Empowering Gender Equality: Why Exelon Partnered with the UN Women's HeForShe Campaign

The energy industry has historically faced an underrepresentation of women at nearly every level. And Exelon is no exception to this disparity. We believe that our company should reflect the diverse communities we serve, but we are falling short. That’s why we are committing to be an agent for change. 

We have partnered with the United Nation’s HeForShe campaign to break through the barriers that cause inequality both at Exelon and across the industry. Our goal is to create an environment that encourages future generations—both girls and boys—to explore and pursue careers, and to provide the best resources for retention. 

To lead our efforts, we have committed to a $3 million investment in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs for girls and young women—money that will create a stronger pipeline of female leaders in historically male-dominated sectors of the energy industry. 

We also pledge to improve our company’s retention of women, reaching gender parity of voluntary departure by 2020. By implementing a formal process for tracked goals and strategies, we will monitor our retention rates and change the way we approach human resources. We understand that it will take hard work, but we believe in constantly evolving our existing business practices in order to strengthen our culture of diversity and inclusion. 

We’ve already taken a few significant steps forward. Last year, we committed to closing the gender pay gap by signing the White House’s Equal Pay Pledge. Through this process, we retained a third party to review all the positions across the company and we were proud to find no pay discrepancies. We remain focused on paying employees for their performance and contributions. 

And at the beginning of 2017, we implemented an industry-leading policy for paid family leave to provide all Exelon employees with the flexibility they need to build and support their families. 

But we can and we will do more to create a gender-diverse Exelon. We know that an inclusive culture is the foundation for greater innovation, opportunities for growth, and market competitiveness. In partnership with the HeForShe campaign, our intention is to inspire and influence our employees and other energy companies to take action. 

Gender equality means equality for all, so let’s all get onboard together.