Gender Mainstreaming Awards: Winners announcedThe 30% Club has announced this year's recipients of the premier Gender Mainstreaming Awards. These awards give public recognition to corporates who have championed gender mainstreaming within their organisations and communities. All the winners at the Gender Mainstreaming Awards. Image supplied. At the awards gala held on 13 September at the Ticketpro Dome, Barloworld was named the Gender Mainstreaming Champion. This award is presented to the company that has the broadest and most holistic approach to promoting gender diversity within the business environment, measured against the various awards categories. Barloworld was also the overall winner in the “women on boards” category. Gender diversity makes good business senseThis award acknowledges companies that have successfully transformed their boards while ensuring that aspiring female directors are judged on their corporate governance skills and experience, and not their gender. Finalists in this category included Vodacom and EY. This year’s event attracted almost 800 participants, a substantial increase from the 320 participants at the inaugural event held in 2012. Speaking at the event, Colleen Larsen, president of the 30% Club Southern African Chapter said, While we are still a long way from achieving gender parity, there has been steady progress in the last few years and there’s a growing recognition that gender diversity makes good business sense. These awards acknowledge the efforts being made by business to achieve gender equality.Larsen also announced that research into the gender policies of JSE-listed companies, which will also measure whether there has been any progress in gender mainstreaming, will be completed in November 2018. Benefits of improved gender diversityGood momentum has been achieved in membership numbers and activities, says Larsen. Over the past two years, members have more than quadrupled to 55, with Spar, most recently joining some of the country’s top corporations and most influential business leaders to drive Club’s advocacy programmes. There are now 11 chapters around the world - soon to be 12, with the club’s expansion into East Africa in October. I congratulate all the 2018 winners for their commitment to and recognition of the many benefits improved gender diversity can bring to their organisations. These organisations are setting the benchmark and the pace for other South African organisations to follow.The finalists and winners for this year’s awards were as follows: Women on boardsOverall winner: Barloworld Equipment Investing in young womenOverall Winner: Vodacom Group Ltd Women empowerment in the workplaceOverall Winner: Barloworld Equipment Empowerment of women in the communityOverall winner: Standard Chartered Bank South Africa Economic empowermentOverall winner: EY Women on executive committees in multinationalsOverall winner: Thomson Reuters Markets SA Equal representation and participationOverall winner: Cummins Africa Middle East Gender reporting by JSE-listed companiesOverall winner: Adcock Ingram Holdings Ltd Diversity and transformationOverall winner: Vodacom Group Ltd Mainstreaming gender and disabilityOverall winner: Cummins Africa Middle East Individual awards inclusive leaderOverall winner: Bruce Clever – De Beers Group, and Gino Butera – Cummins Positive role modelOverall winner: Dineo Molefe – T-Systems For more information on the 30% Club, how to become a member and its various initiatives click here. |