"Equality between men and women is not only a human right, but also the basis for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world," as stated by the United Nations (UN). With Sustainable Development Goal 5 Gender Equality, one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN strives for gender equality and empowerment of women and girls. Within Johnson & Johnson, the Women's Leadership & Inclusion (WLI) team is committed to SDG 5 by creating an inclusive organization in which each individual, regardless of gender, gets equivalent opportunities to grow on a personal and professional level.

Patricia Verbessem (Business Process Optimization Lead, WLI Co-Lead) and Elise Hovingh (Project Lead; Diversity, Equityq & Inclusion Lead NL) of WLI Belgium and the Netherlands talk about the goals they are committed to with WLI and their efforts to achieve them./p>

The Women’s Leadership & Inclusion team

With the Women's Leadership & Inclusion team several colleagues strive to facilitate a more gender equal work environment. They offer programs and organize networking events to hand women the opportunity to build successful careers. The Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association Ambassador’s program, a 1-year self-directed leadership program open to everyone, is an example of such a program. In addition, they want to foster an inclusive mindset so that every colleague can see the added value of, and actively contributes to, a gender-diverse work environment where everyone feels right at home.

Inclusive Leadership Week

The WLI team can look back on a successful virtual edition of the "Inclusive Leadership Week", around the theme of International Women’s Day ‘Choose to challenge’, with inspiring sessions and workshops about female leadership. The reinforcing impact of the pandemic on the traditional role division, in which women often spend more time on caring tasks, was also discussed. Now more than ever, a flexible and empathetic home/work environment is important. Did you know that Janssen has a unique flexible parental leave policy in which both parents can spend more time with their newborn child, whenever they want to? Given that this arrangement also applies to the partner, the position of women is further improved. After all, child care is better divided between both parents.

WLI's commitment to external initiatives

The team wants to achieve more than gender equality within the organization and is therefore involved in many external initiatives in Belgium and the Netherlands, that nicely fit the global J&J WiSTEM2D (Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, Manufacturing and Design) goals.

In Belgium, they launched the collective 'Da’s geniaal' in collaboration with other companies, to stir interest for STEM studies and careers especially with young girls.

In the Netherlands, they organized Girls Day to introduce girls to beta topics, such as technology and IT. WLI Netherlands is the main sponsor of the TOPX summit, a program by and for ambitious women in the life science sector that will take place in Leiden in September.

Other sustainability initiatives

The Womens’ Leadership & Inclusion Team’s activities are only few of J&J’s sustainability initiatives. Curious to find out more about other initiatives? Discover more about how we are committed to the other Sustainable Development Goals!

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EM-63419 - (25-May-2021)