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 honour 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.
- 2023In fiscal 2023, attained ELC’s global gender pay equity target across R&D, Supply Chain (including Manufacturing and Distribution), other Corporate Functions, Brands and Regions.1
- 60%Women hold 59% of VP positions and above globally.2
- $150MELC exceeded goal of increasing women-owned supplier spend to $150M by fiscal 2025.3
- $131M+ELC's Breast Cancer Campaign and Charitable Foundation funded more than $131 million for lifesaving global research, education and medical services.4
- 11+ELCCF supports global non-profit organisations dedicated to gender equity and global organisations that support girls’ education programmes in 11+ countries.5
- #2ELC was ranked #2 on Forbes' list of the World's Top Companies for Women 2023.6
1 As of 1 NOVEMBER 2023.
2 As of 1 NOVEMBER 2023.
3 AS OF 1 NOVEMBER 2023.
4 As of 1 NOVEMBER 2023.
5 As of JUNE 2023.
6 AS OF 31 OCTOBER 2023.
At The Estée Lauder Companies, we look towards 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 three components
Open Doors Women’s Leadership Programme
Our signature women’s leadership programme develops high potential mid-career women. This immersive, facilitated programme builds critical skills for success while developing an unrivalled sense of community. The intensive shapes participants with an in-person, weeklong programme 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 programme 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 customised learning events. Participants engage in locally relevant, unscripted, inspiring conversations and put their leadership skills to the test.
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.7
In fiscal year 2023, ELCCF granted $9.8 million to organisations 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.8 We partner with many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community groups focused on leadership and education programmes to address systemic challenges in access to advancement for women and girls worldwide.
7 As of 30 JUNE 2024.
8 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 companies 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 women9 — more than double the global average of all STEM workers.10
All of our R&D Innovation Centres 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 women11 nearly 15% higher than other best-in-class consumer packaged goods supply chains.12
