Parity.Org Celebrates Fifth Year Anniversary, Progress Towards Parity in Corporate Leadership
In five years, nonprofit Parity.Org has helped hundreds of companies worldwide measurably increase diversity on their leadership teams
Today Parity.Org celebrates its fifth anniversary, marking progress toward its mission of increasing the number of women and people of color in corporate leadership. Cathrin Stickney founded Parity.Org in 2017 to address the stark reality of gender imbalance on executive teams and boards, and has since expanded the mission to include representation of people of color. In addition to the ParityPLEDGE®, Parity.Org helps companies make measurable progress toward their DEI goals through practical and evidence-based tools like the ParityMODEL™ and ParityINDEX®.
Over the last five years, roughly 600 corporate partners across six continents have taken the ParityPLEDGE, a public commitment to interview at least one qualified woman and/or person of color for open leadership positions, including the VP level, C-suite, and Board. In a recent survey of companies that had signed the ParityPLEDGE for Women 12-18 months prior, Parity.Org found that 80% of companies had added and retained at least one woman on their executive team, while more than a quarter had achieved full gender parity on the executive team. Companies that had taken the newer ParityPLEDGE for People of Color reported that they had since increased the number of people of color on their Boards by 41% and the number of people of color in the C-Suite by 72%, three times the rate of their white counterparts.
“When we founded Parity.Org five years ago, we had no way of knowing that a global pandemic would soon create even greater headwinds, particularly for women who have lost far more jobs, often due to lack of childcare, than their male counterparts,” said Cathrin Stickney, Parity.Org founder and CEO. “It’s been all the more gratifying to see the dramatic progress our corporate partners have made during such a challenging period of time–and it’s only accelerating. By 2027, we expect to have at least tripled our number of corporate partners and that, thanks to our ParityINDEX, they will be identifying hidden patterns and opportunities that move the needle faster than ever.”
In celebration of its 5th anniversary, Parity.Org released a video series featuring executives from Best Buy Co. Inc., Domo, Evolent Health, Overstock, and Ralph Lauren Corporation, some of Parity.Org’s founding partners, discussing the DEI progress they have made over the past five years. In the series, Stickney speaks with leaders from the companies about their proudest achievements and their advice to other companies hoping to reach parity. Watch the full series at https://parity.org/media/ and find out more about Parity.Org at https://parity.org/
Parity.Org is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to increasing representation of women and people of color in corporate leadership, where the gap is the widest. We take a pragmatic and research-based approach, offering a range of proven best practices and industry-leading tools for not only reaching—but sustaining—parity in leadership. Learn more at Parity.Org and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.
Parity.Org®, the ParityPLEDGE®, the ParityMODEL™, the ParityINDEX®, and the ParityLIST™ are trademarks of Parity.Org.
