Assignment 1 24893051

Business and Social Impact 21895

Kim Chi Dang

Tutorial 01
Assignment 1 24893051

Gender equality in the workplace

1- Identify your social mission (300 words)

The current context of the workplace underestimates women’s capability more than men’s,
especially where I come from – Vietnam. This is probably due to the older generation’s
mindset: women should stay at home as a housewife, and men will provide, resulting in
inequality in how women are treated at work. I find it hard to bear to see women and men
creating the same value, and the same profit for the corporation and eventually not being paid
equally, not mentioning in some cases, women are required to manage a lot more duties, but
in return, they receive less commission than men. There are endless situations where women
in Vietnam are denied a promotion or a raise just because they can not socialize and drink as
much as men. The problem arises not only in Vietnam but draws global attention when it
comes to double standards: men are considered to possess “leadership skills” while women
thriving in their work are called “aggressive”. It is expected that women are less likely to
raise their voices or express their opinions, or even when they do, their words are not being
taken seriously. Unlike women, men could have said the same things as women did, but they
will be praised and celebrated with a positive reaction.

A gender balance at work is somewhat unrealistic for some companies. As a person

experienced working in the Human Resources area in Vietnam, I encountered countless acts
of discrimination from organizations towards hard-working women. One thing I regret is that
I was in an entry-level position and not able to do anything differently to make a positive
impact. Those things happened every day in Vietnam, and with that in mind, not a single day
passed that I did not want to help women to be treated fairly. Having said that, I find myself
fulfilled with the mission of promoting gender equality in the workplace, learning from
successful corporations and applying that to organizations in Vietnam.
Assignment 1 24893051

2. Research Business (300 words)

It is an essential social mission to have gender equality in the workforce, which can lead to
innovation and make the world a better place. There have been a significant number of
organizations raising their awareness and taking severe actions to promote women’s rights in
the workplace. One outstanding business that not only aligned its operation with the value
and mission of gender equality but also succeeded in making it become a reality is Accenture.
They stated clearly in their mission relating to advancing gender equality that they aim to
find, recruit, retain and advance people, they are committed to being transparent and diverse
(Accenture, 2022). One remarkable aim of their operation is to “Set a goal on gender-
balanced workforce” (Accenture, 2017). According to Accenture, their specific target until
2025 is to reach a 50 – 50 percent balance for both genders (Accenture, 2017). In order to
achieve this, there have been some excellent strategies taken into action. Firstly, the company
has implemented initiatives to reach the goal. Some extraordinary actions could be named,
such as sending senior women to advance their knowledge by sponsoring management
courses, launching a course that teaches in-demand skills for women to take over high-
demanding roles, hiring more women from countries such as India, the US, Japan or any
ASEAN community (Accenture, 2017). Secondly, Accenture is vital in conducting research
and spreading knowledge to the business world. In “Resetting tech culture”, Accenture
(2023) provided insight into the current context in the technology industry, conducted
thorough research and pointed out multiple ways for organizations to attract and retain more
women in the fourth Industrial Revolution. Last but not least, it is crucial to mention
Accenture’s efforts in providing their women benefits such as arranging flexible working
arrangements, designing support for personal targets and more to come.

3. Assess alignment and Business performance (400 words)

It is recognized that Accenture’s statement, value and practice align exceptionally well with
my social mission as they are committed to enhancing the balance of the workforce. From my
point of view, I consider Accenture as a role model business for not only organizations in
Vietnam to look up but also international ones. After careful examination, it seems that
Accenture has made a notable positive impact on its employees and society. Firstly,
Assignment 1 24893051

mentioning their goal to achieve the target of evenly balancing the employee gender, 2017
reported 150,000 women in their workplace (which accounts for nearly 40 percent)
(Accenture, 2017). 2022 saw an increasing number of 47 percent, making it 7 percent for five
consecutive years (Accenture, 2022). This impacted significantly on their revenue since it is
reportedly found that closing the gap to a 50 percent gender balance will increase the global
GDP to 6 percent (Accenture, 2017). I highly appreciated their dedication since there are
numbers stating that they are on the right track. In addition, the percentage of women in
managing positions witnessed the same beneficial change, they reported tracking well toward
the goal of 2025 to have 30 percent women in Director positions, which is already 28 percent
in 2022 (Accenture, 2022). From my perspective, I believe Accenture has done and is doing
great work since they took deliberate action by coaching their women. The year 2022
witnessed a $1.1B billion investment in training, which involved 40 million hours, which
increased 27 percent compared to 2021 (Accenture, 2023). Furthermore, in honor of their
contribution, Accenture received a large number of awards, some can be named as
Bloomberg gender-quality (two consecutive years), Nikkei WOMAN top 100 companies for
women (ranked no.1, five consecutive years on the list) (Accenture, 2023).

In conclusion, I would like to praise Accenture’s contribution to making social fairness for
women in the workforce. While critically assessing their performance based on their missions
and statements, all of the projects and initiatives showcase a beneficial and practical impact
on women. Taking Accenture as a role model to accomplish substantial pace to gender
equality, I aspire to bring these successes to my home country – Vietnam. Having researched
all of their outcomes based on their aims and actions, I am committed to delivering the same
result to companies in Vietnam, giving women a strong position where their voices will be
heard.
Assignment 1 24893051

REFERENCES

Accenture. (2022). Creating value in all directions.

https://investor.accenture.com/~/media/Files/A/Accenture-IR-V3/home/accenture-fiscal-
2022-annual-report.pdf

Accenture. (2017, 14 June). Accenture Sets Goal to Achieve Gender Balanced Workforce by
2025. Cision. https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/accenture-sets-goal-to-achieve-gender-
balanced-workforce-by-2025-628437583.html

Accenture. (2023, September 5). Resetting tech culture.

https://www.accenture.com/content/dam/accenture/final/a-com-migration/pdf/pdf-134/
accenture-a4-gwc-report-final1.pdf#zoom=50

Accenture. (2023, September 5). Advancing gender equality. https://www.accenture.com/us-

en/about/inclusion-diversity/gender-equality