A new transformative diversity and inclusion initiative is being adopted by more and more companies every day. More than 50 high-profile CEOs, whose companies represent more than 9 million employees and more than $1.7 trillion in revenue globally, have joined the Catalyst CEO Champions For
Change initiative — publicly pledging to advance more women, including women of color, into senior leadership positions and onto their boards.
“These companies are also sharing their corporate data on women’s advancement so we can collectively hold ourselves accountable for accelerating change together,” said Serena Fong, vice president of strategic engagement for Catalyst. “Catalyst created the Champions initiative because we know that change requires bold leadership. It doesn’t happen by accident; leaders must step up and stand up for progress. We need to take deliberate, intentional action to accelerate diversity, inclusion and gender equality.”
The objectives of the initiative are to:
- Drive change — Enable accelerated diversity, inclusion and gender equality progress within the Catalyst supporter companies that are part of the initiative.
- Shine a spotlight — Drive strong visibility for the initiative signatories and their companies, highlighting the key issues the signatories are addressing so they can serve as examples of how to build more gender-inclusive workplaces for other organizations.
There are oil and gas companies becoming part of the Champions For Change initiative as well. A recent report revealed that as a group, Champions For Change companies are outperforming their peers on advancing women into leadership.
“An intentional and continuous focus on advancing women into leadership roles is one way of creating and maintaining a gender-inclusive work environment, and our Catalyst Award winners are great examples,” Fong said. “Chevron is the most recent oil and gas company to receive the Catalyst Award.”
DuPont was also spotlighted by Catalyst because of its Accelerated Leadership Development Program and the DuPont Women’s Network, and Dow recently joined the initiative as well.
“At Dow, we’re honored to be a Catalyst CEO Champions For Change company. As we build and evolve for the future, we must reflect the world we compete in today and will compete in tomorrow,” said Jim Fitterling, CEO-elect for Dow and COO, DowDuPont Materials Science Division. “It is critical we create an inclusive and diverse environment where all people can bring 100 percent of themselves to work all the time.”
Catalyst has been a global thought leader and partner in accelerating the progress of women at work for more than 50 years.
“We are proud of the progress so far, but acknowledge that there is much more work to be done,” Fong stated. “We are continuing to focus on moving the needle forward. Women are not represented equally at all levels of management in organizations. Only about 20 percent of S&P 500 board directors are women. And women of color are underrepresented on a number of these boards and in senior levels of management broadly. It’s time for more rapid change, and that requires taking a bold stand.
“However, even a small progress gap can have a large impact. Catalyst’s analysis shows that improving the total number of women in leadership by 1 percent across all S&P 500 companies would result in 12,000 more women in these roles.”
For more information, visit www.catalyst.org/champions.