Around International Women’s Day, companies often talk about how they are going to make a difference in their commitment to gender diversity and equality.
As Canada’s largest software company, Waterloo-based OpenText has gone beyond talk to become a tech sector leader in diversity, with women making up 30 per cent of its workforce and occupying three of nine board seats.
Still, Mark Barrenechea, the company’s President and CEO, knows there is always room for improvement.
“There is an imbalance in gender diversity within the technology industry,” Barrenechea said. “OpenText is committed to providing leadership on this important issue.”
To begin, OpenText is launching internal and external campaigns that it hopes will inspire staff members and other tech companies in Waterloo Region to support all staff and create a higher diversity standard.
Internally, it has joined Catalyst, a global research centre that works to support and expand opportunities for women. All OpenText employees will be a part of Catalyst and have access to conferences, research papers and other data. OpenText has also signed the Catalyst Accord – a pledge for companies to increase the percentage of women on boards of directors to 25 per cent by 2017.
Externally, OpenText has launched a video campaign that is an open letter to celebrate the achievements of women in tech globally.
“We are committed to creating the initiatives that will enable us to lead by example and help define a higher standard for workplace diversity,” Barrenechea said.
Follow the International Women’s Day hashtag on Twitter at #IWD2015 to see how other companies around the world are celebrating women in business.
