Diageo is celebrating International Women’s Day across its offices and sites worldwide. Celebrations will focus on a series of events and panel discussions linked to the 2020 theme ‘each for equal’ examining how we can all individually act as allies for gender equality.
Each of the company‘s 28,000 employees will be given the opportunity to make an #EachForEqual pledge to declare how they will help accelerate gender equality and champion inclusion and diversity in the workplace and beyond.
Diageo is also joining the global conversation around International Women’s Day, releasing a collection of candid video interviews with female employees in a variety of roles and locations. In the videos, each interviewee shares her inspirational career journey and powerful experiences of contributing to a culture of inclusion, as well as advice to people everywhere on being allies for change.
Speaking in the film, Cristina Diezhandino, Scotch Category Director and Managing Director Reserve at Diageo said, “By sharing your achievements others can feel inspired – you could be an example, or you could spark an idea. I find that very powerful.”
“Good allies are those people who don’t just have good intentions, but who are making a positive impact and taking action,” said Belinda Brown, Global Audit and Risk Director, Europe & Africa at Diageo.
The company also released a further film interviewing Matt Der Sarkissian, Head of Commercial Finance at Diageo Australia, who shares his story of working flexibly to balance his responsibilities as a father with his career.
The film follows Diageo’s announcement, in 2019, that it has launched a new global family leave policy. The policy sets a global minimum standard for paternity leave, and in many markets fully equalises family leave so that everyone, regardless of gender, sexuality or birth circumstances, can take six months fully paid family leave.
For the second year running the company is partnering with Creative Equals to support programmes in London, New York and Mumbai that will help 100 women to return to work in the creative industries following a career break. The London programme will launch this week and run over International Women’s Day with 35 women participating.
The International Women’s Day celebrations build on Diageo’s globally recognised work to champion inclusion and diversity. Over the past twelve months, the company has been ranked as the top company globally for gender equality by Equileap; as the second most diverse and inclusive workplace by Refinitiv, and recognised in the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index.
44 percent of Diageo’s Board and around 40 percent of Diageo’s Executive Committee are women and the business is working towards targets for its global senior leadership team to be 40 percent female by 2025.
Diageo is also committed to supporting women throughout its value chains, from grain to glass. Through women’s empowerment programmes, the company has supported over 400,000 women through initiatives such as hospitality skills training and supporting female entrepreneurs.
Mairéad Nayager, Chief HR Officer at Diageo said: “I am proud to see Diageo people around the world celebrate International Women’s Day and pledge to be ‘Each for Equal’. This pledge is about each and every one of us using our voice and our influence to create change, challenge stereotypes, fight bias, and broaden perceptions. Championing gender equality in the workplace is the right thing to do for our people, our business and society at large.”
