Gender equality

Swiss watchmaking giants fail to make it onto Bloomberg’s Gender-Equality Index — again

Signet Jewelers and Kering, home to Ulysse Nardin, Gucci and Girard-Perregaux, are the only businesses associated with Swiss watchmaking that make the list.

Bloomberg has unveiled 325 companies headquartered across 42 countries in its Gender-Equality Index (GEI), up from 230 companies last year, but the Swiss watch industry is alarmingly under-represented.

The GEI tracks the performance of public companies committed to supporting gender equality through policy development, representation, and transparency.

Signet Jewelers and Kering, home to Ulysse Nardin, Gucci and Girard-Perregaux, are the only businesses associated with Swiss watchmaking that make the list.

It is the second successive year that Signet has made the grade.

“We work every day to ensure that our team members feel included, respected, and empowered when they come to work to create an environment where all feel comfortable and encouraged to unleash their full potential. We have created growth opportunities for thousands of women at all levels of our organization, and our commitment to this mission is unwavering,” says Virginia Drosos, Signet Jewelers CEO.

The index is not just a list of woke, Western organizations. It includes firms headquartered in countries such as the Philippines, Poland and Russia for the first time this year.

Bloomberg expanded the types of metrics included in the GEI framework this year, with companies reporting on information such as the likelihood a woman will remain employed at the firm following parental leave (82%), the availability of on-site lactation rooms (69%), and sponsorship of STEM education programs for women (64%).

Firms included in the index have a combined market capitalization of $12 trillion, up from $9 trillion last year.

“Year over year, Bloomberg’s gender reporting framework continues to expand the universe of environmental, social and governance (ESG) data available to investors globally by providing more in-depth metrics from a broad range of public companies across 50 industries,” said Peter Grauer, chairman of Bloomberg.

“This level of transparency into how companies are tackling gender equality in the workplace and their local communities is fueling financial decision-making around the world, and is supporting the business case for an inclusive corporate environment.”

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