Education of Women and Girls and Supporting Self-reliance

Over the years, Shiseido has launched several initiatives to empower women and address global gender issues. Working closely with our brands and regional headquarters, we support the education of socially disadvantaged women and girls around the world to enable their autonomy.

Clé de Peau Beauté’s Commitment in Supporting Girls’ Education and Empowerment

In 2019, Clé de Peau Beauté announced a global partnership with UNICEF^*1 to support girls’ education and empowerment around the world. The brand pledged the world’s largest contribution of US$8.7 million in support of UNICEF’s Gender Equality Program. In this way, the brand helps to promote the organization’s effort to empower 6.5 million girls globally with skills for the future through education, skills development, and empowerment programs.

A CRM Campaign^*2 featuring the brand’s best-selling product, The Serum, was launched in 2020 to invite consumer participation and raise awareness for UNICEF’s program. Primarily focused in-store, the campaign spans 21 countries and regions.

This partnership aims to provide girls who are unable to attend school with necessary learning opportunities for them to earn a livelihood and to get a job. Specifically, the partnership support UNICEF’s work to promote STEM education^*3 for girls in Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan and Niger, among other countries and regions where female students have long been deprived of access to learn STEM subjects due to stereotypes and gender norms towards girls.
Girls will also learn skills such as self-confidence, teamwork, and decision-making as well as have access to mentorships so that they can successfully transition to the workforce. Through this partnership, we contribute to the realization of the United Nation Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all,” and SDG 5, “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls,” while protecting the rights of girls, working to achieve international goals that aim to provide girls with equal education and employment opportunities as boys, and helping them unlock the power of their potential.

Building 21st century Skills for Girls in Kyrgyzstan

Building 21st century Skills for Girls in Kyrgyzstan
@UNICEF/UN041263/Pirozzi

In 2019, Clé de Peau Beauté also announced a long-term philanthropic endeavor to advocate for girls’ education, empowering a brighter tomorrow. The brand launched the Power of Radiance Awards to honor women from around the world who have acted to drive positive change through knowledge^*4.
In 2021, the Power of Radiance Awards recognized Alyona Tkachenko from Kazakhstan in recognition of her efforts to advocate and promote STEM education among young women and girls in her country.
At events such as 2021 ADB Asia and the Pacific Virtual Gender Forum and the UNICEF-hosted Global Forum for Children and Youth, Clé de Peau Beauté shared the value of its partnership with UNICEF in supporting girls’ education and empowerment and emphasized the importance of private sector engagement.

Alyona Tkachenko

The Power of Radiance Awards recipient for 2021 Alyona Tkachenko

Clé de Peau Beauté is proud to take actions to deliver tangible results through championing STEM-related education. In the past year, due to COVID-19, education activities have been disrupted. Our increased reliance on technology has made it clear that the future will demand a greater focus on STEM fields for the next generation of girls to succeed and thrive — making our initiative even more meaningful as we help to develop a blueprint for building girls’ and young women’s skills both in times of crisis and for the future.

*1：UNICEF does not endorse any company, brand, product or service.
*2：CRM Campaign: A Cause Related Marketing Campaign whereby a portion of The Serum’s sales will be donated to support UNICEF’s program.
*3：STEM: A general acronym for educational fields in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The STEM educational method develops skills such as spontaneity, creativity, judgment and problem solving, thereby developing talents who are well adapted to a technological and global society and can compete on the international stage.
*4：Grants from the Power of Radiance Awards are donated to a charitable organization of the award recipient’s choice in support of educational initiatives.

Click here for more information on the Power of Radiance Awards

Click here for more information on our global partnership with UNICEF

Shiseido Travel Retail: Supporting Socially Disadvantaged Women

In 2020, Shiseido Travel Retail partnered with Friends-International for the ”Empower Her” initiative, which aims to help young women from disadvantaged backgrounds in Cambodia break the cycle of poverty by providing education, vocational beauty training, access to job placement opportunities, and employment support.

In support of the initiative, we provide cash donations and beauty products; we are also actively involved in the development of the training curriculum.

In 2020, 37 students received vocational beauty training — eight of whom were placed in employment. Through this initiative, we aim to provide training and employment support to around 70 women per year.