Dow joins effort to drive progress of women in the workplace

The Dow Chemical Company has joined the Catalyst CEO Champions For Change, an initiative to increase diversity and the progress of women at work.

“As we build and evolve for the future, we must reflect the world we compete in today and will compete in tomorrow,” said Jim Fitterling, chief executive officer-elect for Dow and chief operating officer of the DowDuPont Materials Science Division. “It is critical we create an inclusive and diverse environment where all people can bring 100 percent of themselves to work all the time.”

More than 50 global companies have committed to the effort, pledging to:

• Accelerate progress in the representation of women, including women of color, in executive/senior level positions over five years;
• Maintain (where strong) or accelerate the representation of women, including women of color, on the Company’s Board of Directors (or equivalent) over five years;
• Strengthen the talent pipeline of women through an annual review of internal diagnostics and leverage leading practices to address any identified issues;
• Benchmark and track inclusion and improve the culture of inclusion within the organization; and
• Share key representation metrics with Catalyst for benchmarking and for anonymized reporting of Catalyst’s collective aggregate progress.

“Our workforce must reflect the diversity of our customers and our communities but diversity alone is not enough,” said Andrew N. Liveris, chairman and CEO of Dow and director and former executive chairman, DowDuPont. “We must drive a culture where fresh ideas are considered a competitive advantage, not a risk to one’s career and build an environment where every employee has the ability to bring their true selves to work.”