Procter & Gamble Nigeria Pledges New Commitment to Gender Equality

P&G’s support for women’s empowerment aligns with United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal #5 to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls globally

Procter & Gamble Nigeria has announced a series of measures designed by the brand to support a push towards gender equality across the Africa region, the Indian Subcontinent and Middle East. The news was made public by Mr. Mohamed Sultan, Vice President, Arabian Peninsula, Procter & Gamble during a meeting of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment (‘HLP’), which was held for the first time in the Middle East region and hosted by the UAE Gender Balance Council.

P&G’s commitment to gender equality is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #5 – to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls globally. Mohamed Samir, IMEA President for P&G, explained that implementation of this commitment will include four key areas for 2017, which will be undertaken in partnership with UN Women and other female-empowerment organizations.

“P&G has been championing the cause of gender equality both inside and outside of P&G, leveraging the strengths of our business and operations, our scale and our advertising voice to address gender bias and enable education for girls and women’s economic empowerment,” explained Samir.

These four areas include:

1. P&G will expand its supplier development and sourcing from women-owned business in our supply chains across the world, including Africa, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East.

1. P&G will continue to reveal gender bias and spark conversations through P&G brand advertising campaigns and encourage the wider advertising industry to do the same.

2. P&G, working with our NGO partners on the ground, will empower women & girls impacted by the Syrian refugee crisis to realize their potential.

3. P&G will extend our programs to keep girls in school in Nigeria, India, Kenya, South Africa, and Tanzania.

“We recognize the  Dr. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, stated “I commend P&G on their excellent initiative and call on all companies to equal or better implementation of the recommendations arising from the High Level Panel, in the interests of achieving women’s economic empowerment.”

“Gender Equality is a human issue not a woman issue; one that affects us all. P&G’s commitment to fostering an environment where gender equity becomes the norm rather than the exception is a goal that we are passionate about,” says Olashore Folasade Africa Director for P&G.