GEEIS and Arborus award Sodexo’s gender equality initiative “Fairy Godmother” in Brazil with 2022 GEEIS-SDG trophy
During the Europa Experience event held on November 21, 2022, in France, Gender Equality for European & International Standard (GEEIS) recognized Sodexo with the GEEIS-SDG Trophy for its “Fairy Godmother” gender equality initiative led in Brazil.
This project supports women who have suffered or are suffering from gender-based violence by creating a safe space to support female colleagues in need. The volunteer employees known as “fairies” are trained to provide psychological and legal support to their female colleagues. The program has already helped more than 100 women and saved 5 from imminent risk.
GEEIS, an internationally recognized label for gender equality and inclusion, worked with Arborus, an international non-profit organization, to create the GEEIS-SDG Trophy. Arborus aims to demonstrate that equality is the central pillar of all other actions that support sustainable development and highlight the role business has on Sustainable Development Goals. GEEIS-SDG is in line with Goal 5 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which promotes equality between women and men. To date, 15 international companies have received GEEIS certification, representing 200 legal entities worldwide and 37 countries covered by the label.
Sodexo would like to congratulate Carrefour, Danone, Inditex, Keolis, and L’Oreal who have also been recognized alongside Sodexo for their commitment to equality and their positive contribution to communities everywhere.
Sodexo is a GEEIS-certified company, a member of the Arborus Foundation, and a signatory of the international conventions of the Global Compact and Women’s Empowerment Principles. In previous years, Sodexo received a GEEIS-SDG trophy in 2019 for an initiative in Brazil with the Paraisópolis Project in Sao Paolo. Other efforts towards gender equality in Sodexo Group, France, India, Belgium, the United Arab Emirates were also certified by GEEIS.
About Arborus Fund
The Arborus Endowment Fund was born on the initiative of the association Arborus and major international companies, on April 8, 2010, under the patronage of the European Economic and Social Council. Its action is directed towards the promotion of equality between women and men in the world through the dissemination of a European and global standard, the GEEIS: Gender Equality European & International Standard. In order to meet the requirements of this growing internationalization, the Arborus Fund has opened the GEEIS Diversity Standard in 2017. The benchmark will propose, from January 2019, a labeling criterion for the prevention and treatment of issues relating to violence against women. This certification is implemented with the world leader in certification, Bureau Veritas Certification. The association Arborus was created in 1995 by Cristina Lunghi. A pioneer in the field of equality between women and men, she founded the Egalité en France label which she developed for the Ministry of Equality and Parity. It promotes and develops through the Club Arborus companies accredited in France.
About the GEEIS
The GEEIS and GEEIS-DIVERSITY labels are aimed at all European and international groups wishing to participate in building a more equitable society based on gender equality and diversity. The repository has been designed for any type of business regardless of size, configuration and activity, in any country and on any continent. To obtain the GEEIS and GEEIS-DIVERSITY, the group must set up piloting, training and communication tools to aim for equal opportunities. The labels are issued after an on-site audit and a desk study. The certifying body measures the level of resources deployed and ensures the proper deployment of the HR policy in terms of gender equality and diversity at the parent company and in the group subsidiaries that are concerned.