Having surpassed the target of 10,000 beneficiaries since its commitment in June 2019, MAS doubled its commitment to reach 20,000 beneficiaries by the original 2021 timeline.
The company formalized their new commitment at the virtual parallel event of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly co-hosted by the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) and the Universal Access Project of the UN Foundation (UNF).
MAS Holdings was one of 11 trailblazing global companies that committed to improving the health and wellbeing of its workers and community members around the world in 2019 through the UNF’s Universal Access Project and its Private Sector Action for Women’s Health and Empowerment Initiative.
The company outlined bold, measurable and time-bound plans to empower its employees through highly focused programmes anchored to its globally acclaimed hallmark women’s empowerment platform, ‘Women Go Beyond’ (WGB) in alignment with SDGs 3 and 5, among others.
With women making up 70% of the company’s 99,000 global workforce, MAS identified a fundamental requirement to support and empower its female employees early in its operation.
Stand-alone initiatives that helped women, soon started showing results and began to scale into larger, long-term programmes.
“We are proud to announce the expansion of our commitment to the UNF’s Universal Access Project and its Private Sector Action for Women’s Health and Empowerment.,” Deputy General Manager of Women’s Empowerment, Advocacy and Code of Conduct, Thanuja Jayawardene said during the virtual event.
“Gender equality is a core value for us as an organization and we have an expansive framework to drive this agenda, focusing on economic, social and personal empowerment.
We see health, wellbeing and freedom from gender-based violence as basic requirements, to developing female leaders for our businesses and our communities.
This is a journey and we have a long way to go, implementing meaningful change.”
As MAS Holdings fast adapts and recovers in a post-COVID landscape, it lies tethered to its founding value of first and foremost being responsible for the safety, health and wellbeing of its employees.
While the company adjusts to the new normal, it remains optimistic of achieving its new targets despite the obstacles and global industry turmoil, taking sustainable action to educate, encourage, empower and celebrate its women.