Ralph Lauren Corp. has unveiled a new roadmap for the fashion industry to make progress in achieving gender parity.
The American fashion company teamed up with nonprofit Parity.org, along with Tommy Hilfiger parent PVH Corp., Lacoste, Tiffany & Co. and Movado Group Inc., to create the guide, which is outlined in a paper titled “Unlocking Gender Parity in Fashion.” It offers step-by-step methods to helping secure pay equality at all levels of its peers’ organizations.
“Across the industry, we recognize that we need to make discernible progress on diversity, equality and inclusion,” Ralph Lauren chief people officer Roseann Lynch said in a statement. “By coming together to develop a consistent method and approach to achieving gender parity and greater diversity, we can move further faster.”
She added, “This roadmap represents a significant milestone for our industry, and we look forward to continuing to engage in meaningful dialogue with our peers as it is embraced and implemented across companies.”
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Last year, Ralph Lauren and Parity.org hosted an open discussion among top fashion houses and retail leaders about the barriers to gender parity. Together, they developed the roadmap, which is divided into five areas and is designed to help companies of any size, regardless of budget or resources.
According to the model, businesses must: make a visible commitment; come up with an executive recruitment strategy; keep in mind “executive preparedness” to ensure high-potential employees are ready for leadership roles; establish policies and benefits to improve work-life balance; and implement equal pay.
In the statement, Parity.org founder and CEO Cathrin Stickney said, “We are excited to partner with the fashion industry, which inspires and employs so many women overall but is lacking meaningful representation at the top. The companies that joined us are leaders in recognizing the need to address this proactively as an industry, and I know that, together with this roadmap, they will bring the kind of progress that their employees need and consumers increasingly expect.”
