See in particular, Directives 2000/43/EC, 2000/78/EC, and 2006/54/EC; EU OSH Directive 89/391/EEC; ILO, ILC

“Ending violence and harassment against women and men in the world of work”, 2018, 42.

See WEPs, Principle 3, Employee Health, Well-being and Safety. See also WE EMPOWER G7, The COVID-19 Shadow

Pandemic: Domestic Violence in the World of Work - A Call to Action for the Private Sector, 2020.

UN Global Compact, Eliminating Harassment and Violence in the World of Work, accessed 9 April 2020.

Stanford Social Innovation Review, How Businesses Can Take the Lead in Combatting Gender-Based Violence,

16 September 2019.

Ibid., 54.

Harvard Business Review (HBR), Study: When Leaders Take Sexual Harassment Seriously, So Do Employees,

Chloe Hart, Alison Dahl Crossley and Shelley Correll, 14 December 2019.

EEOC, Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace, June 2016, 31.

Nicole T. Buchanan et al. “A Review of Organizational Strategies for Reducing Sexual Harassment: Insights from

the U. S. Military.” Journal of Social Issues, Wiley/Blackwell (10.1111), 9 Dec. 2014.

EEOC, Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace, June 2016, 36.

For indicative examples of workplace policies, please see the ILO’s Model Sexual Harassment Policy and the UN

Code of Conduct on Sexual Harassment in Annex 3 “Helpful Resources”.

Business Fights Poverty, How can business tackle gender-based violence in the world of work: A Toolkit for

Action, September 2019, 31.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Endnotes

ILO and UN WOMEN, Handbook. Addressing violence and harassment against women in the world of work,

2019, 73–74.

HBR, The Omissions That Make So Many Sexual Harassment Policies Ineective, Debbie S. Dougherty, 31 May

2017

ILO, Final Report, Meeting of Experts on Violence against Women and Men in the World of Work, Appendix, 2016,

para. 9.

BSR and Women Deliver, How Business Can Build a ‘Future of Work’ That Works for Women, 2019, 15.

Catalyst, Report: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: How Companies Can Prepare, Prevent, Respond, and

Transform Their Culture, 15 March 2018.

Ibid., 58.

HBR, Sexual Harassment Is Rampant in Health Care. Here’s How to Stop It., Jane van Dis, Laura Stadum and

Esther Choo, 1 November 2018.

IFC, SheWorks: Putting Gender-Smart Commitments into Practice, 2016, 62.

Heather Antecol and Deborah Cobb-Clark, “Does Sexual Harassment Training Change Attitudes? A View from

the Federal Level” Social Science Quarterly, vol. 84, No. 4, 2003, pp. 826–842.

Potter, S. J. et al. “Conveying Campus Sexual Misconduct Policy Information to College and University Students:

Results from a 7-Campus Study.” Journal of American College Health, vol. 64, No. 6, 2016, pp. 438–47.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the

Workplace, Report of Co-Chairs Chai R. Feldblum and Victroia A. Lipnic, June 2016, v.

Sharyn J. Potter PhD, M.P.H, and Mary M. Moynihan, PhD, “Bringing in the Bystander in-Person Prevention

Program to a U.S. Military Installation: Results from a Pilot Study.” Military Medicine, vol. 176, No. 8, 2011,

pp. 870–5. Alison C. Cares et al. “Changing Attitudes About Being a Bystander to Violence.” Violence Against

Women, vol. 21, No. 2, 2014, pp. 165–87. Debbie S. Dougherty and Marlo Goldstein Hode, “Binary Logics and

the Discursive Interpretation of Organizational Policy: Making Meaning of Sexual Harassment Policy”, Human

Relations, vol. 69, No. 8, 2016, pp. 1729–1755; EEOC, Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the

Workplace, June 2016, v.

ILO, Convention on Violence and Harassment (No. 190), 2019.

ILO, Safe and healthy working environments free from violence and harassment, 2020.

See also WE EMPOWER G7, The COVID-19 Shadow Pandemic: Domestic Violence in the World of Work - A Call to

Action for the Private Sector, 2020.

Chamberlain, L. J. et al. (2008), Sexual Harassment in Organizational Context, Work and Occupations, 35(3),

262–295.

Nicole T. Buchanan et al., “A Review of Organizational Strategies for Reducing Sexual Harassment: Insights from

the U. S. Military.” Journal of Social Issues, Wiley/Blackwell (10.1111), 9 Dec. 2014.

Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA), Doing Our Duty: Preventing Sexual Harassment in

the Workplace, 12 April 2018, 11. International Finance Corporation (IFC), SheWorks: Putting Gender-Smart

Commitments into Practice, December 2016, 50.

Carrefour Group, Consolidated Financial Statements 2018, 61.

Carrefour, “International Women’s Day, 12% increase in the share of women making up Carrefour’s management

sta”, 2017.

ILO and UN WOMEN, Handbook. Addressing violence and harassment against women in the world of work,

2019, 70.

Carrefour, A guide to preventing violence against women in the workplace in conjunction with UN Women’s

National Committee for France, accessed 3 October 2019.

Diageo, Annual Report 2018, 2018, 49.

Ibid.

Business Fights Poverty, CARE and Diageo: Tackling Violence and Harassment at Work, Verity O’Shaughnessy,

28 November 2018.

Diageo, Annual Report 2018, 2018, 45.

Equileap, Gender Equality Global Report & Ranking, 2019, 26.

Endesa, 2018 Annual Report, 2018, 108.

Ibid.

ILO and UN WOMEN, Handbook. Addressing violence and harassment against women in the world of work,

2019, 69.

Ibid.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Endnotes

LinkedIn, Fortalice Solutions, accessed 9 September 2019.

Nxt Chptr, Theresa Payton: Creating a Business to Fight Evil in the World, 18 April 2018.

Fortalice Solutions, Fortalice Services, accessed 9 September 2019.

Nxt Chptr, Theresa Payton: Creating a Business to Fight Evil in the World, 18 April 2018.

CREST, Closing the Gender Gap in Cybersecurity, Eleanor, Dallaway, 2016, 2.

Fortalice Solutions, #HelpASisterUp, accessed 9 September 2019.

Pew Research Center, Online Harassment, Maeve Duggan, 22 October 2014.

Yahoo Finance, Gap Inc. company prole - number of full-time employees, accessed 9 April 2019.

Gap Inc., Communication on Progress 2017, 21.

Gap Inc., Integrity is always in style: Our worldwide code of business conduct, 2016, 3.

IFC, SheWorks: Putting Gender-Smart Commitments into Practice, 2016, 57–58.

Gap Inc., Code of Business Conduct (COBC) Hotline.

2.3 Promoting work–family balance and equal sharing of care responsibilities

ILO, Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work, 2018, 37.

ILO, Women at Work: Trends 2016, 2016, 20.

ILO, Global Wage Report 2018/19: What lies behind gender pay gaps, 2018, 19.

Ibid., 79–81.

Ibid., 19.

Ibid., 20.

ILO, A quantum leap for gender equality: For a better future of work for all, 2019, p. 62.

ILO, ILO Maternity Resource Package Module 1, 2012, 2.

ILO, Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work, 2018, 127.

ILO, Maternity and paternity at work: Law and practice across the world, 2014, 90–96.

ILO, ILO Maternity Resource Package Module 1, 2012, 4–5.

ILO, Maternity and paternity at work: Law and practice across the world, 2014, 1.

European Union, Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on work-life balance for parents and

carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU, 2019.

European Commission, Work-life balance, accessed 14 March 2020.

Ibid.

Women’s Empowerment Principle 2, accessed 14 March 2020.

New America, Paid Family Leave: How Much Time is Enough?, 2017, 15.

Maya Rossin-Slater, “Maternity and Family Leave Policy,” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper

No. 23069, 2017.

ILO, Q&A on Business, Discrimination and Equality, ILO Helpdesk on International Labour Standards, accessed

14 March 2020.

Equal rights to paid parental leave and caring fathers- the case of Iceland, Ásdís A. Arnalds, Guðný Björk Eydal,

and Ingólfur V. Gíslason, Icelandic Review of Politics and Administration, Vol. 9, Issue 2 (323–344), 329–330.

Ibid., 330.

ILO, Global Wage Report 2018/19: What lies behind gender pay gaps, 97.

ILO, Maternity Protection in SMEs: An international review, 2014.

Ibid.

UN Women, UN Supplementary Guidance on the Enabling Environment Guidelines for the United Nations

System, 2019, 100–101.

Ibid.

ILO, ILO Policy Guidelines on the promotion of decent work for early childhood education personnel, 2013.

IFC, Tackling Childcare: A Guide for Employer-Supported Childcare, 2019.

European Commission, 2019 Report on equality between women and men in the EU, 2019, 14.

ILO, Global Wage Report 2018/19: What lies behind gender pay gaps, 2018, 23.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Endnotes

Boston Consulting Group, Why Paid Family Leave is Good Business, 2017, 19.

Adidas, Employees, accessed 11 September 2019.

Ibid.

Adidas, Employees, accessed 11 September 2019

Ibid.

Yahoo Finance, BMO Financial Group company prole, accessed 9 September 2019.

BMO Financial Group, 2017 Employment Equity Narrative Report, 2.

Ibid, 24.

Danone, Annual Report 2017.

Danone, Key Performance Indicators - Social Performance, accessed 6 September 2019.

Ibid.

Danone, Danone Global Parental Policy, 2017, 4.

ILO, Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work, 2018, 305.

MAAM, MAAM trains the most sought-after soft skills in the world of work, accessed 11 November 2019.

Danone, MAAM, Maternity as a Master in Danone, 8 November 2019.

https://www.danone.com/about-danone/at-a-glance/danone-data.html.

ILO, Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work, 2018, 305.

Deloitte, 2018 Global Impact Report, Talent, Headcount by gender.

Ibid.

Deloitte, Life at Deloitte - Peace of mind: Inclusive culture + paid family leave.

Bloomberg BNA, Deloitte, PwC, EY Take Stock After Parental Leave Expansions, Genevieve Douglas, 24 July 2018.

EY, Key Facts and Figures, Global Review 2018, Diversity & Inclusiveness.

Ibid.

Employee Benets, EY US sees 38per cent of new fathers take six weeks or more paternity leave, Katie Scott,

21 April 2017.

New York Times, Millennials See Paternity Leave as a Priority, Ronald Alsop, 28 November 2017.

Employee Benets, EY US sees 38per cent of new fathers take six weeks or more paternity leave, Katie Scott,

21 April 2107.

Bloomberg BNA, Deloitte, PwC, EY Take Stock After Parental Leave Expansions, Genevieve Douglas, 24 July 2018.

Yahoo Finance, L’Oréal company prole, accessed 9 April 2019.

L’Oréal, 2017 Registration Document, 6.

L’Oréal, Communication on Progress 2017, 61.

L’Oréal, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Or%C3%A9al.

L’Oréal, The “L’Oréal Share and Care” Social Program.

L’Oréal, L’Oréal extends Paid Parental Leave to 6 weeks.

L’Oréal, United Nations Global Compact Communication On Progress (“COP”) 2017 Advanced Level, July 2018, 54.

L’Oréal, The “L’Oréal Share and Care” Social Program, accessed 9 April 2019.

L’Oréal, 2017 Registration Document Annual Financial Report - Integrated Report, 2017, 144–5.

L’Oréal, Share & Care: Where L’Oréal and social protection meet, 27 November 2018.

Equileap, Gender Equality Global Report & Ranking, 2019, 26.

IFC, Tackling Childcare; The Business Case for Employer-supported Childcare, 2017, 148–9.

Ibid.

Ibid., 154.

Ibid.

Ibid., 152.

Ibid., 150–153.

Ibid., 154.

Ibid., 157.

Ibid., 156.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Endnotes

EurWORK, Case Study: Care-related supports – Novartis, France, 2011.

Ibid.

The Guardian, Does Patagonia have the answer for narrowing the gender wage gap?, Esha Chhabra, 2016.

Ibid.

LinkedIn Talent Blog, Why Patagonia CHRO Dean Carter Sees Onsite Child Care as a Bedrock Benet, Bruce

Anderson, 2019.

Ibid.

Government of the United States, The Business Case for Breastfeeding: Employer Spotlights, accessed

22 November 2019, 10.

Quartz at Work, This is what work-life balance looks like at a company with 100% retention of moms, Jenny

Anderson, 2016.

LinkedIn Talent Blog, Why Patagonia CHRO Dean Carter Sees Onsite Child Care as a Bedrock Benet, Bruce

Anderson, 2019.

Fast Company, Patagonia’s CEO Explains How To Make On-Site Child Care Pay For Itself, Rose Marcario, 2016.

IFC, Global Launch of Employer-Supported Childcare Guide, 18 November 2019.

UN Global Compact, Communication on Progress 2017 - RELX Group.

Ibid.

RELX Group, Not Your Usual 9 to 5: Flexible Working at RELX Group, Victoria Higginson.

UN Global Compact, Communication on Progress 2017 - RELX Group.

RELX Group, Not Your Usual 9 to 5: Flexible Working at RELX Group, Victoria Higginson.

100

Ibid.

101

Market Watch, Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd., accessed 6 September 2019.

102

IFC, Tackling Childcare; The Business Case for Employer-supported Childcare, 2017, 63.

103

Ibid.

104

Ibid.

105

Ibid.

106

Ibid., 51.

107

Ibid.

108

Ibid.

109

Sumitomo Corporation, Work-Life Management Programs and Measures, accessed 10 September 2019;

Sumitomo Corporation, External Recognition, accessed 30 August 2019.

110

Forbes, #43 Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, accessed 6 September 2019.

111

Ibid., 138–42.

112

IFC, Tackling Childcare; The Business Case for Employer-supported Childcare, 2017, 132.

113

Ibid., 136.

114

Ibid., 142.

115

Ibid., 143.

116

Unibail-Rodamco–Westeld, Annual and Sustainable Development Report 2018, 7.

117

Ibid., 32.

118

Working Families, Unibail-Rodamco-Westeld – Winner 2018, UBS Best for Fathers Network Award.

119

Ibid.

120

Ibid.

121

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Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Endnotes

2.4 Supporting women in business and management

McKinsey, Women Matter: Ten years of insights on gender diversity, 2017, 11.

ILO, A quantum leap for gender equality: For a better future of work for all, 2019, 13.

Ibid., 41.

ILO, Women in Business and Management: The business case for change, 2019, 53.

Deloitte Global Center for Corporate Governance, Women in the boardroom: A global perspective, 5th Edition,

2017, 3.

Catalyst, Women on Corporate Boards: Quick Take, 21 December 2018.

Ibid, 29.

Ibid, 31.

EIGE, Gender Statistics Database, Women and men in decision-making, 2019.

IFC, Moving toward Gender Balance in Private Equity and Venture Capital, 2019; Wharton Social Impact Initiative,

“Project Sage 2.0 Tracking venture capital with a gender lens”, Biegel, S., Hunt, S. M., Kuhlman, S., 2019; Atomico,

State of European Tech 2019 Report, 2019.

European Commission, Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, March 2020.

Ibid.

ILO, Rules of the Game: An introduction to standards-related work of the International Labour Organization,

2019, 47.

ILO, Report III(1B): Giving globalization a human face (General Survey of the fundamental Conventions), 2012,

para 859.

ILO MNE Declaration, 2017, para. 38.

European Commission, Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, March 2020.

European Commission, Directive of The European Parliament and of the Council on Improving the Gender

Balance Among Non-Executive Directors of Companies Listed on Stock Exchanges and Related Measures, 2012.

The Parliament Magazine, EU gender equality legislation key to breaking the glass ceiling, Jourová, V., 2014.

European Commission, Enhanced European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot, accessed 13 April 2020.

European Commission, Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, March 2020, 9.

ILO, Women in Business and Management: The business case for change, 2019, 72.

AT&T, Issue Brief: Good Jobs, July 2018, 3.

AT&T, Issue Brief: Workforce Diversity, June 2018, 2.

Ibid, 4.

Ibid.

AT&T, Women leading the way at AT&T, 2016.

Ibid.

AT&T, 2017 Corporate Responsibility Update: Building a Better Tomorrow, 31.

Diversity MBA Magazine, 2018 50 Out Front: Best Companies for Women & Diverse Managers to Work, 27 June

2018.

A.T. Kearney, About US, 2019.

UN Global Compact, Communication on Progress 2018, A.T. Kearney, published 15 March 2019, 5.

Real Business, A.T. Kearney: Creating value for clients through diversity, Dara Jegede, 26 May 2016.

YouTube video, A.T. Kearney, Sponsorship Program at A.T. Kearney, published 4 September 2015, accessed

18 April 2019.

Diversity Woman, 100 Best Companies for Women’s Leadership Development, Fall 2015.

Real Business, A.T. Kearney: Creating value for clients through diversity, Dara Jegede, 26 May 2016.

Ibid.

A.T. Kearney, Create Your Own Path: Personalized Programs, accessed 18 April 2019.

UN Global Compact, Communication on Progress 2018, A.T. Kearney, published 15 March 2019.

A.T. Kearney, The Women’s Network, accessed 18 April 2019.

UN Global Compact, Communication on Progress 2018, A.T. Kearney, published 15 March 2019, 5.

Deutsche Post DHL Group, Communication on Progress 2017, 40.

Ibid.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Endnotes

UN Global Compact, Communication on Progress: Deutsche Post DHL Group Corporate Responsibility Report 2017,

2017, 38–42.

Catalyst, Case Study: Deutsche Post DHL Group - Women in Management, 17 January 2019.

Ibid.

Catalyst, Media Release: Catalyst Announces 2019 Award Winners: Bank of America, Deutsche Post DHL Group,

Eli Lilly and Company, and Schneider Electric Honoured for Accelerating Progress for Women in the Workplace,

17 January 2019.

DNB Group, Communication on Progress, Annual report 2018, 2018, 72.

Ibid., 68.

Ibid.

Ibid., 68–69.

DNB Group, Communication on Progress, Annual report 2018, 67–68.

Equileap, Gender Equality Global Report & Ranking, 2019, 26.

Eli Lilly and Company, Key Facts, Employees as of 31 December 2018.

Eli Lilly and Company, Communication on Progress, 2017, 20.

Eli Lilly and Company, Communication on Progress, 2017, 23.

Harvard Business Review, How Lilly Is Getting More Women into Leadership Positions, 23 October 2018.

Catalyst, Case Study: Eli Lilly and Company—Employee Journeys and People Strategy, 17 January 2019.

Harvard Business Review, How Lilly Is Getting More Women into Leadership Positions, 23 October 2018.

Catalyst, Case Study: Eli Lilly and Company—Employee Journeys and People Strategy, 17 January 2019.

Catalyst, Media Release: Catalyst Announces 2019 Award Winners: Bank of America, Deutsche Post DHL Group,

Eli Lilly and Company, and Schneider Electric Honoured for Accelerating Progress for Women in the Workplace,

17 January 2019.

UN Global Compact, 2017 Intesa Sanpaolo Consolidated Non-Financial Statement (Communication on Progress),

published 14 May 2018, 147.

Intesa Sanpaolo, Press Release: Second edition of the “Women Value Company Intesa Sanpaolo” Award

underway, 7 May 2018.

Ibid., 3.

UN Global Compact, 2017 Intesa Sanpaolo Consolidated Non-Financial Statement (Communication on Progress),

published 14 May 2018, 76.

Ibid.

Intesa Sanpaolo, Press Release: Second edition of the “Women Value Company Intesa Sanpaolo” Award

underway, 7 May 2018.

UN Global Compact, 2017 Intesa Sanpaolo Consolidated Non Financial Statement (Communication on Progress),

published 14 May 2018, 76.

Ibid.

Intesa Sanpaolo, Press Release: “Women Value Company 2019 - Intesa Sanpaolo” Award: The Third Edition of

the Initiative Sponsored by Marisa Bellisario Foundation and Intesa Sanpaolo Takes O to Promote Female

Talent and Gender Equality, 14 November 2018.

Ibid.

Intesa Sanpaolo, Press Release: Second edition of the “Women Value Company Intesa Sanpaolo” Award

underway, 7 May 2018, 3.

Equileap, 2018 Gender Equality Global Report & Ranking, published 4 October 2018.

Salesforce, FY18 Stakeholder Impact Report - Blazing a Trail Toward a Better, More Equal World, 2018, 9.

Ibid., 36.

Inc.com, The CEO of Salesforce Found Out His Female Employees Were Paid Less Than Men. His Response Is a

Priceless Leadership Lesson, 26 July 2018.

Ibid.

Salesforce, Our Path Toward Equality: The Salesforce Annual Update 2018, Tony Prophet, Chief Equality Ocer,

14 December 2018.

Salesforce, FY17 Stakeholder Impact Report - Blazing a Trail Toward a Better, More Equal World, 2017, 13.

Salesforce, Equality - Our Data, accessed 16 April 2019.

Salesforce, FY18 Stakeholder Impact Report - Blazing a Trail Toward a Better, More Equal World, 2018, 38–39.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Endnotes

https://www.ceoaction.com/about/, accessed 16 April 2019.

TD Bank Group, Workforce Prole, as of 31 October 2017.

TD Bank Group, Employment Equity Report - Canada, 2016, 1.

TD Bank Group, 2017 Corporate Responsibility Report, 27.

Ibid., 9.

Ibid., 8.

Ibid., 2.

Ibid.

Ibid., 8.

Ibid.

Ibid., 3.

Ibid.

TD Bank Group, 2017 Corporate Responsibility Report, 2017, 29.

Ibid., 27.

2.5 Building a future of work that works for women

A.T. Kearney, About Women@250: A Multigenerational Look at the future of Women in the US Workforce,

accessed 22 April 2019.

McKinsey Global Institute, The future of women at work: Transitions in the age of automation, 2019, vi.

Ibid.

ILO, A quantum leap for gender equality: For a better future of work for all, 2019, 14.

IWPR, Women, Automation, and the Future of Work, 2020, 39.

Ibid, 46–47.

Eurostat, Girls and women under-represented in ICT, 2018.

European Commission, She gures 2018, 2019.

WEF, Assessing Gender Gaps in Articial Intelligence, 2018.

Ibid, 13.

Blockchain is a technology based on distributed ledger databases. It facilitates peer-to-peer transactions

without using a third party that controls the databases. Blockchain is resistant to data tampering as all the

transaction-related information is stored in the databases and millions of users agree on the shared ledger in a

decentralized way. ILO, A quantum leap for gender equality: For a better future of work for all, 2019, 92.

Ibid, 51.

Ibid.

Pew Research Center, Online Harassment 2017, Maeve Duggan, 2017.

Pew Research Center, Online Harassment, Maeve Duggan, 2014.

Farinosi, and Manuela and Sakari Taipale, “Who Can See My Stu? Online Self - Disclosure and Gender Dierences

on Facebook”, Observatorio (OBS*) Journal, vol. 2018, No. 053– 071.

ILO, ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work, 2019.

ILO MNE Declaration, para. 38.

European Commission, Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, March 2020.

European Commission, EU countries commit to boost participation of women in digital, 9 April 2019.

European Commission, Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, March 2020.

ILO, ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work, 2019, 4.

ILO, A quantum leap for gender equality: For a better future of work for all, 2019, 88

Ibid., 68.

Ibid., 88.

Forbes, Articial Intelligence Has A Problem With Bias, Here’s How To Tackle It, Bernard Marr, 29 January 2019.

Reuters, Amazon scraps secret AI recruiting tool that showed bias against women, Jerey Dastin, 9 October

2018.

Lauren F. Cardoso et al. “Recent and Emerging Technologies: Implications for Women’s Safety”, Technology in

Society, 2019.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Endnotes

100

Fast Company, Why Online Harassment Is Still Ruining Lives–And How We Can Stop It, Sarah Kessler, 3 June

2015.

Global Compact, Communication on Progress - Accenture 2018 Corporate Citizenship Report, published

28 March 2019, 76.

Ibid.

Accenture, Careers: Women in Technology Campus Network, accessed 25 April 2019.

Accenture, Gender Diversity and Equality - Women in STEM: Building the Future, accessed 25 April 2019.

Accenture, Careers: High-Tech Women, accessed 25 April 2019.

Black Enterprise, Accenture Strives to Create Women of Power Out of ‘Hidden Figures’, Samara Lynn, 2018.

Accenture, Inclusion & Diversity - Gender Equality, accessed 25 April 2019.

Accenture, Awards & Recognition, accessed 25 April 2019.

Cogeco Communications, 2017 CSR Report, 2017, 29.

Ibid.

Cogeco Communications, 2017 CSR Report, 2017, 5.

Equileap, Gender Equality Global Report & Ranking, 2019, 16.

Enagás, People: Annual Report 2018, Diversity, 2018.

Ibid.

Enagás, Annual Report 2018 - People - Training, 2018.

Enagás, Annual Report 2016, Human capital management, 2016, 68.

BeUp, “Talented Women” project, Year 2017, 2017.

Enagás, Annual Report 2018 - People, 2018.

Ibid., 74.

Enagás, Annual Report 2016, Key Indicators - Social Indicators, 2016.

LinkedIn, Etsy Overview, accessed 18 November 2019.

Fortune, Why Etsy Sets a Higher Standard for Diversity and Inclusion in Tech, 2019.

Statista, Number of active Etsy sellers from 2012 to 2018 (in 1,000), accessed 18 November 2019.

Fortune, A huge percent of Etsy sellers are women, 2015.

Etsy, Economic Security for the Self-Employed, accessed 18 November 2019.

Josh Silverman, Micro in size, mighty in impact: U.S. Etsy sellers are huge drivers of economic activity, Etsy, 2018.

BSR and Women Deliver, How Business Can Build a ‘Future of Work’ That Works for Women, 2019, 53.

Etsy, Economic Security for the Self-Employed, accessed 18 November 2019.

Etsy, Economic Security for the Gig Economy: A social safety net that works for everyone who works, 2016, 2 and 12.

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/pymetrics, accessed 18 November 2019.

New York Times, The Shift: Some Things About Tech Were Good in 2017. No, Really., Kevin Roose, 27 December

2017.

Pymetrics website, https://www.pymetrics.com/employers/, accessed 25 April 2019.

Business Insider, onsumer-goods giant Unilever has been hiring employees using brain games and articial

intelligence - and it’s a huge success, Richard Feloni, 28 June 2017.

Pymetrics website, https://www.pymetrics.com/about/, accessed 25 April 2019.

Tele2, Annual Report 2018, 2018, 64.

Ibid.

Tele2, Diversity and Inclusion, accessed 25 April 2019.

Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, Tele2 Shared Service Center’s Corporate Social Responsibility

initiative wins and award in CCE region, accessed 25 April 2019.

Ibid.

Tele2, Annual Report 2018, 2018, 64.

Equileap, Gender Equality Global Report & Ranking, 2019, 24.

Empowering Women at Work – Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality

Endnotes

101

Conclusions

Morten Bennedsen et al, Do Firms Respond to Gender Pay Gap Transparency?, Cambridge, Mass., USA, National

Bureau of Economic Research, 2019.

ILO, A Quantum Leap for Gender Equality: For a better future of work for all, 2019, 102.

WEPs, WEPs Signatories, accessed June 15 2020.

UN Women, WE EMPOWER – G7, Resources,, accessed 24 September 2019.

UN Women, WEPs Signatories, accessed 18 June 2020.

Ibid.

International Labour Organization

Route des Morillons 4 • CH-1211 Geneva 22 Switzerland

Multinational Enterprises and Enterprise Engagement Unit

Enterprises Department

[email protected] • www.ilo.org/business

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ISBN: 9789220330647