Procter & Gamble (P&G) has announced new commitments to advancing Equality and Inclusion (E&I) across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa (AMA) at its fifth annual #WeSeeEqual summit. The event’s theme was ‘Unique and United’, where participants shared best practices and collaborated on solutions to address gender inequality. P&G embraces diversity and recognizes the unique strengths that each individual brings to the table. P&G CEO Omar Channawi said the event is dedicated to creating value for employees, partners, and communities, making a positive impact on the world.
P&G’s new commitments include its Always and Whisper ‘Keeping Girls in School’ program, which will educate over 35 million adolescent girls on puberty and menstrual hygiene over the next three years. P&G will set up a task force of certified ‘Mental Health First Aiders’ across AMA to address mental health issues affecting individuals due to factors such as microaggressions, lack of representation, and unconscious bias. These First Aiders will be trained and certified to provide support and guide employees toward available resources, encourage them to seek professional support, and act as the first line of response.
The #WeSeeEqual summit, held in collaboration with the UN Foundation, focused on emerging trends and insights in the DEI space, such as bridging the gap between generations, diversity in leadership styles and perspectives to foster innovation and creativity, and how different stakeholders can accelerate progress to serve communities. The summit also shed light on mental health as an integral part of the E&I agenda for the first time, highlighting biases that can lead to discrimination and exclusion, which can have a negative impact on mental health.
P&G also shared strong progress on commitments made last year, including the ‘P&G ReLaunch program’, a commitment to spend $300 million by deliberately working with women-owned and women-led businesses across AMA, improving the accessibility of its brand advertising, and achieving equal representation of female directors behind the camera for the company’s brand advertisements. The #WeSeeEqual summit saw the participation of influential personalities and global and regional leaders.