PR95910

Procter & Gamble announces new commitments and shares progress on actions to strengthen Equality & Inclusion across Asia Pacific, the Middle-East, and Africa

SINGAPORE, May 10, 2022 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

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

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) today announced new commitments aimed toward

advancing Equality & 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 can 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 towards 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 US dollars 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.  

  Last year, P&G committed to spending a cumulative total of $200 million US

dollars by deliberately working with women-owned and women-led businesses

across the region, from the year 2021 to 2025. With already more than $100

million US dollars invested through this initiative in the first year across

the AMA region, the company is now elevating this commitment to $300 million US

dollars by 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.

  In the AMA region, P&G has made strong progress, increasing representation of

female directors from 16% in 2019 to 35% today. The company will achieve the

50-50 goal by 2024 through a comprehensive set of actions to build, fuel, and

connect a pipeline of diverse female talent in advertising, media, and

content.  

- 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.

  The company will do this for all new brand advertising across Asia Pacific,

the Middle East, and Africa. This initiative will make P&G brands more

inclusive and accessible to all members of our community.  

- 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 roles, with targeted support and development.

  This program is part of the company's commitment to strengthen diversity in

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and will focus on

people looking to relaunch their careers in IT, Research & Development, and

Product Supply. The program will be first launched in India, Egypt, Singapore,

Japan, and the Philippines.

Magesvaran Suranjan said: "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. 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 already reached

more than 15 million girls, achieving the halfway mark in one year.

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 can 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, Chief Executive Officer, The Barack Obama Foundation

- Her Excellency Dr. Nawal Al Hosany, UAE's permanent representative to the

  International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)

- Anita Bhatia, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director, UN

  Women

- Alma Har'el, award-winning director, founder of Free the Bid and FREE THE WORK

- Dr. Hsien Hsien Lei, Chief Executive Officer, The American Chamber of

  Commerce, Singapore

- Scott Beaumont, President, Google - Asia Pacific

- Lillian Barnard, Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft – South Africa

To inspire corporates and society alike, the summit also hosted P&G's Chief

Operating Officer, Shailesh Jejurikar, and the company's Chief Brand Officer,

Marc Pritchard to share their experiences and insights on the importance of

leadership to drive equality and redefine inclusion behind the camera.

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. 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.

About Procter & Gamble

P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the strongest portfolios of

trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always(R), Ambi Pur(R),

Ariel(R), Bounty(R), Charmin(R), Crest(R), Dawn(R), Downy(R), Fairy(R),

Febreze(R), Gain(R), Gillette(R), Head & Shoulders(R), Lenor(R), Olay(R),

Oral-B(R), Pampers(R), Pantene(R), SK-II(R), Tide(R), Vicks(R), and Whisper(R).

The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide.

Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and information about P&G

and its brands.

Source: Procter & Gamble

Image Attachments Links:

   Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=420855