SM inks partnership with UN Women’s Empowerment Principles

MANILA, Philippines — SM marked a milestone for the National Women’s Month as the company signed the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) during the launch of its Women at Work pop-up market recently at SM Aura Premier.

Co-signatories of the WEPS were SM Prime Holdings Inc. and SM Supermalls, The SM Store and SM Retail Inc.

“Following the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles, SM furthers its commitment to championing a gender-inclusive workplace. SM encourages women to grow to their fullest potential and provide opportunities to excel and be recognized,” said SM Supermalls president Steven Tan.

Established by UN Global Compact and UN Women, the WEPs are a set of principles offering guidance to private organizations on how to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace, and community. By signing the WEPs, SM showed its commitment to the gender equality dimensions of the 2030 agenda and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Known as a staunch supporter of gender equality in the workforce, SM is an organization comprised of 99,727 or 63 percent women as of December 2019. More interestingly, 59 percent are in senior management positions while 65 percent are in middle management. Covered companies are SM Investment Corp., SM Retail, SM Prime, BDO, China Bank, 2GO, Atlas Mining and BThe signing of the partnership agreement with the UN Women further strengthened their commitment to promote women empowerment in the workforce.