RLC, SMIC first Philippine firms included in Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index

MANILA, Philippines — Gokongwei-owned Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) and the Sy family’s SM Investments Corp. made it to the 2020 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI), marking the first time that Filipino companies were recognized in the reference index that started in 2016.

The Bloomberg index is a barometer for companies around the world to publicly demonstrate commitment to gender equality and gender-equal workplaces.

RLC was included in this year’s index for scoring at or above global threshold established by Bloomberg to reflect high level of disclosure and over-all performance across the frameworks’ five pillars: female leadership and talent pipeline; equal pay and gender pay parity, inclusive culture, sexual harassment policies and pro-women brand.

RLC, in particular, scored high in equal representation in the workplace. The company’s ratio of men to women in leadership positions is 50:50, while seven in 11 employees are women.

The overall GEI average in this category is 48.06 percent.

“By being part of GEI, RLC is recognized among top companies around the globe employing best-in-class policies and benefits to support gender equality,” RLC said.

The GEI is the world’s only comprehensive investment-quality data source on gender equality.

This puts RLC in the top five percent of the 6,000 shortlisted global companies. In comparison, only 230 businesses made it to the 2019 GEI report, RLC said.

SMIC president and chief executive officer Frederic DyBuncio welcomed the inaugural inclusion of SMIC in the index.