Bermudian-headquartered Bacardi has been recognised by Forbes on its list of the world’s Top 400 companies for women in 2023.

The largest privately held international spirits company is ranked 329th among multinational corporations that were evaluated in multiple globally administered independent surveys of approximately 70,000 women in 37 countries.

MAIF, the French insurer, tops the Forbes list, with Estée Lauder Companies (United States) and German IT company SAP claiming second and third spots.

Bacardi said women in leadership is among the key pillars of the company’s Belonging programme.

Belonging at Bacardi is a global movement focused on creating programming, development opportunities and more in support of under-represented groups, including women, in the spirits world, the company said.

Bacardi said many great women make up the company’s story, beginning with Doña Lucia “Amalia” Victoria Bacardí Moreau, the wife of the founder, Don Facundo Bacardí Massó.

Bacardi said it was her financial and creative support that kept their growing rum business alive during the turbulent early years in Santiago de Cuba — and it was Doña Amalia’s idea to put the bat on the bottle.

Leila Stansfield, global belonging lead and head of global travel retail for Bacardi, said: “We are incredibly proud for Bacardi to be recognised by Forbes as a great workplace and to continue the legacy of supporting women within the company and our industry.”

Family-owned Bacardi said it has focused on driving balanced recruitment, attrition and development through trainings, resources and a focus by both leaders and more than 500 individuals across the globe who champion Belonging efforts.

The company offers several programmes for personal and professional development for women.

Bacardi said more than 650,000 data points were collected in the survey. The final analysis is based on three scores:

Employer brand score: women were asked to rate how their employer performs across a series of gender-related topics. In addition, they were asked to rate their overall willingness to recommend their employer and assess them across other, more general, workplace satisfaction questions. Women were also prompted to evaluate other employers in their respective industries that stand out either positively or negatively.

Public opinion score: a women-only public opinion survey measured how women perceive companies in terms of gender equality.

Leadership score: objective criteria (ie, the presence of a female CEO and the share of board/executive committee positions filled by women) were gathered via extensive desk research.

The award is presented by Forbes and Statista Inc, the statistics portal and industry ranking provider.