Foremost Producer of Specialty Fats and Oils, Presco Plc, on Friday, joined the international community to mark the 2024 International Women’s Day (IWD), calling for inclusion, a gender-equality world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination.
At a colourful ceremony held within the company’s premises in Edo State, the Chief Executive Officer of Presco Plc, Reji George, congratulated the Gender Committee and all female employees for their dedication to the growth and development of the company over the years.
He explained that the company will continue to strive for equality, adding that 40 per cent of the company’s employees of about ten thousand are women.
Explaining further, the CEO said: ”We need to look back as an organisation, community and society and think of how to support Gender Equality when it comes to education and employment. It is not employment alone but leadership position in the employment sector“.
Coordinator of the Gender Committee Fatima Emeri also used the opportunity to commend the management of the company for providing the platform for Women, urging female staff to take advantage of the Opportunity.
The guest speaker, Dr (Mrs) Betty Agbonkpolo advised female staff to have a mentor, be disciplined, show confidence and give priority to education.
Also speaking at the event, Human Resource Manager, Presco Plc, Frank Osemwegie Agbongiague said Presco is committed to policies and practices that is key to promoting gender balance in the workplace.
He said“Women are vital to our continuous progress; therefore, it is extremely important to advocate gender inclusivity and inspire inclusion in our organisation and the society at large.
Some of the policies geared towards commitment to gender balance include;
sexual harassment policy
policy on women and reproductive rights
policy on equal opportunity
policy pregnant and breastfeeding mothers
It is a well-known fact that the greatest asset of a company is its people; it is also a verifiable fact that these diverse sets of people that make up our workforce include a reasonable proportion of female folk. It will please you to note that 35% of our workforce is made up of excellent and ever-reliable women who are contributing immensely and adding value to Presco Plc.
As stated in one of the policies mentioned above, Presco is committed to offering equal employment opportunities to the female folk. This policy and others alike ensure that there is no discrimination against women during employment. This reflects the 35% of women in our employment as of February 29, 2024. It is also evident that women occupy various positions in Presco Plc and has female workers occupy senior and managerial positions as well.
It is worthy of note that all relevant laws with regard to ensuring the protection of women are strictly complied with by Presco Plc. We have gone beyond granting maternity leave to all women irrespective of their cadre with full pay, we ensure that an additional 3 months of working half day with full pay is implemented for the nursing mothers to ensure proper care for their young ones. All pregnant women within our employment are given lighter work and excluded from any hazardous operation during pregnancy, this is a clear policy as stated in our policy on pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.
There has also been a deliberate effort to ensure that the female and male counterparts are protected against sexual harassment in our establishment. This informed the creation of the gender committee that is actually organizing this event today.
Bringing into perspective the recommended approaches to promoting gender inclusivity as available on the website of the IWD, Presco has not performed badly and will continue to improve on what has been done for all its female workers.
The recommended approaches to promoting gender inclusivity as available on the website of the IWD include the following –
forging women’s economic empowerment
recruiting, retaining and developing diverse talent
supporting women and girls into leadership, decision-making, business and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)
designing and building infrastructure meeting the needs of women and girls
helping women and girls make informed decisions about their health
involving women and girls in sustainable agriculture and food security
providing women and girls with access to quality education and training
elevating women and girl’s participation and achievement in sport
promoting creative and artistic talent of women and girls
addressing further areas supporting the advancement of women and girls
Our recruitment policy and standard operating procedure also provide for the training and development of competent female and male workers, which has remained open to both male and female gender, attesting to our implementation of these recommended actions including the promotion of women’s economic empowerment.
All the speakers at the event emphasised the need for teamwork and dedication.
