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Diversity and inclusion March 9, 2021

Taking action for women's equality

How we're helping to create lasting change

As we celebrate Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, we share examples of how we’re working to advance women’s equality in our organization.

This year, International Women’s Day highlighted the work we undertake to build an increasingly gender equal world. The theme, #ChooseToChallenge, celebrates women’s achievements, raises awareness against bias and encourages each of us to take action that challenges commonly held assumptions about women.

We asked our employees to share how they will do their part to empower women and girls not just on this day — but every day. Check out their photos and pledges below!

What we’re doing

We can all do our part every day to advance gender equality. We're taking specific actions to empower women in the workplace and create a more diverse, inclusive culture.

  • Goal to have 40 percent of senior management roles held by women
  • Leverage relationships and events for mid-career professionals to build a pipeline for management-level roles
  • Two employee groups — Women in STEM Alliance and Women RISE — support and empower the women of Securian Financial and our communities
  • Book discussion groups for Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg and How Women Rise by Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith help facilitate awareness and education on issues affecting women at work
  • A pilot mentoring program helps women and people of color grow professionally and advance in their careers
  • Day of Understanding: Gender Bias learning event aided understanding of common biases women experience and ways to have open conversations about them at work and at home

Empowering women at work

Securian Financial has two employee resource groups that support and encourage women in their professional development. Open to all employees, these groups offer resources and host discussions to promote critical behaviors that help create a gender equal workforce.

Women in STEM Alliance 

The Women in STEM Alliance (WiSTEM) promotes, educates and empowers women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics at Securian Financial and in the broader community. It has a goal of supporting the attraction and retention of a diverse, talented workforce.

The group’s community outreach efforts include supporting Technovation[MN] and the Minnesota chapter of Aspirations in Computing (AiC). Technovation[MN] inspires teen girls to design, create and pitch mobile apps, and WiSTEM provided mentors and judges for the organization’s main event, Appapalooza.

At a virtual career readiness event hosted with AiC last year, women working in various STEM roles at Securian Financial connected with high school girls about their career paths and how they use innovation and creativity in their jobs. This summer, WiSTEM is excited to welcome its first AiC intern.

Women RISE

Women RISE (which stands for reach, inspire, support and empower) supports and empowers the women of Securian Financial by championing a culture where all women are valued, promoted and encouraged to build successful careers and achieve their goals. The group sponsors book circles focused on career development, hosts informational sessions with female leaders and “how-to” courses for building skillsets with a focus on issues like networking, advocating for yourself, dealing with imposter syndrome, importance of allies and having effective mentoring relationships.

DOFU 3-2021

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