Study on non-legislative initiatives for companies to promote gender ...

62 Gender equality initiatives
2.2 Labels
In many countries, companies with an outstanding commitment for gender equality and
having implemented measures promoting gender equality in the workplace are given
the possibility to receive a certificate or label for their endeavour. The labelling is mostly
conceived as a process and based on an audit involving elements of self-assessment
and/or external evaluation, involvement of an independent jury and often the participation
in a consulting process with the aim of improving gender equality within the
organisation. The labels are often granted for a limited time period (e.g. for three years)
and a precondition for a new labelling is the improvement of the company’s equality
policy. Therefore the labelling shall not be considered as the end of the process but as
a sign that the company dedicates and changes continuously its corporate culture
towards the enhancement of gender equality.
Overall labels
In several countries companies are labelled if they cover a wide range of gender
equality issues and take measures in various fields. Such labels with a long tradition
exist in Luxembourg (since 1993), Spain (since 1994) and Germany (since 1997).
Many initiatives emphasise the process-related character of gender equality matters
and therefore, as mentioned before, a relabeling is linked to a continuing improvement.
The German “TOTAL E-QUALITY Prädikat” (TOTAL E-QUALITY label) is based on a
self-evaluation of the applicants via a checklist. As a basis, the application captures the
current structure of the workforce and the general attitude of the employer towards
equal opportunities. Furthermore, detailed information is gathered on seven fields of
activities: gender specific collection of data, recruiting and hiring procedures, further
training and human resource development, work-life balance, fostering equal
partnership at the workplace, institutionalization of gender equality, and the public
position of the employer on the topic. An independent jury consisting of experienced
experts checks and verifies the self-evaluations and finally decides upon approval. Key
for a positive evaluation is a successful and lasting consensus between the interests of
the employer and the employees that is incorporated in the human resource policy. The
principle behind the TOTAL E-QUALITY label is that equal opportunities are a matter of
dynamic processes over time and not of a situation at a certain point in time. Consequently,
the label is only granted for a period of three years. A sustainable and ongoing
engagement of the label-carrying companies or organisations shall be ensured through
the compulsory renewal process three years after the last certification. The new
application has to document a constant performance or even further improvement.
A similar measure can be found in France. The enterprises are financially charged for
the certification process which is implemented by an organisation that offers also other
certifications and labels. Moreover, to foster networking among the enterprises, a club
of firms which have been granted the “Label Égalité Professionnelle” (“Club du label
égalité”) was created in October 2006. Following the French model, the European Fund
for Professional Equality between Women and Men has been created in September
2009 by a European network of labelled enterprises to spread the vision and promote
the labelling procedure as well as networking of enterprises engaged in such a process
throughout Europe.