Spotlight on Paradigm for Parity® Coalition Five Original Signatory Companies on Path to Achieve Gender Parity in Corporate Leadership.

Five years ago, 27 CEOs committed to closing the gender gap in corporate leadership signed a pledge to join the Paradigm for Parity® coalition and support Paradigm for Parity’s call to action for inclusive gender parity in corporate leadership positions by 2030. Since our launch in 2016, we have grown to a coalition of 138 companies that employ more than 6.4 million workers worldwide across a diverse range of 28 industries.

Paradigm for Parity® coalition’s 27 original signatories include: Accenture, Adecco, American Electric Power, APCO Worldwide, AstraZeneca, Bank of America, Cargill, The Coca-Cola Company, DSC Logistics, Edison International, Egon Zehnder, Farient Advisors, Frontier Communications, HealthHelp, Huffington Post, Linkage, LinkedIn, McKinsey & Company, MetricStream, NeoGenomics Laboratories, Inc., Newmont Mining, Nordstrom, SAP, Spencer Stuart, TDIndustries, VF Corporation and Voya Financial.

Utilizing the Paradigm for Parity® 5-Point Action Plan and Toolkit to achieve gender equity in senior management, coalition companies are implementing sponsorship programs, measuring and reporting their progress, creating flexible and inclusive work environments and developing innovative programs to ensure that women of all races, cultures and backgrounds are able to thrive and succeed. Paradigm for Parity® companies come together as a community, sharing best practices to support women in today’s dynamic work environment.

On our 5th year milestone, Paradigm for Parity® celebrates the progress of every coalition company and salutes five that are moving the needle for women, based on publicly reported data.

Accenture: 46% (275,000) of Accenture’s global workforce are women, in pursuit of their goal to achieve a gender-balanced workforce by 2025. Of the company’s leadership team, 30% of executives and 27% of its global management committee are women. Overall, the number of women managing directors increased to 27% from 25% in 2020, demonstrating continued momentum towards the company’s goal of 30% women managing directors globally by 2025.

“In 2016, we were the first company in our industry to release our diversity results in the U.S., with other select countries following suit. Working with P4P and gaining insights from the 5-point action plan helped to give us the confidence to share our goals and results publicly. Transparency builds trust and by publishing our results we hold ourselves to a higher level of accountability.” — Ellyn Shook, Chief Leadership & Human Resources Officer, Accenture

The Adecco Group: 66% of The Adecco Group’s workforce in 2020 were women. Additionally, 32% of leadership positions were filled by women, a 7% year on year increase, and 51% of successors at the global leader level were women, an increase of 11% from the previous year.

“As members of the Paradigm for Parity® coalition, the Adecco Group is committed to advancing gender equity inside and outside of the workplace. This year we are especially proud of our progress on action #2 of P4P’s 5-point plan: Significantly Increase the Number of Women in Senior Operating Roles. Our executive leadership team in the United States has achieved full gender parity, and we won’t stop there as our female representation at the global leadership level is growing each year to meet our commitment to gender parity by 2030.

It is also crucial to acknowledge that COVID-19 has disproportionately affected women in the workforce, and the recovery and return to work has been much slower for women than for men. We must come together to reverse that trend, supporting flexible and dynamic work environments that enable women to thrive.” — Corinne Ripoche, Regional President, The Adecco Group, Americas

AstraZeneca: At AstraZeneca, women currently make up 46.9% of senior middle management roles or higher at AstraZeneca, a 1.5% increase since 2019.

NeoGenomics: As of 2020, women made up 60% of NeoGenomics’ global workforce with 57% of women in supervisory or higher positions. Additionally, 40% of the company’s executive team and vice presidents are women as well as 33% of the board of directors. 53% of the company’s workforce and 10% of its board of directors are also ethnically diverse.

VF Corporation: VF Corp has increased its representation of women at the director-level and above from 38% to 41% in the last year and the company’s overall representation of women is currently 55%. VF has also committed to reaching gender parity at the Director and above level by 2030. Black, Indigenous, and people of color currently make up 55% of the overall workforce, an increase of 7% since the company started tracking metrics in 2015. Representation at the director-level, Black, Indigenous, and people of color was 16% as of 2020.

“By publicly committing to gender parity and the Paradigm for Parity® Coalition partnership, we seek to lead by example and encourage our associates, consumers, industry and the many other stakeholders we serve to hold us accountable for cultivating a culture anchored in allyship, advocacy and authentic belonging. The actions we take — from the smallest gestures to the boldest moves — will continue to evolve as we work to lift up our communities and help create an equitable world.” — Lauren Guthrie, VP of Global Inclusion & Diversity, VF Corporation

Paradigm for Parity® coalition companies are leading by example. We encourage others to follow their lead and join the coalition to accelerate their journey to close the gender gap in corporate leadership.

About Paradigm for Parity®

Paradigm for Parity® is a coalition of business leaders dedicated to addressing the corporate leadership gender gap. The coalition is made up of CEOs, senior executives, founders, board members, and business academics who are committed to achieving a new norm in the corporate world: one in which women and men have equal power, status, and opportunity. The ultimate goal is to achieve full gender parity by 2030, with a near-term goal of women holding at least 30% of senior roles. You can learn more at https://www.paradigm4parity.com