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

Gender equality initiatives 85
In the frame of the Great Place to Work® listings of “Best workplaces”, there are also
other special prizes: Denmark has a special prize concerning the reconciliation of family
and work called “Specialpris: Work-life balance” (special award: work-life balance). In
Germany, there is the award “Chancengleichheit der Geschlechter” (equal opportunities
for women and men), which points out convincing and effective commitment in the
fields of compatibility of family and work and the support of the professional
development of women.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and diversity
Apart from prizes directly addressing companies’ activities in the field of gender equality
in the workplace, there are also eight prizes in a broader context, such as Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) or diversity. Prizes described in this section may meet one
of the criteria as follows:
• Although having a broader context these prizes are featuring specific elements
directly referring to gender equality in the workplace.
• Although having a broader context and not addressing gender equality in the
workplace directly, the activities of companies awarded with these prizes may
as well have an impact on gender equality.
The latter is mainly relevant for countries where prizes for companies specifically
targeting gender equality do not seem to exist like in Ireland.
In the field of CSR, there are prizes in Ireland, Austria, Slovakia, Lithuania and Liechtenstein.
Except of Ireland, in all these countries there are special categories
addressing gender equality directly: In Austria, “TRIGOS – Die Auszeichnung für
Unternehmen mit Verantwortung” (TRIGOS – the award for enterprises with
responsibility) includes the category “workplace” which criteria are in line with gender
equality issues. Additionally, within TRIGOS there is also a special prize sponsored by
Microsoft which for the year 2009 has been dedicated to “equal opportunities for
women and men” (including gender equality, work-life balance, facilitate women’s
access to professions dominated by men, further education etc.). In Slovakia, there is
the prize “Via Bona Slovakia Award”, which has one category “award for responsible
approach to employees” including aspects of gender equality. Liechtenstein has a prize
called “Chancengleichheitspreis” (equal opportunities prize) awarding among others
also projects in areas of gender equality. Between 2003 and 2005, there was a focus
on awarding the “women and family friendliest enterprise”.
There are also CSR-prizes which address activities in the field of gender equality in the
workplace in a more indirect manner: In Lithuania, there is the category “enterprise of
the year” in the framework of the prize “Nacionalinio atsakingo verslo apdovanojimas”
(“national responsible business award”), which awards enterprises providing safe,
healthy and attractive working conditions for example concerning compatibility of family
and professional duties, equal opportunity policy and its implementation as well as clear
remuneration systems. In Ireland, there is the “President’s Award for Corporate Social
Responsibility” where in the category “workplace” recognition is given to best practices
by employers for CSR projects in relation to HR policies on work-life balance, staff
diversity etc.