Embracing Equity with Women In Intertek (WIN) South Asia

IWD 2023 flagged off the journey toward a diverse and inclusive future for Intertek SA by bringing together the Women In Intertek

 International Women's Day this year marked the launch of a unique regional programme that will bring together the incredible women of Intertek South Asia on a single shared platform. WIN, an abbreviation for Women In Intertek, is designed to drive the diversity and equity agenda in the region as well as help create a stronger, more inclusive employee community.

IWD was celebrated with some activities across our many sites, with employees dressing up in the colours of diversity and showing their support for the day’s theme by taking up the #EmbraceEquity stance. Colleagues engaged in active conversations around the theme, exchanging ideas, inspirations, and experiences.

Women supporting women has been a key theme for the celebratory programmes in South Asia this year. In the weeks running up to International Women’s Day, we sought out sisterhood stories from our female colleagues, hoping to find out how women interact and encourage equity among their own ranks or collectives by building support for each other. South Asia’s women in Intertek shared many powerful instances of women supporting women from their own lives, depicting strong female figures in the roles of mother, mentor, daughter, teacher, supervisor, sister, sister-in-law, mother-in-law, friend, colleague, and caregiver.

During a regionwide virtual programme organised for India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Mauritius on the occasion of IWD 2023, some of these shared experiences of sisterhood and support took the spotlight, bringing to life the spirit of women who rise by lifting others.

From employees who juggled a demanding career and a degree programme simultaneously alongside the responsibilities of new motherhood, to employees who found their support system within their female mentors and co-workers at Intertek, these stories both inspired and moved the audience. Many of them could relate to these experiences, as they too had walked a similar path and charted their own course of progress, the hard way, in their pursuit of equity.

As the regional leadership launched WIN in India, they also spoke about the programme’s purpose of empowering women in the organization (and beyond!) and helping drive Intertek’s science-based customer excellence and ever-better ethos:-

If we were to describe WIN – it’s coming together as ‘One’. It is being able to network with other peers and learn from the success and challenges of other colleagues. By building a strong network of women through WIN, we can break down barriers, shatter stereotypes, and create a more inclusive and diverse workplace... Women In Intertek and our other diversity and inclusion initiatives will shape the Intertek of tomorrow.

Employees describe the WIN initiative variously as ‘innovative’, ‘collaborative’, and a ‘powerhouse’. Aside from bringing women together on a shared platform with tools of empowerment and equity, Women In Intertek will continue the organisation's Build Back Ever Better work for the community at large, with a sharper focus on the themes of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

To women everywhere, we say, Keep WINning!