ParityINDEX Case Statement GET Cities

What We Do and Why Our Work Matters
At Parity.org, we use unique approaches that are moving the needle toward the equal
representation of women at the highest levels of corporate leadership. First, our Parity-
Pledge® asks companies to simply interview at least one qualified woman for every
open role, VP and higher, including in the C-suite and the Board. There are no quotas or
deadlines. In our three-year history, nearly 500 companies from more than a dozen
industries across six continents have signed the pledge. As a result, more than a million
employees now work for a company that has taken the pledge—many with impressive
results.
The simple act of making a public commitment is powerful. We’ve seen firsthand how
large, complex, international organizations like Best Buy, Ralph Lauren, and Nasdaq can
change their behavior and assertively bring more women onto their boards and into
their executive ranks—all because they took the ParityPledge and made intentional
changes to their recruitment and hiring processes. Within two years of taking the Parity-
Pledge, Best Buy achieved gender parity on their Board and C-suite; Ralph Lauren
achieved gender parity in leadership (VPs and higher) and added two women to their
board to achieve Board parity; and fifty percent of Nasdaq’s new executive hires are
women. We see that many of the new executives from these companies are women of
color, the demographic most negatively affected in the gender gap.
If you don’t measure it, you won’t achieve it or sustain it. We feel strongly that if
companies are to achieve and sustain gender and pay parity, the answer lies within
the numbers and transparency.
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