Tegucigalpa, Honduras, March 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With more and more women choosing to work at Dinant - the leading agribusiness and consumer products manufacturer in Honduras - the Company is investing in a range of initiatives to create an even safer and healthier environment for its female employees. These include offering professionally-staffed breastfeeding clinics for working mothers and introducing compulsory staff training on protecting the rights of female workers and local community members.
Since 2021, Dinant has provided a breastfeeding clinic for working mothers at its snacks factory in San Pedro Sula. A highly-trained, full-time female healthcare provider assists nursing mothers, providing training and advice, and attending to any medical issues the mothers might have. In under two years, the breastfeeding clinic has benefited 75 Dinant employees. As a result, Dinant is building similar breastfeeding clinics at other manufacturing facilities in Honduras, including in the Aguan and Lean Valleys.
Sindy Gabriela Zelaya, Occupational Health Manager at Dinant, said, “When a mother returns to work after maternity leave, we want her to be able to continue breastfeeding her baby if she so chooses. The purpose-built lactation room at Dinant’s snacks plant in San Pedro Sula is a safe, private, sanitary space that enables mothers to express milk and store it in refrigerators ready to take home at the end of the workday. I’m delighted that we are expanding this facility to other Company locations in Honduras.”
Dinant has also developed a compulsory training module for all employees on the prevention of violence or harassment based on gender. Working in collaboration with expert legal advice and drawing from global best practices, Dinant’s training includes practical advice on how those in need or in fear can receive free support. All staff, including new employees, will undertake the new training over the next few months. In partnership with the women’s office in Tocoa, Dinant’s social liaison experts have started training community leaders in Aguán and Lean on this issue, as well as on children’s rights.
Roger Pineda Pinel, Dinant’s Director of Corporate Relations and Sustainability, said, “Of course, there remains much work to be done, but I am confident that Dinant is a place where women want to work and where they feel safe, valued, well-remunerated, and able to pursue exactly the same career opportunities as our male employees. I have no doubt that we shall see increasing numbers of women employed throughout Dinant in the months and years ahead.”
In line with national legislation, Dinant provides expectant mothers with 42 days maternity leave prior to their delivery dates and 42 days leave after the birth for all mothers who choose to return to work. The Company also voluntarily provides three days paid paternity leave for new male parents.
Dinant provides equal opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to gender, race, color, religion, national origin, age or disability. The Company employs nearly 6,000 people in Honduras alone, 28% of whom are women. There are 62 employees with disabilities, including 19 females. Dinant is making exceptional progress at hiring women for sales positions that traditionally have attracted only male applicants, and the Company’s highly respected security women work alongside their male counterparts at many of its operating sites.
Dinant’s products are sold across Central America and the Dominican Republic. Its operations directly employ 7,600 people, who in turn support approximately 22,000 family members, as well as many thousands of contractors, vendors and suppliers. Dinant is a full member of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPSHR), a highly-esteemed international initiative that governs how organizations vet, recruit, and train security men and women, and how they engage peacefully and transparently with local communities.
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