Accenture pledges to achieve 50-50 gender balance in its workforce

Professional services firm Accenture pledged on Wednesday to achieve a 50-50 gender balance in the workforce by 2025.

The company is on track to meet that goal, with 150,000 women making up about 40% of its workforce. It had set out to reach that percentage by the end of 2017, but hit it a year early.

“We embrace diversity as a source of creativity and competitive advantage,” says Ellyn Shook, chief leadership and human resources officer at Accenture. “As we work toward ‘50 by 25,’ our ultimate goal is to create a truly human environment where people have a real sense of belonging, where they can show up every day, be who they are and be their best, both professionally and personally.”

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Beyond overall gender equality, Accenture aims to grow the percentage of female managing directors to 25% by 2020.

So far, the company has promoted the largest percentage of women (30%) to managing director level in 2016 and launched initiatives to provide women with in-demand skills in order to remain competitive, according to Accenture.

Earlier this year, Accenture released a detailed breakdown of its workforce demographics — the first major professional services firm to do so — as a means to address diversity.

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