Pledge For Parity campaign delivered by EY - You can too!

Firstly EY understood the need for gender parity

EY understood that advancing women is a global business and economic imperative and that profitability, return on investment (ROI) and innovation all increase when women are counted among senior leadership. They utilized many indepth resources. 

Then they developed a digital platform

EY developed and ran the Women. Fast forward Pledge for Parity campaign to accelerate change within EY. They developed a digital platform, including key statistics on the business imperative of gender parity, and invited everyone in their organization globally to make a pledge for parity.

They identified key drivers

In The time for gender parity is now, EY identified three accelerators that independently and collectively help change the trajectory of women’s advancement. They then used these accelerators to develop nine pledges that their people could choose to make a commitment from.

Accelerator #1 - Illuminate the path to leadership: make career opportunities more visible to women
- I pledge to help a woman on my team identify and secure her next promotion
- I pledge to identify opportunities for women on my teams to lead
- I pledge to become a better teammate by learning more about why gender parity matters

Accelerator #2 - Speed up culture change with progressive corporate policy
- I pledge to help create a culture of flexibility for everyone on my team
- I pledge to encourage men on my teams to take paternity leave
- I pledge to seek out perspectives different from my own and encourage everyone to contribute

Accelerator #3 - Build supportive environments and work to eliminate conscious and unconscious bias
- I pledge to become a sponsor for a woman to help her achieve her professional ambitions
- I pledge to challenge our leaders to ensure men and women are treated equally
- I pledge to become more aware of my own biases and work to eliminate them

Their people made a pledge

EY's people then selected the pledge that resonated best, and they uploaded their pledge along with a professional looking image of themself. Each pledge was automatically added to a private online photo gallery that contains all the pledges from across EY, allowing their people to see who has pledged and what commitments have been made. EY generated ​2,700+ pledges in 60 days, with a split close to 50/50 between men and women. By participating in the Pledge For Parity, EY's people committed to taking one specific action to advance women in their workplace.

EY's proud of their people, but they know that achieving gender parity is a task larger than any single organization. That’s why they’re sharing their pledge campaign with organizations large and small that may be interested in creating a Pledge For Parity campaign for their own employees. Feedback has been very positive, and momentum continues.

Put gender on your agenda - and run your own Pledge For Parity campaign!