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UN calls on companies to make progress on women’s sexual health

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The United Nations on Thursday called on companies to set goals to improve the sexual and reproductive health of their female employees. This could contribute to higher productivity and a reduction in resignations, it said.

The United Nations Population Fund presented metrics to assess workplace policies on women’s sexual health and called for measures such as funding contraception, preventing harassment and offering free sanitary products to become declared corporate goals.

“Women…

The United Nations on Thursday called on companies to set goals to improve the sexual and reproductive health of their female employees. This could contribute to higher productivity and a reduction in resignations, it said.

The United Nations Population Fund presented metrics to assess workplace policies on women’s sexual health and called for measures such as funding contraception, preventing harassment and offering free sanitary products to become declared corporate goals.

“Women make up nearly 40 percent of the global workforce, yet the average workplace is not designed for women,” said UNFPA Executive Director Natalia Kanem.

To date, women’s sexual health has only been marginally addressed in corporate reports on environmental, social and governance (ESG) indicators that some investors use to make business decisions.

The lack of a standardized methodology further complicated reporting on this topic.

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UNFPA’s new metrics, which UNFPA says are the “first of their kind,” aim to track progress on issues such as maternity leave, sexual harassment protocols, and access to fertility treatments and sexually transmitted infection services.

Companies and investors could then use the data to decide whether to select a particular supplier or invest in a company based on its track record in women’s sexual health, the designers argue.

According to studies cited by UNFPA, investing in sexual and reproductive health “can lead to productivity increases of up to 22 percent, a 62 percent reduction in absenteeism and a 23 percent reduction in staff turnover.”

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