Pennon : recognised in global gender equality report

Pennon Group has been recognised as a global leader on gender equality, in a report published this week.

For the second year running, the company has been named in the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI) - a report that recognises the performance of public companies committed to disclosing their efforts to support gender equality through policy development, representation and transparency.

The report revealed Pennon Group achieved an overall score of 60%, beating its previous score of 51% last year.

The index measures gender equality across five key areas - female leadership and talent pipeline, equal pay and gender pay parity, inclusive culture, sexual harassment policies, pro-women brand - and monitors disclosure.

The report showed Pennon Group performed particularly strongly on gender pay (87%) and disclosure (89%).

Susan Davy, Pennon Group Chief Executive, said: 'Responsible businesses today have an important role to play in promoting social mobility and addressing inequality.

'We are passionate about championing diversity, as one of only three FTSE 100 business to have a female Chair and CEO, and with a lower than average Gender Pay Gap.

'We are also the first water company to become a signatory of the Change the Race Ratio, helping society to advance ethnic diversity at all levels, and from all backgrounds.'

This year, Bloomberg expanded the eligibility for inclusion in the index to more than 11,700 global companies. 380 companies headquartered across 44 countries and regions are included in the 2021 GEI.

Pennon Group is the parent company of South West Water, Bournemouth Water and Pennon Water Services. It will be publishing its 2021 Gender Pay Gap Report in March.