Gap Inc: empowering women with education

To continue on the workplace diversity subject, I'd like to tell you about an outstanding CSR program carried out by Gap Inc. It's called Personal Advancement and Career Enhancement or P.A.C.E.

This program was born out of Gap's recognition of the central role women play in the company's global workforce as well as in their communities. Rightly so. Women represent 70% of Gap's workforce and over 60% of its customers. Over 80% of Gap clothes are made by women. It is widely-known that workforce empowerment reflects directly onto the overall well-being of a company. Gap set out to fulfill its commitment to empower the predominantly female workforce by helping women advance in work and life through education assuming it is the key factor in changing a woman's life. As Bobbi Silten of Gap Foundation put it so well, "What separates us is not our ambitions, but our opportunities."

The program piloted in 2007 in India's regions of Bangalore and Faridabad and targeted female garment workers employed in Gap Inc. contracted vendor factories. About 280 women have already received training on topics such as problem solving, communications, decision-making, time management, health, gender, legal literacy and government entitlements. 400 more women are enrolled in the next round of training. The program is about to expand in Cambodia as well.

To help you fully appreciate this program, I'll underline the main drivers of success:

1. Women have to "own" their own success. The trainees aspired to advance through education. Learning improved their self-esteem and confidence and made them more productive both at work and in their family/community.

2. Engagement by factory management is key. Factory management and supervisors - mostly men - were oriented on the program because their support was critical to the overall success of the program.

3. Each location needs to be customized. Although more costly and challenging, this approach is also more effective.

4. Curriculum should be customized and taught by local NGOs.
The training was designed and delivered through partnerships with international (International Center for Research on Women) and local NGOs and vendors.

5. Strong partnerships and high degree of accountability is key. Local vendors provided access to women in need of education.

6. Using company's assets ensures sustainability. Strategic leveraging of specific company's assets for this program enabled a model of sustainability rather than charity. This increased the program's resilience in hard economic times.