Want to comply with new EU legislation and prevent greenwashing? Focus on your company’s gender equality
If you work in the area of sustainability, chances are you have been closely following the recent developments in EU legislation.
With the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) entering into force on 5 January 2023, and the EU Green Claims Directive being proposed on 22 March 2023, it is understandable that many companies are reviewing their business operations and taking steps to improve their sustainability.
Yet, the key to more sustainable business operations may not be to apply a green lens – but a gender lens.
A recent study reviewed 4.000 companies between 2005-2019 and found that companies with more female board members are less likely to greenwash than companies with less gender-diverse boards.
This seems to support research by the University of California from 2012, which found that having more female board members is associated with more sustainable business operations.
Improving your company’s gender equality will help you comply with the new EU Pay Transparency Directive, approved on 30 March 2023.
Of course, wage discrimination based on gender is already illegal in the EU. Equal pay for equal work is one of the EU’s founding principles. Yet, the gender pay gap across EU countries still stands at around 13% and has only minimally decreased over the last ten years.
This new directive will require companies to take active steps to help close the gender pay gap and to pay fines and compensate employees if they do employ wage discrimination. It also ensures that employees of any company, no matter how big, have the right to request gender-disaggregated information about individual and average salary levels for categories of employees doing the same work or work of equal value.
Do you want to help your company to be more sustainable and comply with new EU legislation? Now is the time to set and reach ambitious corporate targets for women’s representation and equal pay.
Need support to improve your company’s gender equality?
You’re in luck! UN Global Compact Network Netherlands just opened registrations for its new Target Gender Equality Accelerator. This free, 9-month learning program is designed to support participating companies of the UN Global Compact to set and reach ambitious corporate targets for women’s representation at all levels in the organization and ensure equal pay for work of equal value.
We will run this program together with our partner WOMEN Inc. to offer you the tools that you need to make tangible, meaningful progress towards gender equality within your business.
Want to learn more?
Join our local FAQ webinar on Tuesday, 16 May at 15:00 CEST where we will provide an overview of the program and answer your questions.
Not a participant of the UN Global Compact yet?
This program is free and exclusively available for participating companies of UN Global Compact. Learn how you can join or book a 30-minute online meeting with our Participant Engagement Manager, Mónica Pascual.