Could This Stamp of Approval Help Women Get Ahead at Work?

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published 28 August 14

If your milk carton or mascara came stamped with a "gender equal" label, would you be more likely to buy it? That's the hope behind Economic Dividends for Gender Equality, or EDGE, which is certifying businesses for their efforts toward gender equality in the workplace.

Founded in 2009 in Geneva and launched two years later at the World Economic Forum in Davos, EDGE has given its approval to more than 60 companies in 29 countries. L'Oreal USA just became the first American company to get certified. EDGE took six months to review the company's gender policies and survey more than 3,000 of its workers about equal pay, company culture, and general gender equality in the workplace.

Angela Guy, L'Oreal USA's senior vice president of diversity and inclusion, told Fast Company that while L'Oreal USA is proud of the certification, it's also a symbol of work that still needs to be done. For example, only 35 percent of employees are men. "We're working to bring more men on board to balance the numbers," she said. So both male and female workers should welcome this gender-balancing effort.

Megan Friedman