UN Women 2021 Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards:
Meet the National Winners
PHILIPPINES
We are excited to announce the winners of the first-ever UN Women 2021 Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards!
Big congratulations to all the winners who have committed themselves to advancing gender equality and women's economic empowerment. These gender champions from different countries, sectors, and fields are acknowledged respectively for their outstanding Leadership Commitment, Youth Leadership, Gender-inclusive Workplace, Gender-responsive Marketplace, Community and Industry Engagement, and Transparency & Reporting.
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*The UN Women Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards represents recognition of exemplary company efforts for gender equality and is limited to a designated category and a specific location and time period. Awarded organizations, alongside their products and services, receiving awards are not endorsed or affiliated with UN Women or WeEmpowerAsia and being recognized as an Awardee does not constitute a partnership. Claims, statements, or endorsements made by awardees are solely those of the individual or organization and do not represent official policies or positions of UN Women.
Winners
Standard Chartered Bank's commitment is to create an inclusive workplace where everyone, regardless of gender, can thrive. Through Lynette Ortiz’s leadership, SCB is the only company in the Philippines that offers 5 months fully paid maternity leave, 2-week paternity leave and 2-week adoption leave, as well as benefits for single parents and those with domestic partners.
Even before the pandemic, the bank has already been offering a flexible working program to allow its employees to attend to their work and personal commitments responsibly. As the bank evolves to new normal, Ortiz leads the implementation of its permanent hybrid working model which will combine remote and office-based working with the objective to redesign jobs during and post pandemic.
Cherrie Atilano is the Founding Farmer, President, and CEO of AGREA. She is also the Philippines Ambassadress on Food Security. Through Agrea, she integrated an intentional policy to include more women and youth in their Farm Schools. She developed modules to be more gender-sensitive by highlighting soft skills. In 2 years,  AGREA and partners have increased women and youth inclusion from 50% in 2018 to 64% in 2020. As to date, they have a total of 1200 Farm School Graduates, of which 60% are women and youth. They continue to be more inclusive and are working on Siargao to be the first women-led agriculture island in the Philippines. 
P&G  believes that caring for home and family has no gender. That’s why they established a global  paid parental leave of 8 weeks– Share the Care so ALL P&G parents have an equal opportunity to care for and bond with new children. It is beyond the standard 7 days mandated by the  Philippine law. 
 
 
 
 
 
PNB includes gender data in their annual Sustainability Reporting since 2018. They believe that it reflects the level of support and commitment a company has for gender equality. In PNB, women make up 25% of PNB’s board, 66% of their total workforce, and 60% of their managers. The Bank has also expanded their report by adding diversity and inclusion activities and initiatives. From 2018 to 2020, five complaints in relation to sexual harassment have been filed, four (80%) of which have been resolved within the given period.
 
1st Runners Up
Nina D. Aguas, Insular Life’s Executive Chairperson, is a business leader with over 30 years in retail, wealth, investments, and private banking. She drives the biggest and largest Philippine life insurance company on being ahead of the curve, as well as keeping up with the evolving market. She continues to break the glass ceiling as Nina is also the sponsor of the women empowerment program called the InLife Sheroes Program – a movement that aims to enrich the lives of 1 million young women professionals and entrepreneurs. Women in the next three years. In just 2.5 years of
running the program, they have already made a difference in more than
3.3 million lives.
Abetina’s leadership within Equilife created a culture that gives equal opportunities regardless of gender. Today, 62% of those holding leadership roles (around 30 positions) in the company, 50% of the members of the engineering department (+20 headcount), and 61% of the entire company (around 150 headcounts) are female. She is a good example of the positive effects a woman CEO and founder can have in the organizations she leads.
Another good metric that the company is starting to look at is the output of its multiple training programs, both professional (Eg. Respiratory Therapists and Engineers) and vocational (Eg. Technicians).
After the programs, everyone that passed was either absorbed to become fully-edged biomedical technicians or were able to land employment elsewhere.
grow, feel valued, and accepted regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, and ability. Inclusion efforts at Nestle are focused on four (4) pillars of diversity; Gender Balance, the Differently-abled, the LGBTQIA+ community, Race and Ethnicity, all underpinned by Nestlé Needs Youth. Bold Leadership, Empowering Culture, Enabling Practices, Diversity &
Inclusion Curriculum, Anti-harassment Training, Gender-neutral Parental Support Policy, Family-related Benefits, Equal Pay are the market-wide programs that drive gender balance and empowerment in Nestlé.
They continuously make efforts in reaching out to women for a more gender-inclusive workplace in the near future through these programs: Witty Academy; Fujitsu Pinay-Maartech Communities; The Ikigai Pinay Women’s Network; Women in Tech Monitoring and Coaching; and Career Talks with Partner Schools.