More than 100 companies including some of the biggest corporate names in Massachusetts have signed on to participate in the Corporate Challenge, a groundbreaking effort by Governor Deval Patrick and Bentley University's Center for Women and Business in which companies pledge to strengthen their gender inclusiveness efforts and better harness the talents of their women employees. The joint initiative offers companies the resources of the Center for Women and Business to assess gender diversity in their workplace, recruit women to senior positions and close any wage gap a company may discover.
The Corporate Challenge program is a cornerstone of the action agenda developed by the Successful Women, Successful Families Task Force, which Governor Patrick created. Chaired by the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Rachel Kaprielian, the Task Force was charged with addressing four challenges in creating equal opportunities for all individuals to be able to participate in both public and private sector workplaces, including eliminating the wage gap, advancing low income families, incentivizing family supportive policies and opening up leadership opportunities for women.
PwC, Raytheon, State Street, EMC, Suffolk Construction, The Boston Globe and many other high-profile companies have joined the Corporate Challenge. Participating companies commit to define their gender-inclusiveness goals, develop strategies to meet those goals and track their progress. The Corporate Challenge, among the first of its kind in the nation, seeks to increase workplace gender equality and more effectively harness the talents of women employees. The full list of participating companies is here.
On Tuesday, December 16, Governor Deval Patrick; Rachel Kaprielian, Labor and Workforce Development Secretary; and Bentley’s Center for Women and Business joined Bentley University President Gloria Larson to announce and celebrate the participation of the 106 companies that have, so far, signed on for the Corporate Challenge. Robert K. Coughlin, President & CEO of MassBio and Susan Windham-Bannister, Ph.D., President & CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), also spoke as part of the program.