Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, today honors the 40th annual International Women’s Day, a day observed on March 8 to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women worldwide, while calling to action the acceleration of gender parity. On this day and throughout the year, Schneider Electric re-affirms its commitment to active promotion of gender diversity through the support and implementation of policies that advance and empower women in the workplace.

“I’m proud to celebrate International Women’s Day with our customers, partners and employees around the world. This is an important day to highlight gender diversity and equality and to recognise the significant achievements to date of women while acknowledging the challenging journey ahead”, said Jean-Pascal Tricoire, chairman and chief executive officer, Schneider Electric.“At Schneider Electric, we value and empower all diversities. Our ambition is to be the most diverse and inclusive company in the world, providing equal opportunities to everyone everywhere.”

In recent years, Schneider Electric has undertaken business-wide transformation in developing a proactive strategy to include women at every level of the organisation, from top to bottom and on a global scale. This strategy is built on four pillars – commitment by leaders, women empowerment initiatives, change management campaigns and the alignment of inclusive human resources practices, including the creation of a pay equity barometer to eliminate any distinction between men and women in its processes. These pillars are composed of numerous key initiatives, particularly – but not limited to – the following:

United Nations HeForShe Movement

Schneider Electric is a HeForShe IMPACT 10X10X10 Champion, signifying that it is one of 10 corporate champions for the United Nations’ HeForShe global solidarity movement. As part of this pledge, and the HeForShe initiative, the company has established concrete commitments to defend, measure and promote gender parity. 

Women’s Empowerment Principles

The Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) is a joint initiative of UN Women and the UN Global Compact. The Principles are seven steps for businesses offering guidance on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community. Senior Schneider Electric leaders have pledged to do the following:

· Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality

· Treat all women and men fairly at work

· Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women and men workers

· Promote education, training and professional development for women

· Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women

· Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy

· Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality

In March 2015, Jean-Pascal Tricoire, chairman and chief executive officer, Schneider Electric was recognised by the WEPs initiative with the WEPs CEO Leadership Award in the Business Case for Action category for its “Diversity and Inclusion” policy.