By Johnel Evans

We’re proud to share that Bloomberg has named BD to its 2021 Gender-Equality Index (GEI), recognizing our commitment to supporting gender equality through policy development, representation and transparency. It’s the second year in a row that we’ve been included in the index, a testament to our ongoing support of women in the workplace and our communities.

We were selected for this prestigious list because of our high level of disclosure and overall performance across five dimensions including:

1. Female Leadership & Talent Pipeline: recruitment, retention and development of women into senior leadership positions.
2. Equal Pay & Gender Pay Parity: closing the gender pay gap through transparent and effective action plans.
3. Inclusive Culture: policies, benefits and programs that contribute to an inclusive work environment.
4. Sexual harassment policies and procedures.
5. Pro-Women brand: supply chain, products and service, and external support for women in the community, among other factors.

These criteria are updated annually, and BD continues to evolve its policies and develop new programs to foster an inclusive workplace for women and create opportunities for advancement. This helps us recruit and retain a diverse workforce. It also creates an environment where our associates can bring their best, true selves to work, helping us to be more innovative and deliver better outcomes for our global marketplace.

For example, our Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) Associate Resource Group (ARG) provides our associates with opportunities for networking, mentorship and professional development, as well as advocating for an inclusive culture that embraces a diversity of skills and ideas. WIN members developed a mentoring program to create new career growth opportunities for its members that quickly expanded to our associates around the world. Last year the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association  selected WIN and our mentoring program as a 2020 winner of its prestigious ACE Award.

WIN+STEM, a subgroup of the WIN ARG, seeks to ensure that all associates in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers at BD find an inclusive environment full of opportunity and support, and to drive change in these historically male-dominated disciplines.

In addition to supporting associates, WIN+STEM conducts education programs for students in our communities. Our chapter in San Antonio, Texas partnered with local non-profit organization San Antonio Works to implement a professional development program. ARG members worked with 20 local high school teachers to provide them with first-hand exposure to real-world applications of STEM concepts, and to support them in designing and facilitating curriculum and work-based learning opportunities that drive interest in STEM careers among students.

As a result of these efforts, the chapter was awarded with The 2020 Public Policy Best Practice Award from the Society of Women Engineers, a non-profit organization committed to advancing and honoring the contributions of women at all stages of their engineering careers.

These are just a few of the ways that BD and its associates are helping to drive gender equality within our organization and the communities where we work and live. The efforts support our broader mission to advance inclusion and diversity within our company, industry and communities to fulfill our purpose of advancing the world of health – for all.

We’re proud to be included in the Bloomberg GEI in recognition of our efforts towards greater transparency and gender equality. While we’ve made progress there is still much work to do, and we remain committed to developing policies and practices that support women at BD, and our more than 70,000 associates around the world.