#EmbraceEquity on International Women’s Day 2023

At Mazars, we embrace equity.

We know value for our communities, business and clients is created by embracing different perspectives, empowering our people and bringing to the table varied backgrounds, views and skills.

But equity is more than just a seat at the table; it’s about giving everyone the tools they need to be successful. And just as our people all come from unique walks of life, we acknowledge that these tools may look different from one person to another.

Therefore, we strive to put equity into practice by understanding the different dimensions of each individual and addressing the obstacles that may limit their access to opportunities and achieving their goals.

Levelling the playing field

Today, approximately 54% of degrees worldwide are granted to women [i], yet women make up only five percent [ii] of CEOs globally. This gap is not attributed to a lack of capability or drive, rather the added responsibilities that women often take on. According to the UN Women ‘World survey on the role of women in development: Report of the Secretary-General’, women perform three times more unpaid work than men. [iii]

In addition, women face a number of barriers attributed to persistent gender-based myths, as we analysed in our recent study, ‘Myths and barriers preventing the progression of women’.

This is why addressing equity is so important. Achieving equity means more than just providing equal benefits, opportunities and pay; equity means developing a deep understanding of the unique needs of every person and valuing their contribution and input without biases. What’s more, it’s about enabling them to reach their full potential. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ in equity. And this is true for all types of ‘diversity’– creating a more inclusive, equitable place for women will make the world more inclusive for all.

Our commitment

As a firm that is diverse by nature and inclusive by choice, we pledge to continue to embrace the plurality of attributes of our people, whose differences can be found in, among others, abilities and disabilities, age, culture, education, gender and gender identity and expression, language, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic and ethnic background, and working style.

José Caneda, CEO, Mazars in Switzerland and Cécile Kossoff, Group Chief Brand, Marketing and Communications Officer and Global Diversity & Inclusion Leader

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[i] Gender equality: how global universities are performing, part 1 - UNESCO Digital Library (2022)

[ii] Credit Suisse Gender 3000 report (2021)

[iii] World survey on the role of women in development: Report of the Secretary-General (2019): Why addressing women’s income and time poverty matters for sustainable development | UN Women