The FINANCIAL — The World Bank Group headquarters in Washington, DC, has earned the first level of EDGE certification, EDGE Assess, taking an important step in achieving gender equality. The World Bank Group headquarters is the first location of an international financial institution to attain this certification.
Economic Dividends for Gender Equality (EDGE) is the leading global standard for gender equality in the workplace. Certification requires a rigorous external assessment of five key areas: equal pay for equivalent work; recruitment and promotion; leadership development training and mentoring; flexible working arrangements; and company culture. EDGE Assess recognizes that the World Bank Group headquarters has made a public commitment to strong gender balance and has identified the parameters of a concrete action plan to further its progress.
“Equal opportunity for women and men is a fundamental principle of human dignity and development. Promoting gender equality is both the right thing to do and critical to ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity,” said Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group. “EDGE certification is a key part of our strategy to make gender equality a core value of our operations and our work with developing countries. It provides a vital external benchmark for measuring our progress and is one more way we’re working to be the employer of choice in the development community.”
The World Bank Group headquarters began the process of achieving EDGE certification in March 2015. The organization expects to achieve certification of its country offices in the near future.
The World Bank Group is one of the world’s most diverse institutions, with staff drawn from more than 170 nationalities and a global footprint of 120-plus offices. Inclusion of people from different demographics, backgrounds and affinities, is a strategic priority, and the Bank Group has set ambitious targets for bolstering the recruitment and development of diverse talent. EDGE certification is a critical part of this effort and follows the release in December of the new World Bank Group Gender Equality Strategy, 2016-2023.
Launched at the World Economic Forum in 2011, EDGE has established itself as the global standard for gender equality in the workplace, ensuring certified organizations have a structured, systematic approach to measure, track, and close workplace gender gaps. The EDGE certification methodology has been extensively tested in more than 100 companies across more than 30 countries and five continents.
Reflecting on the Bank Group’s certification, Aniela Unguresan, Co-Founder of the EDGE Certified Foundation said, “Leading organizations around the world are investing in gender equality because it is good for business. The certification of the World Bank Group sends a powerful signal that gender equality is one of the key drivers to achieve sustainable economic growth and prosperity across countries and industries.”
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