P&G takes action on gender equality research, Part I
26 Apr 2021 --- The Female Lead, a gender equality partner of multinational personal care giant, P&G, reveals its latest research detailing the challenges facing women in the workplace. This is the first in a two-part article, the second part being published in tomorrow's newsletter.
Known as a campaign that celebrates women’s stories and successes, The Female Lead has created a report and recommendations following its research, entitled Women at Work: Breaking Free of the ‘Unentitled Mindset’. P&G is working with The Female Lead on its mission to tackle the ‘Entitlement Gap’.
The research, carried out by Dr. Terri Apter from The Female Lead, shines a spotlight on the context and complex processes around women’s ability to make career-shaping decisions. The Women at Work project explores the living experiences of 66 women as they navigate their careers between the ages of approximately 27 and 42. The report examines this mid-stage career period, which has been identified as the time when female progression typically plateaus, and where simultaneously, male career progression rises.
Over 20 years ago, in 1994, a similar study was conducted. With the passing of more than two decades, the latest research strives to highlight the successful progress made, along with persistent problems and recommended paths to achieve gender equality.
Click to EnlargeBias in the workplace
Biases disrupt and prevail throughout the working environment, despite many businesses showing a willingness to actively increase economic activity, workforce diversity and the proportion of women in senior positions.
The presence of implicit bias is highlighted in the report, with reference to the much-revered Beauty Myth, published in 1991, and The Cinderella Complex released a decade earlier. The books explore the impact that implicit bias can have on restricting women’s personal goals.
Gender equality setbacks in COVID-19
“During times of national or global crises, women are often the hardest hit,” said Amy Williams, manager, company communications, P&G Northern Europe. “The challenges of the coronavirus pandemic are no different, and underscore the pressing need for everyone to continue to play their part in advancing gender equality both within and outside of their organizations,” expressed Williams.
International Women’s Day (IWD) 2021 adopted the theme #ChooseToChallenge with an emphasis on supporting, empowering, and assisting women in all areas of life and society, including their career opportunities.
In its calls to end gender disparity, the IWD emphasizes the global need to focus on areas impacting opportunities that can help to create equality in the beauty and personal care industry (BPC), which include:
- Applauding digital advancement and champion the women forging innovation through technology
- Assisting women to be in a position of power to make informed decisions about their health
- Forging inclusive work cultures where women's careers thrive and achievements are celebrated
- Shining a spotlight on activity encouraging and uplifting women to pursue goals without bias or barriers
The reality is that we are now at a point in time where it will take more than a lifetime to achieve gender equality, The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020 revealed. “None of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes, and nor likely will many of our children,” the report states, revealing that “gender parity will not be attained for 99.5 years.”
Click to EnlargeWhat’s the outlook for beauty and personal care?
For decades, the BPC industry has missed the mark, reaching out to a ‘mainstream’ female audience and failing to represent its consumer demographic. Yet, the high-level decision-makers of those companies continue to be largely male. In 2020, looking at the Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies, only 37 of these were run by females. And of these 37, a mere one beauty company was led by a woman—Mary Dillon of Ulta Beauty, Digital Beauty reveals.
Indeed, the personal care industry saw a rise in the number of board seats held by women, the 2020 Women on Boards Gender Diversity Index of Russell 3000 Companies found, which indicates more promise to female executives in the future.
By Natasha Spencer-Jolliffe, BPC Insights Senior Journalist