Procter & Gamble announces new commitments and shares progress on actions to strengthen equality and inclusion across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa
Procter & Gamble has announced new commitments aimed toward advancing equality and inclusion across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa, at its fourth annual #WeSeeEqual summit for the region.
The event saw participation from distinguished advocates and personalities from the private and public sectors who came together to discuss the challenges that society faces on equality and inclusion, and how different stakeholders could accelerate progress in the new normal.
Built on the theme, “#Unlearn and #Unleash,” the summit saw P&G commit to several actions needed to advance progress toward creating an equal and inclusive world. P&G president for Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa, Magesvaran Suranjan, announced the following commitments:
- P&G will spend a cumulative total of $300 million by deliberately working with women-owned and women-led businesses across the Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa region, from the year 2021 to 2025.
- P&G will achieve equal representation of female directors behind the camera for the company’s brand advertisements in Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa, by 2024.
- P&G will improve the accessibility of its brand advertising, including social media content and websites, by making it accessible to people with sight and hearing impairments by 2024.
- P&G will introduce the “P&G ReLaunch program” to welcome back talented professionals who took a break from the workforce and are looking to restart their careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) roles, with targeted support and development.
“At P&G, we remain fully committed to creating a world where equal access and opportunity to learn, grow, succeed, and thrive are available to everyone,” said Suranjan. “We believe in the power of our differences and the impact we can make when we come together, united by our shared values and purpose. We are making great progress, yet we know there is more work to be done. So we are announcing bold new commitments and expanding existing actions, which will enable us to do more. We will continue to use the voice of our company and our brands in forums such as #WeSeeEqual to drive discussion and actions on the issues that matter.”
The company also shared strong progress on commitments across the Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa region made last year as part of the annual #WeSeeEqual summit. In 2021, P&G announced its “Share the Care” parental leave policy, which has introduced greater leave benefits and flexibility for all new parents within the company. P&G has also achieved its commitment to achieving a 50-50 gender balance across its management workforce by 2022 in the AMA region, completing this ahead of schedule. On its commitment to educate more than 30 million girls on puberty and hygiene by 2024, through its brands Always and Whisper’s “Keeping Girls in School” program, the company has reached more than 15 million girls, achieving the halfway mark in one year.
The commitments were announced at the P&G #WeSeeEqual regional summit that saw participation from global equality and inclusion advocates like Simone Biles, Dr. Nawal Al Hosany, Anita Bhatia, Valerie Jarrett, among others.
Held in partnership with UN Women, the fourth annual regional #WeSeeEqual Summit engaged business leaders, government officials, and personalities in candid conversations around strategic actions that could be taken to advance equality and inclusion.
In addition to global and regional P&G leaders, the Summit also saw the participation of influential personalities and global leaders, including Simone Biles, the world’s most decorated gymnast; Valerie Jarrett, CEO, The Barack Obama Foundation; Dr. Nawal Al Hosany, UAE’s permanent representative to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA); Anita Bhatia, assistant secretary-general, UN Women; Alma Har’el, award-winning director; Dr. Hsien Hsien Lei, CEO, the American Chamber of Commerce, Singapore; Scott Beaumont, president, Google - Asia Pacific; and Lillian Barnard, CEO, Microsoft – South Africa.
The #WeSeeEqual program demonstrates P&G’s continued commitment to creating a more equal and inclusive world and is also a winner of the U.S. Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence for Women’s Empowerment in 2019. In the Philippines, P&G was also recognized by the prestigious UN WEPs Awards as the Gender Inclusive Workplace Champion in 2021. As one of the world’s largest advertisers, P&G and its brands will also continue to leverage their influential voice in media and advertising to drive further awareness, tackle gender bias, spark conversations, and motivate change.