Nielsen is proud to be included in the 2020 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI), which tracks the financial performance of public companies committed to supporting gender equality through policy development, representation, and transparency. This is the second consecutive year that Nielsen has been included in the index.

The GEI was expanded in 2020 to  include 325 companies (up from 230) from 42 countries and regions across 50 industries. This year, 6,000 companies across 84 countries and regions from industries as diverse as market research, banking, consumer services, engineering, and retail were eligible for inclusion in the index. To be included, the reference index measures gender equality across five pillars: female leadership and talent pipeline, equal pay and gender pay parity, inclusive culture, sexual harassment policies, and a pro-women brand. 

“Being part of the 2020 GEI shows what Nielsen is doing to promote gender equality is woven into the fabric of our company strategy and talent policies,” said Sandra Sims-Williams, Nielsen’s Senior Vice President, Diversity and Inclusion. “It shows our commitment to transparency and leadership in gender-related reporting, an important first step in supporting global gender equality.”

Diversity and inclusion are essential to everything we do and we measure our representation on an ongoing basis. As of November 2019, our U.S. workforce was 49% female as well as 38% racially and ethnically diverse. If we look at this metric by level, women fill over 40% of senior leadership roles, a 2% increase from January 2019. Our aim is to get this number to 46%, which was the reason chief executive officer, David Kenny signed the LEAD pledge to increase our representation by 7% in two years.