http://www.calvert.com/womensPrinciples.html
"The Calvert Women's Principles constitute the first
global code of conduct for corporations focused exclusively on empowering,
advancing and investing in women worldwide," said Barbara Krumsiek,
President and CEO of Calvert. "The Women's Principles will provide
companies a set of goals they can aspire to and measure their progress against,
while offering investors a set of tools they can use to assess corporate
performance on gender equality issues."
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http://www.calvert.com/7162.html
1. DISCLOSURE, IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING
Corporations will promote and strive to attain gender equality in their
operations and in their business and stakeholder relationships by adopting and
implementing proactive policies that are publicly disclosed, monitored and
enforced.
In this regard, companies agree to take all reasonable steps to:
- Publicize their commitment to these Principles through
a CEO statement or comparably prominent means, and prominently display
them in the workplace and/or make them available to all employees in a
readily accessible and understandable form.
- Be transparent in the implementation of these
Principles, and promote their endorsement and implementation by
affiliates, vendors, suppliers, customers and others with whom they do
business.
- Engage in constructive dialogue with stakeholder
groups, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), business
associations, investors and the media on their progress in implementing
the Principles.
- Establish benchmarks to measure and monitor progress
toward gender equality and report results publicly.
- Develop and implement company policies, procedures,
training and internal reporting processes to ensure observance and
implementation of these Principles throughout the organization.
- Establish an unbiased, non-retaliatory grievance policy
allowing employees to make comments, recommendations, reports, or
complaints concerning the treatment of women in the workplace.
- Conduct periodic audits, self-evaluation, public
disclosure and reporting on status and progress made in the implementation
of these Principles.
- Ensure that these Principles are observed not only with
respect to their own employees but also in their relations with
independent contractors, sub-contractors, home-based workers, vendors and
other non-employees with whom they do business.
2. EMPLOYMENT AND INCOME
Corporations will promote and strive to attain gender equality by adopting
and implementing wage, income, hiring, promotion and other employment policies
that eliminate gender discrimination in all its forms.
In this regard, companies agree to take all reasonable steps to:
- Pay the legal wage to all women.
- Establish pay equity policies that pay comparable wages
and benefits, including retirement security benefits, to men and women for
comparable work.
- Eliminate all forms of discrimination based on gender
or cultural stereotypes, including wages, hours, benefits, job access and
qualifications, working conditions, or other work-related privileges or
activities.
- Develop verifiable programs to hold managers
accountable for attaining measurable progress in the hiring, training,
retaining and promoting of women.
- Prohibit discrimination based on a woman's marital,
parental or reproductive status in making decisions regarding employment
or promotion.
- Implement reasonable and equitable policies regarding
layoffs, contract work and temporary work that do not disproportionately
affect women.
- Undertake concrete, verifiable actions to provide
pregnant and post-natal women with employment security that allows for
interruptions in their work for maternity, parental leave, and
family-related responsibilities.
- Facilitate or otherwise provide information regarding
the availability of childcare or family care facilities or assistance to
employees. i. Strive to pay a living wage to all women.
3. HEALTH, SAFETY AND VIOLENCE
Corporations will promote and strive to attain gender equality by adopting
and implementing policies to secure the health, safety and well-being of women
workers.
In this regard, companies agree to take all reasonable steps to:
- Ensure that women's health and safety, including
reproductive health, are protected in the workplace.
- Prohibit and prevent all forms of violence in the
workplace, including physical, sexual or verbal harassment, and have
well-publicized procedures for reporting and responding to the same.
- Ensure the safety of female employees and vendors in
the workplace, in travel to and from the workplace and on company-related
business.
- Strive to eliminate unsafe working conditions and
provide protection from exposure to hazardous or toxic chemicals in the
workplace, particularly when those substances have known or suspected
adverse effects on the health of women and children. In addition to these
steps, provide full disclosure of possible hazards, and obtain prior
informed consent from women who may be exposed to such substances in the
workplace.
- Prohibit discrimination against women with health
problems, including individuals with AIDS/HIV positive status.
- Allow time off from work for women employees seeking
medical care or treatment, including family planning, counseling and
reproductive health care.
- Provide and make readily accessible information on
domestic violence with information about available local resources.
- Provide and make readily accessible information on
reproductive health care with information about available local resources.
4. CIVIC AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Corporations will promote and strive to attain gender equality by adopting
and implementing policies to help secure and protect the right of women to
fully participate in civic life and to be free from all forms of discrimination
and exploitation.
In this regard, companies agree to take all reasonable steps to:
- Clearly forbid business-related activities that
condone, support, or otherwise participate in the trafficking in women and
young girls, prostitution or sexual exploitation.
- Ensure that affiliated philanthropic foundations
observe and support the implementation of and aspirations underlining
these Principles through their donations, grant-making, and programmatic
initiatives.
- Ensure that female employees are able to participate in
legal, civic and political affairs - including time off to vote - without
interference or fear of repercussion or retaliation in the workplace.
- Respect employees' voluntary freedom of association,
including the voluntary freedom of association of female employees.
- Forbid political activities at the worksite that result
in harassment or intimidation of women employees.
- Work with host governments and communities where the
company does business to eliminate gender-based discrimination and improve
educational and other opportunities for women and girls in those
communities, including support for women's non-governmental organizations
and other community groups working for the advancement of women.
- Exercise proactive leadership and hold themselves to
higher standards than local culture, custom, or context may prescribe or
tolerate in situations where cultural differences or customs are used to
deny or abuse the basic human rights of women and girls.
- Take measures to protect female employees and their
families from sexual harassment, violence, mutilation, intimidation,
retaliation or other denial of their basic human rights by host
governments or non-governmental political, religious or cultural
organizations.
5. MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE
Corporations will promote and strive to attain gender equality by adopting
and implementing policies to ensure women's participation in corporate
management and governance.
In this regard, companies agree to take all reasonable steps to:
- Establish policies and undertake proactive efforts to
recruit and appoint women to managerial positions and to the corporate
board of directors.
- Establish policies and undertake proactive efforts to
assure participation by women in decision-making and governance at all levels
and in all areas of the business.
6. EDUCATION, TRAINING, AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Corporations will promote and strive to attain gender equality by adopting
and implementing education, training and professional development policies
benefiting women.
In this regard, companies agree to take all reasonable steps to:
- Provide women employees with opportunities for and
access to education and continuing education, literacy training, certified
vocational skills and information technology training, and professional
development.
- Facilitate access to special educational and vocational
programs for young women who did not complete schooling and/or left their
families or homes to enter the workforce.
7. BUSINESS, SUPPLY CHAIN AND MARKETING PRACTICES
Corporations will promote and strive to attain gender equality by adopting
and implementing proactive, non-discriminatory business, marketing and supply
chain policies and practices.
In this regard, companies agree to take all reasonable steps to:
- Respect the dignity of women in all sales, promotional
and advertising materials, and exclude any form of gender or sexual
exploitation in marketing and advertising campaigns.
- Publicly identify vendors and suppliers, share these
Principles with them, and make every effort to ensure that vendors and
suppliers adhere to these Principles and monitor their compliance with the
same.
- Encourage and support women's entrepreneurship, and
seek to enter into contractual and other business relationships with
women-owned businesses and vendors, including micro-enterprises, and work
with them to arrange fair credit and lending terms.
Calvert wishes to thank the many women leaders, corporate representatives,
representatives of labor, human rights, women's advocacy and other
non-governmental organizations and others who were kind enough to provide
valuable counsel and advice during the drafting of these Principles.