United States
Women’s Advancement
Women’s Advancement
Since the visionary Mrs. Estée Lauder founded The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) in 1946, the company has been advancing possibilities for women around the world. Today, ELC continues to honor her legacy by ensuring that the success our founder fought for is accessible to all.
ELC is committed to helping build a world where there are limitless possibilities for all women and girls. We’re seeking, supporting, and scaling opportunities to champion women’s health, develop women leaders and entrepreneurs, and advocate for women's and girls’ education globally.
Our Commitment to Women
In 2021, we announced our strategy for gender equity, called “Opening Doors: Women’s Advancement and Gender Equality Strategy,” which builds on our legacy as a female-founded company and challenges us to address the systemic barriers to equitable opportunities that women face. As a company, we continually evaluate and report our progress toward our gender equity commitments.
- 2024In fiscal 2024 we expanded our work to achieve pay equity for employees globally and again met our commitment1
- 70%of scientists and technical professionals across ELC are women, and women lead all innovation centers
- $150MELC exceeded goal of increasing women-owned suppliers spend to $150M by fiscal 2025.2
- $144M+ELC's Breast Cancer Campaign and Charitable Foundation funded more than $144 million for lifesaving global research, education, and medical services.3
- 11+ELCCF supports global nonprofits dedicated to gender equity and global organizations that support girls’ education programs in 11+ countries.4
- #2ELC was ranked #2 on Forbes' list of the World's Top Companies for Women 2023.5
1 With the exception of non-discretionary pay populations (i.e. where we are restricted from making such adjustments), all employees populations are now included in our pay equity review process.
2 AS OF NOVEMBER 1, 2023.
3 As of OCTOBER 2024.
4 As of JUNE 2023.
5 AS OF OCTOBER 31, 2023.
At The Estée Lauder Companies, we look toward a world in which women and girls invent the tools and technologies of the future. We strive to expand and improve access to education, increase opportunities and mentorship for women in their careers, and ensure an inclusive group of experts are creating innovative products for diverse consumers.
Jane Lauder, Executive Vice President, Enterprise Marketing and Chief Data Officer
Open Doors
Open Doors encourages leaders to discover their infinite possibilities. Together, we drive talent and build community with experiential programming and coaching that encourages employees to lead from their strengths, develop their skills, and jumpstart powerful conversations.
Open Doors demonstrates ELC’s commitment to leadership development as part of the company’s gender equity strategy and is comprised of 3 components
Open Doors Women’s Leadership Program
Our signature women’s leadership program develops high potential mid-career women. This immersive, facilitated program builds critical skills for success while developing an unrivaled sense of community. The intensive shapes participants with an in-person, weeklong program followed by a year of ongoing education, coaching, and exposure to senior leaders.
Open Doors Course Collection
The Open Doors Course Collection is a custom, online, interactive, and self-guided leadership program. that helps employees of all genders discover and lead with their power. The collection has been adapted by regions, brands, functions, and employee resource groups to form a truly global leadership development movement at ELC.
Open Doors Live
Open Doors Live builds ELC’s high-performance culture and strengthens community by bringing employees together for customized learning events. Participants engage in locally relevant, unscripted, inspiring conversations and put their leadership skills to the test.
We’re intentionally focused on providing access to opportunities, leadership development, best-practice policies, competitive benefits, and spaces for authentic community at work for women. Like our founder, we believe in the power of possibilities, and we exist to put that power in the palm of every hand.
Nicole Monson, Senior Vice President, Equity & Engagement
Women’s Leadership, Education, and Health
As a company whose workforce is made up of 80% women—with 60% of leadership roles occupied by women—ELC advocates for equitable access to women’s leadership, education, and health care globally.6
In fiscal year 2023, ELCCF granted $9.8 million to organizations that are doing the vital work of increasing access to health care, providing quality education and advancing equity for women and girls around the world.7 We partner with many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and community groups focused on leadership and education programs to address systemic challenges in access to advancement for women and girls worldwide.
6 As of JUNE 30, 2024.
7 The period between June 2022 and July 2023.
Through the United Nations (UN) Foundation’s Five for 5 initiative, ELC has made commitments and progress in areas related to gender equity that align with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 5, including those relating to pay equity and increased spend with women-owned businesses.
We partnered with National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman to launch WRITING CHANGE, our commitment to advancing literacy as a pathway to equality, access, and social change.
We were among the first prestige beauty company to bring awareness to stigmas in women’s health. We remain the largest corporate donor to the global Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Women in STEM at ELC
We are proof of the power of women to lead in STEM and innovation. We are committed to breaking down the barriers many women face throughout their careers in science, and we aim to provide opportunity for career acceleration within STEM, as we believe a diverse workforce leads to cutting-edge Research & Development (R&D), scientific excellence, and best-in-class products for our consumers.
More than 60% of our scientists, engineers, and technology professionals are women8 — more than double the global average of all STEM workers.9
All of our R&D Innovation Centers globally are led by women, and our women-led R&D laboratories worldwide are identifying how to more practically guide innovation for greener alternatives every day.
More than 50% of our global supply chain is made up of women10 nearly 15% higher than other best-in-class consumer packaged goods supply chains.11
8 AS OF NOVEMBER 1, 2023.
9 According to World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report, June 2023.
10 AS OF NOVEMBER 1, 2023.
11 ACCORDING TO GARTNER SURVEY 2021.
