On Tuesday, we shared with you the fifth sustainable development goal on gender equality, which aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

As usual, today we share with you some ideas and initiatives that can not only inspire you, but also provide experiences that will change your life and those around you.

The EDP Group identifies gender equality, the integration of people with disabilities, the coexistence of different generations and the inclusion of different nationalities in the organization as priority areas for intervention, seeking to ensure an open environment in the workplace wherever mutual respect and equal opportunities.

In this sense, the following objectives can be distinguished: the representation of 27% of the feminine gender in the EDP Group until 2020; the continuous increase of the percentage of women in management positions and the representation of 2% of employees with disabilities in the EDP Group until 2020.

The goals achieved in 2016 stand out, the increase of 1 pp. compared to 2015 of the global female presence, which represents 24% of the total number of employees in the Group. The female presence in management positions increased in 2016 to 25%, where in the segment managers there was an increase of 25% to 28%. In terms of disability, this figure has remained stable over the years, reaching 1.6% in 2016.

They also contribute to the Sustainable Development Objectives projects, partnerships and commitments that the Diversity and Inclusion area of ​​the EDP Group promotes in its action plan.

In this sense, projects such as Tagga your future, whose main objective was not only to bring students closer to the labor market, but also to demystify the idea that the professions have gender, valuing decision making. Also the formation in unconscious bias has led to the organization's reflection on potential prejudices that can influence recruitment, development and promotion processes.

Partnerships have also been maintained with organizations such as Inspiring Future, Professional Women Network, CITE and Associação Salvador, which strengthen the action plan developed until 2018.

Of note are the organizational commitments such as the UN's Women's Empowerment Principles, the Portuguese Charter for Diversity, and international recognition: the Human Resources European Excellence Awards (Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan) and the Thomson Reuters Top Diversity Index (12th position) diversity and inclusion.

The Municipal Forum against Domestic Violence in Cascais, started in 2003, currently has thirty-eight members of local organizations. It functions as a thematic platform, with the objective of preventing and combating domestic violence in the municipality through institutional articulation. The scope of the intervention of the Forum focuses on a strategic level in the municipal coordination of intervention and definition of priorities, inscribed in Municipal Plans against Domestic Violence.

The other suggestion that we have for you today is the reading of the article that Antonio Guterres, ONU's general secretary, wrote on March 8 of this year entitled "I want to be clear: this is not a favor for women. Gender equality is a matter of human rights." We highlight such phrases as "Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is a task that we must end and constitutes the greatest human rights challenge in the world today" Or "Laws exist but are often ignored and women who resort to justice are called into question, denigrated or dismissed. Today, we know that sexual harassment and abuse have thrived in the workplace, in public spaces, in homes and in countries that pride themselves on their gender equality performance."

If these projects interest you or if you know someone who suffers from gender inequality in any way, act! Do not be indifferent and leave a mark on your life or someone else's life!

LET'S TRANSFORM THE WORLD