As the World marks the 2023 International Women’s Day (IWD) with the theme, ‘Embrace Equity,’ today, British American Tobacco (BAT) in West and Central Africa said it is aiming at ensuring that the proportion of women in leadership and management in the company is enhanced.

The company said the theme of the 2023 celebration is a call to action for accelerating women's opportunities and promoting equity to forge harmony, unity, and help drive success for all.

British American Tobacco in West and Central Africa recognizes that its employees are all unique and have different needs, experiences, and opportunities, and through equity, everyone has access to the same opportunities.

Embracing equity provides an excellent opportunity to celebrate British American Tobacco’s (BAT)’s diverse and inclusive culture which shows the company’s commitment to gender diversity.
The company said in a statement that “it is proud of its diversity and inclusion agenda, remarkably, we were globally awarded the Brandon Hall excellence award for best diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy, recognized in the 2023 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index inclusion for demonstrating commitment to addressing gender diversity and transparent reporting.

“The BAT of tomorrow will be a high growth, consumer goods company, with sustainability and diversity at our core. To further help accelerate the pace of progress, we have set bold ambitions, increase the proportion of women in senior leadership teams to 40 per cent, increase the proportion of women in management roles to 45 per cent, and achieve at least a spread of 50 per cent nationalities within all key leadership teams.

“This accelerated focus on diversity is crucial in creating a dynamic and inspiring workplace that will propel BAT into the future and create A Better Tomorrow™ for all our stakeholders. In building A Better Tomorrow™ we understand and are committed to fostering a gender equal-equity workforce which is evident in the independent accreditation from Fair Pay Workplace (FPW) for equitable pay practices”, the statement adds.
In her remark, Odiri-Erewa-Meggison, the External Affairs Director, West and Central Africa, said, ”Identifying the unique skills set and capabilities, perspectives, ideas, and background of our employees, empowers them and creates an inclusive culture that unites us as ONE and makes BAT a great place to work. And at BAT we create an inclusive workplace that acknowledges the unique contributions of women to the organization”.

Sergio Berlanga, the Human Resource Director, also remarked “As we aim to transform our business, we need to challenge the status quo and drive innovation. This means becoming better at attracting and retaining an increasingly diverse set of capabilities, welcoming a more inclusive working environment, and striving for even greater gender balance.”

This year, employees of BAT in West and Central Africa marked the day with the theme #Embrace Equity and a call to action for accelerating women’s equality in the workplace and society at large. Hosting a series of activities and open forum conversations, calling for change, and leading the way in bringing about change for an equitable environment where everyone can thrive. Equality is the goal, equity is the means to get there, through the process of equity, we can reach equality.

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