P&G makes new commitment to gender equality

MUMBAI: Global consumer products giant Procter & Gamble (P&G) has announced a series of measures to support gender equality across the Indian Subcontinent, Middle East and

region.

According to an announcement, which was made during a meeting of the

Secretary-General’s High Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment, which was held for the first time in the Middle East region and hosted by the UAE Gender Balance Council, the implementation of P&G's commitment will include four key areas for 2017, which will be undertaken in partnership with UN Women and other female-empowerment organizations.

Mohamed Samir, IMEA President for P&G, said: “P&G has been championing the cause of gender equality both inside and outside of P&G, leveraging the strengths of our business and operations, our scale and our advertising voice to address gender bias and enable education for girls and women’s economic empowerment."

For one, P&G will expand its supplier development and sourcing from women-owned business in our supply chains across the world, including the Indian subcontinent, Middle East and Africa. It will continue to reveal gender bias and spark conversations through P&G brand advertising campaigns and encourage the wider advertising industry to do the same. In addition, the company said it will extend its programmes to keep girls in school in India, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and

.

Working with its NGO partners on the ground, P&G said it will empower women & girls impacted by the Syrian refugee crisis to realize their potential.

In India, P&G hires 50% women into entry level management roles and they get promoted into next assignments at the same progression as men. The company's Hyderabad plant was one of the first plants to have 30% women across the workforce.

P&G was the also the first consumer goods company with a license to employ women in the

of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and now employs 15% women managers in KSA across all commercial disciplines including finance, HR, sales & marketing.