IRELAND – Kerry Group, global food technology and ingredients supplier, has joined the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) community to demonstrate the company’s commitment to promoting gender equality.

As it is currently Women’s History Month (March), this move works in favour of the company to show that it encourages women’s empowerment in the workplace.

WEPs, established in 2010 by the UN, are a primary vehicle for corporate delivery on gender equality dimensions and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The community is informed by international human rights and labour standards and recognises that businesses have a stake in, and responsibility for, gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Kerry endorses the women empowerment principles as the company aims to nourish life through their innovative products and solutions as well as build partnerships in the communities it works, naturing the careers and aspirations of everyone regardless of gender.

Edmond Scanlon, Kerry’s CEO said, “Beyond the Horizon, our 2030 sustainability strategy, sets out our ambition to build a diverse and inclusive workplace. We see gender equality as an underlying indicator of a truly inclusive workplace.

In support of this, we have set ourselves a goal of achieving equal gender representation in senior management roles by 2030 and 35% female representation within senior leadership roles by 2025.”

As cited in the company’s strategic report, the company achieved 36% women representation in leadership positions as of last year.

This has been attributed to the company reinforcing its gender diversity commitment and expanding its focus, setting an additional target to achieve equal gender representation in all senior management roles by 2030.

“Signing the Women Empowerment Principles reinforces our commitment to empowering women in the workplace, marketplace and community. We are consistently measuring our progress against the gender targets we set annually across the business and are proactively reviewing our talent and succession pipeline through the lens of both gender and culture diversity,” said Scanlon.

“Our Diversity Inclusion and Belonging Framework is designed to foster an environment where our people can thrive, be inspired to innovate and are comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work every day.”

Other companies in the food space are also involved in the gender equality cause with Danone, a global dairy giant, making some improvements in a recent update with a new women’s empowerment commitment.

Global leaders like Nestlé, Mars, Modeléz, Kellogg’s, Unilever and coca-cola also have their own policies towards gender equality in the workplace with General Mills recently signing UN’s Women’s Empowerment Principles as well.

For all the latest food industry news from Africa and the World, subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel.