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*Translations are unofficial and provided by Google translate
UN Women 2022 Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards:
Meet the National Winners
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PHILLIPINES
We are excited to announce the winners of the UN Women 2022 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 Engagement & Partnerships, and Transparency & Reporting
*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
Microsoft Philippines
Microsoft Philippines Inc. has a strong stance on diversity and inclusion in their workplace. It can be seen in their inclusive recruitment policeis which have resulted in an improvement of their gender diversity goal, from 75% in 2019 to 85.7% in 2022, which meant out of 21 job requisitions - 18 are female candidates. In addition, they have inclusive health coverage and benefits for employees which includes mental health for their families, and their domestic partners regardless of gender. Microsoft Philippines also has a DI&A Council composed of volunteers who work on programs and initiatives to engage the organization through local chapters of ‘Women at Microsoft’ and ‘Accessibility with Virtualahan, through which they host mentorship programs to help improve employability of people with disabilities and women who want to rejoin the workforce.
As part of their allyship and sustainability effort, Microsoft started the “Para sa Bayan Initiatives”(For the City) where they upskill female high school students in data analytics and offer free learning content from Microsoft platforms.
DDB Group Philippines
DDB Group Philippines is a leading integrated marketing communications group in the Philippines that work on advertising, digital solutions, media services, public relations, branded entertainment solutions, and data analytics. By applying a gender sensitive lens to their creative processes, DDB was able to create marketing campaigns that are effective business solutions to brands’ needs and are fair gender portrayals that veer away from offensive gender stereotypes This led to DDB producing award-winning campaigns such as:
• The Macho Choir DDB for the Philippine Commission on Women, which campaigned against gender-based harassment and pushed for stronger laws that would discourage and/or punish offenders.
• The #NothingBeatsGirls campaigned that rallied for young girls to remain on track with their goals despite of the setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• NutriAsia, a company under the DDB Group umbrella, hosted a Pride Month advertising campaign spreading stories of families with LGBT parents to build awareness about and embrace all kinds of families.
Fujitsu Philippines Global Delivery Center
Fujitsu Global Delivery Philippines’ D,E& I pillar aims to attract diverse talent, and ensures that there are equal opportunities for everyone, with leaders modeling inclusive behavior. A key part of this is reporting, including measuring and analyzing gender data to foster an inclusive workplace culture.
Fujitsu GDC Philippines is a responsible business focusing in the area of technology and is committed to implementing policies that support women – be it with their employees, suppliers, stakeholders or communities – ensuring that efforts are measured, reported, and aligned to significant target areas.
Fujitsu GDC Philippines is a responsible business focusing in the area of technology and is committed to implementing policies that support women – be it with their employees, suppliers, stakeholders or communities – ensuring that efforts are measured, reported, and aligned to significant target areas.
Ms. Anna Marie Rojas-Lagon, Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Manila, Inc.
Anna Lagon led Bayo’s Journey to Zero initiative – a platform that provides work opportunities for women to achieve the goal of zero carbon emission, zero waste, and create circularity as a pathway for sustainability for all. She was able to develop projects specifically aimed at empowering women through better economic opportunities and knowledge transfer of sustainable practices. The ‘Weaving in the City’ programme , under the Journey to Zero initiative, brings the art of handweaving to Pasig City in Manila. Ten months from its initial launch, the Pasig weavers are now earning a regular income that is double of the Government-prescribed minimum wage.
In addition to the above, Bayo recently signed a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Science and Technology - Philippine Textile Research Institute, in which the Bayo foundation guarantees the purchase of the women farmer’s harvest of silk cocoons.
In addition to the above, Bayo recently signed a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Science and Technology - Philippine Textile Research Institute, in which the Bayo foundation guarantees the purchase of the women farmer’s harvest of silk cocoons.
The Insular Life Assurance Company, Ltd.
The InLife Sheroes advocacy and movement is InLife’s flagship advocacy program to empower Filipino women, to generate income and invest in their families and communities. Inlife Sheroes has reached more than 7.6 million Filipino women and men online by 2021. They started the “Bida ang Pinay (Pinay is A Star)” digital market, onboarding over 35 stores on Union Bank Global Linker; generating over P200,000 in sales for MSMEs. In addition they have also launched the InLife Young Shero of the Year Award in 2021 for Filipino women under the age of 40, who have successfully led their respective industries. Through their foundation, they have also invested in training women in data sciences and have adopted the Alternative Learning System Community Learning Center at the Correctional Institute For Women in Mandaluyong City.
Dr. Sharon Vaswani, Chief Executive Officer, Panopthalmics Enterprise.
Sharon Vaswani is the founder and CEO of Panophthalmics Enterprise, a platform for eye care practitioners both in private clinics and hospitals in the Philippines to source their ophthalmic needs. Through the Tech2Transform programme, Panopthalmics has contributed to the development of 27 women-led MSMEs. The Tech2Transform Digital Series was a 5–month long series of lectures that addressed gender inequalities in the STEM field and empowered women-led business to make use of tools in gathering data, marketing and finance. Sharon offers mentorship and training through the Women Strong Network, a consortium of over 120 women-led MSMEs. The program will have another run this year (2023) and plans to reach out to more women.
TeamAsia
TeamAsia is a 30 year-old integrated marketing agency. They have been committed to their WEPs journey and have improved their gender gap analysis scores from 21% in 2021 to 81% in 2023. By focusing on their implementation, data measurement and transparency through a gendered lens, they were able to improve their promotion of equal opportunities through training sessions for all and policy changes. They were able to put into action policies on non-discrimination, supported by confidential grievance and resolution mechanisms. . While they already implemented maternal and paternal leave benefits, TeamAsia amplified this by including parents of adopted children, redrafting the policy to support parents and caregivers.
Through it’s ‘Work SetUp Playbook’, a manual used to help employees better navigate hybrid work since the COVID 19 pandemic started, they have been able to carry forth flexible working for all their employees even after the restrictions on movement caused by the pandemic were relaxed. In addition, TeamAsia enacted a policy providing every employee equal opportunities from recruitment, training, salary increase, promotion, and benefits, while taking note of their skills and improvements regardless of their gender. TeamAsia now collects and analyzes gender-disaggregated data, and has time-bound and measurable goals and targets that they share with their stakeholders.
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1st Runners Up
Mr. Steven T. Tan, President, SM Supermalls
Steven Tan places women’s empowerment at the core of the company’s vision and business practices. He spearheaded a work-life integration program called ‘SM Life’, which addressed employees physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Mr. Tan also integrated women empowerment into business planning, with the completion of the Gender Gap Analysis Tool (GAT) of the Women’s Empowerment Principles and SM Prime Holdings Inc. integrated sustainability report, and provided all SM divisions with action plans.
Under Mr Tan’s leadership, SM supported women entrepreneurs hard-hit by the pandemic through initiatives like ‘Angels for Angels’, a programme that linked designers with communities of women, providing them with tools, materials and training to produce Christmas angels as a source of income during the holiday season. SM also partnered with the Girl Scouts of the Philippines to give free COVID vaccinations to 700,000 girl scouts at 78 vaccination sites. SM holds special events all year round, like breastfeeding and breast cancer awareness exhibits.
Under Mr Tan’s leadership, SM supported women entrepreneurs hard-hit by the pandemic through initiatives like ‘Angels for Angels’, a programme that linked designers with communities of women, providing them with tools, materials and training to produce Christmas angels as a source of income during the holiday season. SM also partnered with the Girl Scouts of the Philippines to give free COVID vaccinations to 700,000 girl scouts at 78 vaccination sites. SM holds special events all year round, like breastfeeding and breast cancer awareness exhibits.
Standard Chartered Bank
Standard Chartered Bank's commitment is to create an inclusive workplace where everyone, regardless of gender, can thrive. They are passionate about promoting equality in the workplace and have several policies and commitments that support women such as flexible working practices, increased benefits for new parents, addressing gender pay gaps and increasing its female representation in senior leadership roles. SCB 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.
Unilever Philippines
Unilever's Surf, the Philippines’ leading laundry brand, engages with the biggest entrepreneurship community for Filipina moms and Filipina home-based moms, to tap into their innate “wais”-ness or being “wise” to unlock income generation, in the pursuit of uplifting their families. Together with FHMoms(a freelancing and entrepreneurship online group of mothers), Surf launched the “Surf Wais University”, an online course series crafted for Filipina mom-entrepreneurs. The goal of the program was to help women aged 25-45 enhance their existing entrepreneurial skills or kick-start their entrepreneurial journies. As of June 2022, Surf Wais U was able to achieve 1.4x times the target sign-ups (17,610 sign-ups vs. the target of 12,000 sign-ups by June) and 1.3x the target graduates (6,616 graduates vs. the target of 5,000 graduates by May.
Philippine National Bank
Philippine National Bank (PNB) is one of the largest privately-owned Philippine commercial banks. The bank commits to provide its employees a safe and secure work environment, as well as building an inclusive and gender-balanced workforce. The bank has integrated social inclusion and gender lens in financing businesses, projects, and CSR initiatives. PNB includes gender data in sustainability reporting to reflect their support and commitment to gender equality. PNB's reports cover not just the quantitative aspect, but regularly reports its initiatives aimed at promoting gender equality and inclusion.
Unilever Philippines
Unilever has set ambitious goals to reduce its waste footprint through Misis Walastik or Ms. Fantastic. They tackled this through innovative ways to reduce, reuse and repeatedly recycle materials in a circular system by collaborating with communities and local government units including barangays (districts) and households. To date, the “kolek-kilo-kita” or “collect-weigh-earn” approach has engaged and provided additional income to 100,000 families and 150 collection hubs in 400 barangays across Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
Emmanuelle Marie C. Parra, Thomson Reuters Corporation Pte. Ltd. – Philippine Branch
Emmanuele Parra has been instrumental in harnessing a culture of employee volunteerism at Thomson Reuters Manila. She has been selected as the global volunteer network lead for Asia-Pacific and has partnered with several NGOs to host volunteer activities, and help victims of human trafficking. Since 2016, she has been an active volunteer at Voice of the Free (Center of Hope), a non-profit organization that rescues survivors of human trafficking, cybersex, forced labor, child pornography and modern slavery in the Philippines. Em-em (Emmanuele) frequently organizes weekend volunteer activities at Voice of the Free’s Center of Hope, where employee volunteers hold personal development workshops on arts and crafts, financial literacy, health and wellness, legal rights of women and children etc. They also hold classes on overcoming norms and stereotypes, and self-defense such as Muay Thai for young female survivors. To also raise awareness about human trafficking in the Philippines, she has organized anti-slavery forums, film shows, food & art bazaars featuring items made by survivors. By logging in their volunteering hours, employees can apply for the Thomson Reuters's Community Champion Grant which enabled them to donate $500 for every 20 volunteer hours and $1000 for every 40 hours they spent volunteering. In the first year, the Voice of the Free received over PhP 1.3 million in Thomson Reuters grants which they used to built a multipurpose hall and farm as a livelihood center for children and female survivors.
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2nd Runners Up
MS. Ma. Rhodora “Ayhee” Campos, Country Head, Infosys BPM Philippines
Ayhee Campos believes that if an organization wants to make a difference, it must include everyone in the story. She introduced the guiding principles on diversity: (1) embracing diversity of people and perspectives; (2) enabling equity in policy and practice; and (3) creating a feeling of belongingness within the workforce. She rewired the workplace mindset on diversity, equity, and most especially on belongingness as a strategy to make it part of infosys BPM Philippines’ DNA.
