In marking this year’s International Women’s Day, Unilever Ghana Nigeria has encouraged organisations to be more deliberate in their efforts to support women and make working environment for inclusive and gender friendly.

Speaking on the importance of setting aside a special day to celebrate women, the Executive Vice President, Unilever, Ghana Nigeria, Yaw Nsarkoh, said, “March 8, represents an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women around the world. This year’s theme; Game Changers for Gender Equality is aimed at celebrating and inspiring women to pursue their goals and ensure that their future is bright, safe and rewarding.”

At Unilever Ghana Nigeria, a lot has been done to build a more inclusive culture. “We have initiatives like Maternity & Paternity Support (MAPS), on site crèche and flexi working especially for nursing mothers. In addition, we have paternity leave and returning mums have one on one meetings with the me upon resumption from maternity leave. We also continuously drive an inclusive culture through our Cultural Change initiatives like Giving Voice to Value (GVV) and Diversity and Inclusion (D&I).” Yaw added.

Speaking on her part, the Human Resources Director, Unilever Ghana Nigeria, Eniola Onimole, said, “these initiatives are paying off. Today, we have women in positions that were traditionally occupied by men. This ranges from the factory where we have female factory managers to women in Supply Chain and Customer Development. These women are our game changers. As “Game Changers for Gender Equality” they have helped to break stereotypes, changed norms, built positive cultures with their actions. With this, they have helped us to #UNSTEREOTYPE the workplace.” He said.

Eniola further said that within the organisation, Unilever is firmly committed to creating gender balance and a truly inclusive culture. At the end of 2017, we had 46% female representation in management. While this is good progress, we still have a long way to go in achieving our vision of making our business more sustainable through gender balance and inclusion.