We have a long history of striving for equality, and we have deepened our commitments and engagement and elevated our ambition in response to rightful calls that real progress on racial justice is long overdue. In addition to continuing our strong programs and resource groups that foster diversity and inclusion, Gap Inc. took took made important changes in 2020, including established three new commitments to foster racial justice.
We began by acknowledging that we have more work to do, and we took time to listen to feedback from our employees. We appreciate those who engaged in these conversations, which have helped our company understand more deeply what it means to be an ally.
Those conversations informed our bold new commitments that will foster change in our company and beyond. We have established commitments in three areas:
Our employees: By 2025, we will double the representation of Black and Latinx employees at all levels in our U.S. headquarters offices, and increase the representation of Black employees by 50 percent in store leader roles in the U.S. We are proud to employ a 76-percent female workforce globally, and that 55 percent of our U.S. staff identify as people of color. But we have more work to do to fully represent the communities we serve. Improving representation is one step, but hiring the right talent is not enough. We will continue our efforts to cultivate a deep sense of belonging, and also increase our investment in pay equity. Since 2014, we have conducted annual reviews of our pay data by gender, and in 2020, we began using an external firm to assess our pay data by race for all U.S. employees. We are committed to fixing any disparities we find.
Our brands: We believe it is our responsibility to ensure that everyone feels seen in the products we make and sell. Our brands are committed to building and expanding initiatives such as True Hues, a product-inclusion strategy with a focus on Black consumers. It is currently developing capsule collections featuring Black designers and artists. True Hues was initiated by the Color Proud Council, a cross-enterprise body founded by employees in 2018 to focus on inclusion in product design, merchandising and marketing. In 2020, we formalized the Color Proud Council within our brands as a critical and necessary partner in achieving a “best product, best experience" approach to the product life cycle. Our brands are committed to creating online and store experiences that authentically serve all customers and communities and amplify Black voices. We also include anti-racism training as part of our ongoing employee- and customer-belonging initiatives.
Our communities: The third pillar of our commitments relates to systems change. We see three opportunities for Gap Inc. to support progress beyond our business: through civic engagement; investments that improve the apparel industry’s access and talent pipeline; and policy and advocacy aimed at ending racial inequality. We are making it easier for our employees to participate in the democratic process, including by providing paid time off for voting. We are also partnering with organizations such as Open to All, the NAACP and Embrace Race to engage with our customers, schools and communities on racism and social justice. In our industry, our longstanding This Way Ahead program – 95 percent of whose alumni identify as people of color – is helping to create a diverse pipeline of talented future leaders. We are also proud to continue our partnership with Harlem’s Fashion Row to champion the next generation of designers.
We have also taken an important step toward greater transparency. Since 2007, we have publicly reported our global employee gender data and overall U.S. race and ethnicity data. Starting in 2020, we will regularly share additional data on how our employees identify their race and ethnicity at both stores and headquarters. We will also create a new Equality and Belonging report in 2021 to talk openly about our progress and the lessons we have learned along the way.
Equality and Belonging Network Groups
Gap Inc. employees from diverse backgrounds developed these Groups, which provide opportunities for cross-cultural learning, mentoring and relationship building. These groups organize development, networking and volunteering events. They exist to encourage belonging, foster awareness of underrepresented groups, and provide personal and professional development. The goal of these groups is to express, represent and advocate for the value of diversity and inclusion for Gap Inc. employees; we support our employees in developing these groups, which may grow and change in the future.
Our current Groups include: