Recognizing commitment to advancing women in the workplace, the 2019 Gender-Equality Index highlights 230 firms that are trailblazers in their commitment to transparency in workplace gender reporting
New York, 16 January 2019 – RELX today announced that it is one of 230 companies selected for the 2019 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI) which distinguishes companies committed to transparency in gender reporting and advancing women’s equality. The index doubled in size from 2018 and includes firms from 10 sectors headquartered across 36 countries and regions. Collectively, these firms have a combined market capitalization of $9,000bn and employ more than 15m people, of which 7m are women, around the world. Thirteen markets are represented for the first time this year and include Argentina, China, Israel and South Africa.
Márcia Balisciano, Director of Corporate Responsibility at RELX, said: “We want RELX to be a great place to work, where our employees feel valued, have equal opportunities and benefit from pay equality, regardless of their gender, gender identity, national origin, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age or disability status. Diversity and Inclusion are important to our future. We need the engagement of people from a wide range of backgrounds, experiences and ideas to achieve real innovation for our customers around the world. We remain committed to promoting and enabling equal opportunity, regardless of gender, at every level in our organisation.”
Bloomberg’s standardized reporting framework offers public companies the opportunity to disclose information on how they promote gender equality across four separate areas – company statistics, policies, community engagement and products and services. Reporting companies that score above a globally-established threshold, based on the extent of disclosures and the achievement of best-in-class statistics and policies, are included in the GEI. Demand for products and services using ESG data has seen a significant increase over the last years, as a growing number of investors are looking to incorporate environmental, social and governance data into their investment decisions. Still, currently only 10% of eligible companies are disclosing their workplace gender policies and practices.
“We applaud RELX and the other 229 firms tracked by the index for their action to measure gender equality through the Bloomberg GEI framework,” said Peter T. Grauer, Chairman of Bloomberg and Founding Chairman of the US 30% Club. “RELX’s GEI inclusion is a strong indicator to its employees, investors and industry peers alike that it is leading by example to advance ongoing efforts for a truly inclusive workplace.”
Disclosures from firms included in the 2019 GEI provide a wide-ranging and comprehensive look at how companies around the world are investing in women. According to GEI data:
- Women had a 40% increase in executive level positions between fiscal years 2014-2017.
- 60% of firms conduct compensation reviews to identify gender-based variations in pay to close their average 20% pay gap (18% on average in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Middle East regions and 26% in Asia-Pacific).
- 34% have programmes in place to recruit women looking to return to work after a career break.
- For US employees, the average number of weeks of fully paid primary leave offered is 13 weeks, and the average number of weeks of fully paid secondary leave offered is 5 weeks.
- 43% of firms cover gender reassignment services in health insurance plans.
- 68% of firms evaluate all advertising and marketing content for gender biases prior to publication.
The Bloomberg gender reporting framework is voluntary and has no associated costs. The GEI is a reference index. All public companies can submit data to Bloomberg. Those with a security listed on a US exchange and a market capitalization of $1bn or greater are eligible for index inclusion. For more information on the GEI and how to submit information for next year's index visit: www.bloomberg.com/professional/solution/gender-equality-index
Bloomberg subscribers can access the GEI at {BGEI Index DES <GO>}. Terminal users will have access to the fully updated index on Friday, January 18, 2019.
Companies included in the 2019 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index:
Media Contacts:
Rosanna Armstrong
RELX
+44 20 7166 5708
[email protected]
Veronika Henze
Bloomberg LP
+1-646-324-1596
[email protected]
Jacqueline Gogel
Vested
+1-917-765-8720
[email protected]
About RELX Group:
RELX Group is a global provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. The Group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs about 30,000 people of whom almost half are in North America. The shares of RELX PLC, the parent company, are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX. The market capitalisation is approximately £32bn, €36bn, $41bn.
About Bloomberg:
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