Estée Lauder releases gender equity stats during Women's History Month
The company has tracked progress in three areas: Opportunity, Leadership, and Health and Education
This March, The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) celebrates Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, with the theme “Advancing Possibilities for Women.”
"We recognize that women and girls face systemic barriers to advancement," said the company in an official statement. "By investing in increased leadership opportunities, economic mobility, and access to health and education for women, we can help overcome the systems that hold women back. Our purpose is to put the power of possibility in the palm of every hand."
The company's commitments reinforce their support of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 5 to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by 2030.
"In 2021, we announced our gender equity goals in our Opening Doors: Gender Equality Strategy. Since then, we have rigorously tracked our progress in our three areas of focus—Opportunity, Leadership, and Health and Education."
The company shared the following stats:
Opportunity
We advance possibilities for women in our business and beyond.
- Globally, 81% of our workforce are women and 59% of VP positions and above are held by women.
- We are on track to achieve our goal of global pay equity in 2023.
- 44% of our Board of Directors are women.
- We are on track to increase our woman-owned supplier spend from $90 million to $150 million annually by 2025.
Leadership
We develop women leaders.
- From fiscal year 2022 to fiscal year 2023:
- Women in SVP roles and above rose from 45% to 47%.
- Women-led brands rose from 36% to 39%.
- Women-led affiliates rose from 54% to 57%.
- Half of our six regions continue to be led by women.
- All of our Global Innovation Centers are led by women.
- This year we expanded our unique women’s leadership program, Open Doors, to international markets, reaching women in 15 countries. Open Doors already has a track record of success. Just 18 months after completing the Open Doors Intensive:
- 89% of participants remain with the company.
- 52% of participants have been promoted.
- 100% of participants report an increase in growth mindset.
- The Open Doors Collection, our leadership skills online resource, reached more than 2,300 employees in more than 50 countries, including 8 employee-designed and employee-led learning communities.
- The Women’s Leadership Network, ELC’s largest Employee Resource Group, now has 400 members in North America, and more than 2,000 members globally, with chapters active in all regions.
Health and Education
We advocate for equitable access for women’s health and education around the world.
- In 2022, we honored 30 years of The Breast Cancer Campaign, which supports research, education, and medical services through more than 60 organizations worldwide.
- We sustained our position as the #1 corporate donor to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) through The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation’s (ELCCF) $15 million donation over 5 years to fund a new research initiative to address racial disparities in breast cancer.
- Through ELCCF, we’ve scaled our partnership with HERproject, an innovative model that supports women in the supply chain through workplace-based interventions on health, financial inclusion, and gender equality.
- We are continuing to deepen our work with author and activist Amanda Gorman, the first Estée Lauder Global Changemaker and co-creator of ELC’s WRITING CHANGE, through a 3-year, $3 million initiative to advance literacy for women and girls.
- ELC partnered with the UN Foundation to host The Power of Partnerships: Advancing Gender Equality and Impacts, an event convening leaders from ELC, government, and civil society with ELC Global Changemaker Amanda Gorman to highlight the importance of solutions-based partnerships for gender equality.
- In partnership with Springer Nature, we co-hosted the prestigious Nature Awards for Inspiring Women in Science for the 5th consecutive year, honoring women in STEM who are leading innovations globally.
- We became the inaugural corporate funder of the Co-Impact Gender Fund, a global philanthropic collaborative, with a commitment by ELCCF of $15 million over 5 years. The Gender Fund supports over 40 initiatives across health, education, economic opportunity, and women’s leadership.
- Through ELCCF, we continue to strengthen our commitment to equity in girls’ education through strategic local and global partnerships with organizations such as The Young Women’s Leadership Schools, the UN Foundation, and Grantmakers for Girls of Color.
- We donated to relief efforts in response to global crises, donating $1 million through ELCCF to provide safe spaces, health services, psychosocial support, and education to women, children, and families in and around Ukraine. Most recently, we provided support for earthquake relief for ELC colleagues, families, and communities in Turkey and Syria.
- After launching in May 2022, the VV Visionaries Program, a partnership between The Estée Lauder Emerging Leaders Fund and Vital Voices, has served 100 women from 40 countries.
