For years, Dentsply Sirona has been committed to promoting women in dentistry. Through various programs, the world's largest manufacturer of dental products and technologies supports the professional development of female dentists and dental technicians, advocates for equality, and helps give them a strong voice in the dental community. As part of its sustainability strategy, the Company is going Beyond its historical commitments as a founding partner of the nonprofit organization Women in DSO. Dentsply Sirona will henceforth also advocate for female leaders in dental service organizations.
As of October 1, Dentsply Sirona is a founding partner of Women in DSO (WinDSO), a new dental service organization founded in 2020. Women in DSO's mission is to highlight the achievements of women in dental service organizations and empower women leaders. To that end, the nonprofit organization provides a powerful network, professional mentoring and learning and development programs.
Through the new partnership, Dentsply Sirona will further contribute its strength and experience in the field of women's advancement and significantly contribute to measures that recognize and develop female leaders in the DSO sector. Dentsply Sirona supports the work of Women in DSO with five mentors and its board members provide strategic support to advance the organization’s mission.
Women are still underrepresented in leadership positions, and this also applies to the dental industry," says Lauren Seymour, Vice President of Sales-US Commercial at Dentsply Sirona. "With our involvement in Women in DSO, we want to help change this. The partnership complements our own programs for women in dentistry and is another milestone towards gender equality." Seymour will represent Dentsply Sirona as a board member of Women in DSO.
Dr. Aman Kaur, founder and president of WinDSO, is pleased to have a strong new partner: "With Dentsply Sirona, we have a company on our side that can support us with its experience and expertise to effectively grow and empower the next generation of female leaders.
Numerous measures for diversity in dentistry
Dentsply Sirona offers various programs, measures and events specifically tailored to the needs of women and their career development. They range from speaker support programs and competitions for extraordinary research achievements to networking opportunities and the exchange of experiences at panel discussions and conferences. An outstanding current action is the Smart Integration Award 2021 in November, which recognizes innovative ideas as well as successful and visionary treatment concepts of women in digital dentistry worldwide. Another is First to 50, a global women’s speaker development program designed by Dentsply Sirona to elevate the voices of women in dentistry, working with a well-respected coach.
Internally, Dentsply Sirona also consistently pursues the goal of achieving integration and equal opportunities for all employees. To this end, the Company is proud of its Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) - interest groups to promote diversity and inclusion. One of these is DS Women, which was founded in October 2020 and already has 750 women from 30 nations as members. The stated goal of DS Women is, among other things, to promote more women to management positions at Dentsply Sirona. In addition, the company established a global Diversity & Inclusion Council to develop organizational awareness through training, career coaching, networking, ongoing communications, and talent development to ensure all employees feel empowered to do their best work. The D&I Council comprises 14 demographically and functionally diverse employees from around the globe.
Equal opportunities as a pillar of sustainability
In its new sustainability strategy published in September 2021, Dentsply Sirona also makes a clear commitment to equality. Among other things, the company defines the achievement of gender parity and gender pay equality by 2025 as a milestone on the way to a "brighter world." Currently, at Dentsply Sirona, 50 percent of board members are gender and/or ethnically mixed and 60 percent of board committees are chaired by women.
The forces that Dentsply Sirona is combining to achieve its diversity goals will also be used by the company in the future to cooperate with Women in DSO and support them in fulfilling their mission of empowering female leaders in dental service organizations.
For more information on Women in DSO, visit: https://womenindso.org/
Further information on Dentsply Sirona's commitment to women in dentistry: https://stagingnews.dentsplysirona.com/en/corporate-news/2021/dentsply-sirona-continues-to-empower-women-in-dentistry.html
The Dentsply Sirona Sustainability Report and our sustainability strategy and goals are available here: www.dentsplysirona.com/sustainability
