Activating Corporate Allyship and Action
l to r: Celeste Burgoyne, President, Americas and Global Guest Innovation and Stacia Marie Jones, Esq., Global Vice President, Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Action
lululemon’s leaders are engaged in gender and race equity work and remain in continued action and dialogue on these matters. As follows, senior leaders Celeste Burgoyne and Stacia Marie Jones, Esq., share their thoughts on these important topics
I have been with lululemon for over 15 years. During this time, I have been fortunate to see our brand grow into a successful global company and at the same time, I have witnessed our impact on the advancement of women. I am proud that our workforce is 75% women, our senior leadership team is 70% women, our Board is over 50% women, and we achieved gender pay equity globally in 2017. And, we are just getting started.
The evolution of our commitment to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Action (IDEA) for our people began in 2020 with the establishment of IDEA as a function. This journey began with open and honest conversations that helped us see the internal challenges that negatively impacted the experiences that women and racially marginalized employees were having.
This caused a moment of deep reflection for me personally, as a woman in a leadership position at lululemon, and for the company overall. Through our IDEA work, which is now embedded into everything we do, we are focused on removing barriers so that all women and gender diverse people truly have equitable opportunities to succeed as leaders at the company.
I personally, and we as a collective, have gained much knowledge to truly understand the importance of allyship. By building an extensive community of allies at lululemon, we can better listen, understand, connect, and collectively act, including confronting bias and holding ourselves accountable to equity-informed behaviors.
By taking an intersectional approach to our IDEA work, we live into our responsibility to enable the success of every employee at lululemon. And through allyship and action, we will continue to drive meaningful impact for every employee. I am so thankful for the leadership of Stacia throughout this journey. She has brought insight and experience to help lay the foundation for open and trusting conversations. We are committed to ensuring that all our people, including guests, see themselves within lululemon and have everything they need to thrive. – Celeste Burgoyne
It has been a long and exhausting road toward pay and work equity for women, and especially so for those who are racially and ethnically marginalized. In fact, for families of Black, Indigenous, and Latina women, the road has been so encumbered that advancements towards parity are strikingly similar to nearly 60 years ago when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended both Jim Crow and legalized discrimination.
There are several contributing factors for the near paralysis in parity – including bias, and the cumulative systemic and historical inequities that result in racial and gender disparities in poverty and unemployment rates, infant mortality, and urban segregation.
There are actions, big and small, that can be taken to remove the disparities more aggressively so that meaningful acceleration is possible. One of the more tangible ways is through dedicated corporate action.
When corporations boldly commit to identifying and eliminating oppressive institutional biases, they start to pave the road towards healthier systems and more prosperous economies. Then, through equitable policies and redefined workplace standards, corporations proactively create conditions that allow women and other marginalized groups to fully benefit from a work experience that grants financial security, builds generational wealth, and offers educational and living choices.
We are proud that lululemon recognizes the distinct barriers that those who identify as women face in the workplace. And, not only does lululemon recognize those barriers, but we are collectively taking action to remove them, elevate the experience of our women, and celebrate women throughout our communities. We are corporate action towards equity. – Stacia Marie Jones, Esq.