Community
Published: April 17, 2020
Community
Published: April 17, 2020

Paying Tribute to Our EMEA Women

Even in these uncertain times, being a team, even through remote working, remains just as important. It will, therefore, not come as a shock to anyone that our teams in EMEA once again did us #PPGProud in their support of International Women’s Day (IWD). Even though these activities were significantly limited or performed online to keep everyone safe, EMEA Women’s Leadership Council (WLC) found a way to pay tribute to all our female colleagues.

All the efforts were connected with this year’s topic #EachforEqual to drive much-needed awareness about diversity, equality and recognition for our female colleagues.

International Women’s Day? This Time It’s Personal!

Our colleagues in Spain decided to motivate female colleagues and inspire them with interesting stories. Therefore, they shared information about significant women in history and a presentation about important female role models.

A surprise was waiting for colleagues at our site in Athens, Greece – eight parking spaces, each with good lighting, are now dedicated to female members of staff on a rotating allocation basis. Ladies were also gifted with initialed key rings and cookies bearing the #IWD2020 hashtag.

Despite the difficult situation we are all currently facing, at PPG, we embrace the idea of looking into the future from a positive prospect.

Purple was the color of the day at our sites in the UK as teams in Birstall, Shildon, Stowmarket, Birmingham, Runcorn, Scarborough, and Southampton decorated common areas with official #InternationalWomensDay balloons and banners and distributed #IWD2020 pens and pin badges. The decorating center network also got involved, and staff were encouraged to wear purple and asked to make pledges to diversity, taking selfies with their statements.

Teams decided to raise equality awareness through quizzes, cupcake sales and the promotion of TED talks focused on successful female leaders. At our site in Runcorn, colleagues decided to even create a new lending library consisting of inspirational books for career and personal development.

The Shildon site also organized a small networking lunch for site managers, hosted by Susan Clarkson, finance transformation director EMEA and WLC Steering Committee member, to raise awareness of the great work the WLC do in Europe, and especially in the UK.

We all came away having learned something new and generated some good initiatives to help our cause locally and at EMEA level.
Susan Clarkson

Inspiring the Mind and Refreshing the Body

Empowerment was the theme at our Polish sites. They launched crossbooking shelves and lending libraries containing inspiring, developmental and leadership books, and distributed bookmarks bearing renowned scientist Marie Curie-Sklodowska quotes. Our Polish team also emailed International Women’s Day wishes to all colleagues together with the Nobel lecture of Olga Tokarczuk (Literature Nobel Prize winner 2018).

Our female colleagues in Switzerland (Rolle) and across Germany received dried lavender and a DIY tutorial for how to make bath salts, the perfect way to unwind after a long day, with the dried lavender as the first ingredient for the DIY salts.

In Turkey, women got scented candles with pictures of the iconic painter and feminist Frida Kahlo on them. While each of the women at our Casaletto site in Italy received a small flower from the Aerospace leadership team.

The Czech WLC chapter sent emails to all employees with inspirational career stories about their female colleagues published on PPG People. Over in France, the Marly, Saultain, Gonfreville, and Ruitz sites’ WLC team distributed an online quiz focused on diversity.

Challenging Stereotypes and Recognizing Achievement

#EachforEqual is the official IWD theme this year and is about collective individualism; how our individual actions and mindset can have an impact on our larger society. Collectively, we can each help to create a gender-equal world.

At this time of the Coronavirus crisis, it’s great to remind ourselves of the power of teamwork and additional efforts many our colleagues selflessly make.

By supporting IWD at PPG, we are choosing to challenge stereotypes, improve situations, and celebrate women's achievements. Every day, and in every way, we’re all #PPGProud to be doing so.

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