When companies commit to the SDGs

A decade of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), formulated by the United Nations eradicate poverty, protect the planet and achieve global prosperity; and within those 17 goals, goal number 5 aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

On the part of companies, this means active work on the economic empowerment of women, and hence the spread of the positive effects of women’s participation in the labor market with equal opportunities on the whole society. salaries and investment in leadership development.

Arcos Dorados has been on this path since it was founded, but our work took shape and strength with the creation of our Diversity and Inclusion Committee six years ago and, within this Committee, the establishment Company Women’s Network; whose goal is to identify and implement activities to ensure that women in our company can achieve their maximum professional potential, invest in their training and develop their skills to participate in decision-making and in the highest management roles.

And I want to emphasize affirmative action, because that means that these are deliberate and thought-out decisions our companies to help remove obstacles in the pursuit of women’s equality, starting with the employment of women in vulnerable situations and women with disabilities; ensuring that the distribution of tasks is not based on prejudices about the role of women in society, ensuring that there is no gender pay gap and that there is always the possibility for women to progress through the pyramid.

Like this in Golden arches We set out to address these issues, affecting everyone from the restaurant to the board of directors. To begin with, we achieve wage parity, without gender differences for the same type of work. We have also made progress in the participation of women in leadership positions: currently 54% of women in our team occupy decision-making roles; adding leadership in restaurants and in management and senior management positions.

If we translate this into general numbers, we are talking about more than 29 thousand Latin American women who have an influence that goes beyond our organization and the economic contribution to their homes. The effect of more women leaders also extends to creating role models gender equality respected by girls and boys, young people who will be responsible for creating a world where we are truly equal.

It is a positive effect, rarely visible, when companies bet according to the sustainable development goal of the United Nations number five.