Unilever Reaches Gender Balance Across Management Team of 14,000

(Bloomberg) -- Unilever, the maker of Dove soap and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, said it has reached gender balance across its global management ranks a year ahead of the company’s target.

Half of the Anglo-Dutch company’s 14,000 managers are now female, the company said in a statement Tuesday, up from 38% in 2010. That includes 50% of the finance department, an area where women have historically been underrepresented. About half of Unilever’s board is also female.

“Women constitute the majority of our consumers and we owe a lot of our success to them,” said Leena Nair, Unilever’s head of human resources.

Chief Executive Officer Alan Jope is seeking to build on his predecessor Paul Polman’s championing of worthy causes, moving to include a social purpose behind more of the company’s brands.

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