14 November 2022
“The values that today’s “Inspirational Achievement for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” initiative represents are not really new values. The topic of equality appears even in the list of fundamental rights with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the United Nations in its charter talks refers to equality, the European Union, the Council of Europe, and even today in this presentation we saw that the perception of women who have succeeded somehow lags behind.” This was stated by the Ombudsman at the presentation of the first joint awards of the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria and the European Investment Bank.
Prof. Kovacheva was part of the jury that evaluated 45 initiatives that fought for distinction in five categories. The jury also included Lidiya Shuleva, journalists Georgi Toshev and Ventsislav Savov, as well as the writer Georgi Burdarov.
“It was very difficult for me as a member of the jury to decide who is the most deserving and who should be honoured - everyone deserves an award for the efforts they have made. I am really glad to be able to present the award to each of those honoured today and it is worth for this initiative to continue”, said Diana Kovacheva categorically.
The Ombudsman awarded L’Oréal Bulgaria in the category of inspiring initiative to empower the next generation of female talents for the scholarship programme “For women in science” which supports young female scientists in their scientific and research activities.
The other awarded companies are Accenture Bulgaria and VMware Bulgaria in the category of inspiring initiative for diversity, equality and inclusion in the workplace. UniCredit Bulbank is the winner in the category of inspiring initiative of an employer in support of working parents, family and children. Interlang and the Downb Syndrome Foundation won the competition in the inspiring initiative to overcome stereotypes and include minority groups and people with disabilities in the business and non-profit sectors and Prestige was the champion company in the representation of women in management and leadership positions.
In her speech, the Ombudsman addressed the Deputy Prime Minister and Caretaker Minister of Social Affairs Lazar Lazarov, who was present at the award ceremony, and emphasized that from the complaints received, the initiative with disabled people quotas is not doing well, because a number of employers prefer to pay a fine instead of covering those quotas. “I realize that it is hard, I realize that you have to invest more than money and energy, you have to invest your heart to open your business to people with disabilities, but it’s really worth it”, said the Ombudsman and added that society and the state are in debt to people with disabilities.
The big prize of the organizers – Distinctive sign of the CWBB – was awarded to Asarel Medet for their programme “Together with you”. The initiative provides scholarships to children from grades 1 to 12, who have faced the early loss of a mother or father who has worked for the company. The support of the company can also be continued during the higher education, in case the young people choose a specialty that is applicable in the company. For the past 23 years, a total of 135 scholarship holders – pupils or students – have been supported, and 37 of them later started working in the company.
The Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria also presented several special awards: А1, MBAL St. Panatleimon and UMBAL Medica were especially honoured for their contribution to support working parents with the projects of free kindergartens and entertainment centers for all their employees, and the start-up organisation Momsanity received a Special Certificate from the CWBB for an inspiring initiative in development for their mission to help mothers who are going through a difficult postpartum period.
At the official ceremony, the chairperson of the Board of Directors of CWBB and CEO of UniCredit Bulbank Tsvetanka Mincheva announced the results of the National Representative Survey on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, conducted by the sociological agency Trend.
According to its results, 49% of the participants believe that men and women in Bulgaria are not equal professionally, 46% feel a difference in pay between women and men in similar positions, 39% answer that there are not enough female entrepreneurs in Bulgaria, 66% see the need for women in Bulgaria to be encouraged to create their own business, 69% believe that companies in our country should have programmes supporting equality, 73% are convinced that programmes aimed at young girls are needed to encourage them in career development or to be entrepreneurs, and 69% are categorical that programmes for inclusion of people with differences are needed in Bulgaria.
