Making & Measuring Progress

• Is the stated commitment to advancing equality and promoting nondiscrimination and fairness prominently featured on the company’s website, in company recruiting materials and corporate sustainability reports?
• Is there a designated board-level individual who champions the organization’s gender equality policies and plans?
• Are there trainings, including for male leaders, on the importance of women’s participation and inclusion?
• Does the company’s annual report or sustainability report include leadership statements on reaching gender equality goals?

Principle 2

Equal Opportunity, Inclusion and Nondiscrimination

• Prominently publicize an explicit company statement that prohibits gender-based discrimination in hiring, retention policies, promotion, salaries and benefits.
• Design recruitment initiatives that reach out to more women.
• Review and analyze remuneration of all employees by gender, employee category and job title.
• Ensure equal opportunities for women to lead on important assignments and task forces.
• Survey employees to elicit the views of women and men towards company policies on equal opportunity, inclusion, nondiscrimination and retention.
• Establish and implement a confidential grievance policy and procedure for incidents of discrimination, sexual harassment and gender-based violence.

• Is there a gender breakdown of the company’s board of directors and top management?
• Does the company track and analyze promotions by gender, employee category and title?
• Are fair pay reviews conducted on a regular basis?
• Are sufficient numbers of women – 30 percent or greater – being recruited and interviewed?
• Do interview panels have sufficient numbers of women participating?
• What is the retention rate for female employees by employee category and job title compared to male employees?
• Has the company designed flexible work options that incorporate the specific and different needs of women and men?
• Are there accessible channels for filing grievances on gender-based discrimination, harassment and violence?

• Prominently publicize the company's zero tolerance policy and provide ongoing training.
• Undertake a gender-sensitive inventory of health and safety conditions.
• Survey employees to elicit the views of women and men on health, safety and security issues.
• Tailor company health and safety policies to serve the distinctive concerns and needs of women and men, including pregnant women, people with HIV /AIDs, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups and provide the resources to implement them.

• Is safety and other equipment the appropriate size for both women and men?
• Are there separate toilets and, if necessary, changing facilities for both women and men?
• Are company grounds adequately lit?
• Are female health care professionals available in company-provided health services?

Education and Training

• Train and educate employees, particularly male staff, on the company’s business case for women’s empowerment.
• Offer career clinics and mentoring programmes for women’s career development at all stages.
• Promote training programmes tailored for women.

• What is the distribution between women and men of training and professional development opportunities?
• How many hours of training do women and men participate in annually, analyzed by job category and title?
• Are the demands of employees’ family roles considered when scheduling trainings and education programmes?

Principle 5

Enterprise Development, Supply Chain and Marketing Practices

• Prominently publicize an executive level policy statement on the organization’s support for gender equality practices in its supply chain.
• Identify a ‘women’s enterprise champion’ within the organization to target women-owned enterprises and help develop their capacity to become quality suppliers.
• Request information from current and potential suppliers on their gender and diversity policies and include these in criteria for business selection.

• Does the company perform analyses of its existing supply chain to establish the baseline number of suppliers that are women-owned enterprises?
• How many of the company’s suppliers have gender equality policies and programmes?
• What is the ratio of women-owned enterprises compared to other suppliers?
• How does the company record complaints regarding its portrayal of women and girls in marketing and other public materials, and how does it act on these concerns?

Principle 6

Community Leadership and Engagement

• Define company community engagement initiatives that empower women and girls.
• Encourage company executives to undertake community consultations with local leaders –women and men—to establish strong ties and programmes that benefit all community members.
• Craft a community impact analysis that marks the specific impacts on women and girls when establishing or expanding presence in a community.

• What initiatives are supported by the company to promote equality in the community and how many women and girls, men and boys do they reach?
• Does the company survey participants through focus groups or written comments for feedback?
• Does the company review its criteria and policies that determine community engagement activities against results and community feedback?
• Are women’s contributions to their communities recognized and publicized?

• Report annually, by department, on company gender equality plans and policies, using established benchmarks.
• Publicize findings on company efforts towards inclusion and advancing women through all appropriate channels and preexisting reporting obligations.
• Include monitoring and evaluation of company gender equality goals into ongoing performance indicators.

• Does tracking along the benchmarks for advancing women demonstrate that the company is moving positively?
• What opportunities exist throughout the company for review, analysis and discussion of performance?