Would You Buy a Gender Equality Label

Would You Buy a Gender Equality Label Recently, LOreal USA became thefirstAmerican company to achieve anEDGE(Economic Dividends for Gender Equality) Foundation certification.Never heard of the EDGE Foundation? Founded in 2009 and based in Geneva, EDGE is a non-profit thatsestablished a certification process and standard for companies that wish to demonstrate their commitment to gender equality. There are only 6 companies (technically,all regional subsidiaries) who have achievedan EDGE certification Deloitte Switzerland IKEA Switzerland CEPD Poland Compartamos Banco Mexico Lombard Odier Switzerland and LOreal USA.EDGE says it evaluates companies across 5 differentareasEqual payRecruitment and promotionLeadership development, training and mentorshipFlexible workingCompany cultureThere are 3 possible levels of an EDGE certification, defined as followsLevel 1An organization, service or product meets standards for gender equality it sets for itselfLevel 2Same as above except the standards are set by peers (e.g. a trade association)Level 3 (Certification)An independent assessment shows that the organization, product or service meets standards that have been established by impartial experts, often in consultation with stakeholders. A certificate is issued to prove that the standard has been metMost commentary aboutEDGE certification has been skeptical. And indeed, its hard to know whatthe certification meansbecause there appears to be little in the way of either in-depth qualitative and quantitative definition of the criteria involved, nor disclosure requirements by the companies that are certified.Still, as an effort to try to highlight companies treatment of women and gender balance and identify the good guys,Fairygodbossissympathetic to EDGE and hopes it eventuallybecomes a more meaningful certification. EDGE hasbeenFair Tradecertification for consumer products. In terms of parallels, these two certifications also took some time to get off the ground, became better defined and improved adoptionafter a lot of initial critique and debate.