Swarovski has officially marked International Women’s Day for the past 5 years and, in 2018, it launched ‘The Future is Equal’ – a global campaign focused on equality. The initiative aims to champion gender equality by encouraging people to come together to accelerate change for a fair and equal world. The campaign reflects Swarovski’s commitment to the empowerment of women, both within the Swarovski business operations and in wider global communities through the efforts of the Swarovski Waterschool and Swarovski Foundation.

This is the third year of ‘The Future is Equal’ initiative. In 2018, 2,680 Swarovski employees took part in activities across 42 Swarovski sites around the world, and in 2019, 3380 employees were involved across 50 global locations. This International Women’s Day, Swarovski aims to expand awareness around gender equality, combat bias within business and raise awareness and charitable donations for its Swarovski Foundation partners Women for Women International and mothers2mothers.

Swarovski and Gender

With a workforce comprised of 77% women, Swarovski is well-placed to champion gender equality. As part of its wider commitment to sustainability and Conscious Luxury, Women’s Empowerment is a focus throughout the business. Swarovski believes that enabling women to fulfil their potential is not only good for business, but also has a positive impact on society. According to the latest World Economic Forum research, gender parity has a fundamental bearing on whether economies and societies thrive. Despite improvements over the last few years, gender parity will still not be attained for 99.5 years. Swarovski believes that equality is everyone’s business and that advancing gender equality is a global challenge, which requires support from all sides to spark positive change.

Women in the Jewelry Supply Chain

In 2018 Swarovski first partnered with Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help understand and inspire industry-wide action to address the barriers women face in the jewelry supply chain, the outcome was the first multi-stakeholder exploration and report publication on the topic. Throughout 2019 Swarovski expanded its commitment to empowering women in its supplier bases by joining BSR’s HERproject and has conducted projects in its supply chain focused on understanding how workplace health can unlock women’s full potential.

Unconscious Bias Training

Swarovski acknowledges that an understanding of bias is essential to substantially address workplace and societal inequalities, therefore, as part of this year’s ‘The Future is Equal’ campaign Swarovski is inviting employees across the world to participate in an eLearning program hosted by pioneering external partner The NeuroLeadership Institute. Swarovski has a commitment to train 500 colleagues by the end of 2020 and has a greater ambition to reach 2000 by the end of 2023.

Swarovski Foundation

The Swarovski Foundation has been supporting female empowerment initiatives and advocating for gender equality on a global scale, since its inception in 2013. The Swarovski Foundation has supported 848 female survivors of war in Nigeria to rebuild their lives through the Women for Women International’s empowerment program, which educates women about their rights and teaches them critical life skills and business skills. In 2018-2019 the Swarovski Foundation focused its support on mothers2mothers’ efforts in Kenya, helping to provide essential health education and training to five Mentor Mothers who work with their local communities to prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child. 

For the past two years, a partnership with Street Business School helped provide highly specialized entrepreneurial training for women living in deep poverty. Through a signature combination of business skills training and confidence building, Street Business School enables women to create and sustain their own micro-businesses, allowing them to triple their incomes.  

Nadja Swarovski, Member of the Swarovski Executive Board, commented: “This International Women’s Day, as we mark our company’s 125th anniversary, we are proud to celebrate the spirit of all those who have helped to spark change for equality throughout history. Today we are delighted to expand our strong commitments to diversity and inclusion with our support for exciting new initiatives inside our business and beyond. Thank you for joining us as we spread this message of hope, to tell the world that #TheFutureIsEqual.”

#TheFutureIsEqual

#PositiveChange

#SparkChange

Discover more: https://www.swarovskigroup.com/S/aboutus/future_is_equal.en.html

For more information, please contact:

Myriam Coudoux

myriam.coudoux@swarovski.com

Rawnie Whittow-Williams

rawnie.whittow-williams@swarovski.com

Sustainability at Swarovski

Swarovski has a 125-year heritage of responsibility – we think in generations, not quarters. We are committed to Conscious Luxury, a new way of doing business that respects people and nature to produce goods of the finest quality, responsibly sourced and crafted with care. We aim to be a leader in sustainability, performing in greener and fairer ways to ensure we create a positive impact in society and thrive long into the future.

Our priorities are:

• Water Stewardship – managing local water challenges around our production sites.

• Women’s Empowerment – championing gender equality across the business.

• Fair Partnerships – treating our workforce, our suppliers and their communities well.

• Conscious Design – using responsible materials and promoting responsible fashion.

• Sustainable Innovation – pursuing new uses and applications for our crystals in ways that support people and planet.

We align our efforts with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, commit to the UN Global Compact and the Women’s Empowerment Principles, and are signatories of the World Economic Forum’s Compact for Responsive and Responsible Leadership.

Sparking delight since 1895

Swarovski creates a more sparkling world and delivers a diverse portfolio of unmatched quality, craftsmanship, and creativity. Founded in 1895 in Austria, the company designs, manufactures and sells the world’s highest quality crystal, genuine gemstones, Swarovski Created Diamonds and zirconia, finished products such as jewelry and accessories, as well as interior design and lighting solutions. Now celebrating its 125th anniversary and run by the fifth generation of family members, the Swarovski Crystal Business has a global reach with approximately 3,000 stores in around 170 countries, more than 29,000 employees, and revenue of about 2.7 billion euros in 2018. Together with its sister companies Swarovski Optik (optical devices) and Tyrolit (abrasives), Swarovski Crystal Business forms the Swarovski Group. In 2018, the Group generated revenue of about 3.5 billion euros and employed more than 34,500 people. In 2019, Swarovski UK Limited received a Royal Warrant as manufacturer and supplier of crystals to HRH Queen Elizabeth II. A responsible relationship with people and the planet has always been an integral part of Swarovski’s heritage, and is embedded today in the company’s well-established sustainability agenda. In addition, the global Swarovski Waterschool education program has reached 500,000 children on the world’s greatest rivers. The Swarovski Foundation was set up in 2013 to honor the philanthropic spirit of company founder Daniel Swarovski, and works to support culture and creativity, promote human empowerment and conserve natural resources to achieve positive social impact.

www.swarovskigroup.com

Swarovski

Swarovski

Swarovski delivers a diverse portfolio of unmatched quality, craftsmanship, and creativity. Founded in 1895 in Austria, Swarovski designs, manufactures and markets high-quality crystals, genuine gemstones and created stones as well as finished products such as jewelry, accessories and lighting. Now run by the fifth generation of family members, Swarovski Crystal Business has a global reach with approximately 2,560 stores in around 170 countries, more than 25,000 employees, and revenue of about 2.33 billion euros in 2014. Together with its sister companies Swarovski Optik (optical devices) and Tyrolit (abrasives), Swarovski Crystal Business forms the Swarovski Group. In 2014, the Group generated revenue of about 3.05 billion euros and employed more than 30,000 people. A responsible relationship with people and the planet is an integral part of Swarovski’s heritage. The global Swarovski Waterschool education programme has reached 257,000 children on the world’s greatest rivers, and the Swarovski Foundation incorporated in 2013, works to support culture and creativity, promote wellbeing, and conserve natural resources to achieve positive social impact.

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