POLICY DEVELOPMENT

22

ITTO
ITTO policy guidelines on genderequality and empowering women

ITTO is committed to gender mainstreaming and enhancing
gender equality outcomes across its policy and project work.
The ITTO policy guidelines on gender equality and empowering
women institutionalize this commitment. The policy guidelines
serve as a framework for gender integration and mainstreamingin ITTO policies, plans, programmes, projects, activities andinternal functioning and are intended to enhance the impact
and effectiveness of the Organization’s operations in all areas
and at all levels.

International Tropical Timber Organization

International Organizations Center, 5th Floor, Pacifico-Yokohama, 1-1-1, Minato-Mirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama, 220-0012, Japan
Tel +81-45-223-1110 Fax +81-45-223-1111 Email itto@itto.int Web www.itto.int© ITTO 2018

Policy Development Series 22

International Tropical Timber Organization

ITTO policy guidelines on gender equality and empowering women

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ITTO policy guidelines on genderequality and empowering women

Policy Development Series No. 22

International Tropical Timber Organization

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Preferred citation: ITTO 2018. ITTO policy guidelines on gender equality and empowering women. Policy Development Series No. 22.
International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), Yokohama, Japan.
ITTO is an intergovernmental organization promoting the conservation, restoration and sustainable management, use andtrade of tropical forest resources. Its members represent 80% of the world’s tropical forests and 90% of the global trade intropical timber and timber products. ITTO develops internationally agreed policy documents and guidelines to promotesustainable forest management and forest-based enterprises and assists tropical member countries to adapt such policies
and guidelines to local circumstances and to implement them in the field through projects. In addition, ITTO collects,
analyzes and disseminates data on the production and trade of tropical timber and is the foremost source of information,
statistics and trends related to the world tropical timber economy. Since it became operational in 1987, ITTO has funded
more than 1000 projects, pre-projects and activities valued at more than USD 400 million. All projects are funded byvoluntary contributions, the major donors to date being the governments of Japan and the United States of America.
Disclaimer
The designations employed and the presentation of material herein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever concerning
the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers and boundaries.
Photo captions and credits
Front cover: Female panelists and ITTO staff gather on the podium at the conclusion of a panel on the role of women in achieving
ITTO’s objectives held at the 54th session of the International Tropical Timber Council. Photo: Y. Kamijo
Inside cover: Forest researcher Adi Estela Lazos Ruíz speaks at a forest restoration workshop in Jamapa, Mexico.
Photo: Gerardo Sanchez Vigil
Back cover: Forest management planning with Brazil’s Instituto Floresta Tropical. Photo: Otávio Marangoni Souza
Page 3: Members of the panel on women and markets held during the 55th Session of the International Tropical Timber Council.
Photo: R. Carrillo/ITTO
Page 6: ITTO Fellow Thais Almeida Lima gathers information in a felling gap in a licensed SFM unit, Amazonas, Brazil.
Photo: R.S. de Andrade/IPAAM
Page 8: Local women in Kampong Thom province, Cambodia, show their newly acquired fuel-efficient wood stoves, which help reduce
woodfuel consumption in the communities. Photo: S. Sineth/Forestry Administration
Page 9: MALEBI members pose as they plant a tree in the Ahua gazetted forest as part of their efforts to restore degraded land anddevelop sustainable enterprises. Photo: Afrique Green Side
Page 10: Women in the village of Khursani Talli, Inidia hold a meeting on non-timber forest products. Photo: Verma Deepti/ITTO Fellow
Page 13: A women tends seedlings in the village of Agouegan, Togo. Photo: Soka Gakkai© ITTO 2018
This work is copyright. Except for the ITTO logo, graphical and textual information in this publication may be reproduced inwhole or in part provided that it is not sold or put to commercial use and its source is acknowledged.
ISBN 978-4-86507-055-2

ITTO policy guidelines on gender equality and empowering women

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PurposeITTO is committed to gender mainstreaming and enhancing gender equality outcomes acrossits policy and project work. The ITTO policy guidelines on gender equality and empowering women
institutionalize this commitment. The policy guidelines serve as a framework for gender integrationand mainstreaming in ITTO policies, plans, programmes, projects, activities and internal functioning
and are intended to enhance the impact and effectiveness of the Organization’s operations in allareas and at all levels.

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Contents
ITTO policy guidelines on gender equality and empowering women  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
I. Purpose  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
II. Rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
III. Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
IV. Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
V. Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Element 1 – ITTO policies, action plans and thematic programmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Element 2 – ITTO project cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Element 3 – Capacity building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Element 4 – Statistics and information  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Element 5 – Learning and information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Element 6 – Networking and partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Element 7 – Internal functioning  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Element 8 – Accountability  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
VI. Implementation actions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

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Appendix D of the ITTO manual for project formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
A. Introduction		  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
B. Gender analysis  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
C. Examples of questions to be asked/answered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
D. Example of gender questions in the logical framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
E. Gender-sensitive versus gender-transformative projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

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ITTO policy guidelines on gender equality and empowering women

I.	Purpose
ITTO is committed to gender mainstreaming and enhancing gender equality outcomes across its
policy and project work. The ITTO policy guidelines on gender equality and empowering women
institutionalize this commitment. The policy guidelines serve as a framework for gender integrationand mainstreaming in ITTO policies, plans, programmes, projects, activities and internal functioning
and are intended to enhance the impact and effectiveness of the Organization’s operations in allareas and at all levels.

II.	Rationale
Through the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, all ITTO members recognize thecrucial role of gender equality in realizing sustainable development and are committed to advancing
Sustainable Development Goal 5: To achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. In
this context, ITTO recognizes the following:•

Gender equality and empowering women are essential to achieving sustainable forest management,
including the sustainable management of tropical timber producing forests, which is a core ITTO objective.

•

Women participate in the forest sector in diverse ways and within different cultural and geographic contexts,
including as part of indigenous and local communities, as migrants, as farmers, and as workers,
technicians and professionals.

•

In many rural communities, particularly in producer countries, men and women typically play different
roles in forestry and agroforestry systems. Women are often primary collectors and users of forest
resources, such as fuelwood, wild foods and medicinal herbs, have traditional knowledge of forest
management practices that are often inherently sustainable, and make specific contributions to tropicalforest value chains which are important for household incomes and well being.

•

Due to a variety of interrelated cultural, social, economic and institutional factors, which vary fromcountry to country and sometimes within countries, women are often disadvantaged in the forest sector.
Specific disadvantages vary depending on the sphere(s) in which the women operate, which may berural, urban, indigenous, local, national, technical, professional, public and/or private.

•

Despite their crucial role in forest management, many women are limited in their control over forest
land; access to financial resources, technology, education and training; share in forest based benefits;
and decision-making opportunities.

•

Women are also often disadvantaged in tropical timber-based industries where they may not haveequal access to employment opportunities or receive equal pay for equal work.

•

In many member countries, women are underrepresented, particularly at senior levels, in forest
authorities, institutions and organizations, as well as in tropical forest-based processing and manufacturingindustries and international trade groups. This hampers their ability to influence, and bring theirperspectives to bear on, public and private sector decisions.

•

In addition to cultural biases, the lack of sex-disaggregated data and statistics on the role of womenin forestry, particularly in trade and industry, hampers the development of policy interventions toaddress gender inequalities.

•

The potential of women to engage in, contribute to and benefit from the international forest-based economy
as leaders, participants and agents of change, has yet to be fully realized. More work is needed by all
stakeholders at all levels, including ITTO.

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III. Objectives
The objectives of the policy guidelines are to:•enhance the effective integration and mainstreaming of gender considerations in all aspects of ITTO’s
policy and project work;•build the capacity of ITTO and its members to promote gender equality and empower women in thetropical forest sector; and•strengthen the role of women in ITTO’s governance structure, including in the work of the Council andCommittees, ad hoc expert panels and working groups, and the Secretariat.

IV.	Principles
The policy guidelines reflect and flow from the following guiding principles:•

Gender equality is a core value of ITTO. Achieving ITTO’s objectives will be accelerated by efforts toclose the gender gap and empower women at all levels.

•

Integrating a gender perspective means promoting equal opportunities, rights, voice, influence,leadership and benefits for women at all levels and in all spheres of ITTO’s work.

•

Gender equality is a matter of human rights. In order to achieve gender equality, it is often necessary
to overcome historical biases and empower women to exercise their rights and fulfill their potential tocontribute as full and equal members of society.

•

Gender equality is an issue that concerns both women and men, recognizing that the roles of men andwomen in forestry systems may differ across cultures. Involving men is essential to bring aboutchanges in attitudes, behavior and biases that disenfranchise women.

•

Achieving gender equality and empowering women depends on generating information on the current
situation of women in specific forest sector settings and cultural contexts and identifying social,economic and technological inequalities between men and women.

•

Implementation of the policy guidelines will be consistent with applicable laws of ITTO member
countries and seek to advance the goals of relevant international instruments, including the 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women.

ITTO policy guidelines on gender equality and empowering women

V.	Guidelines
The Policy Guidelines address and provide guidance on eight core elements: ITTO policies,
action plans and thematic programmes; the ITTO project cycle; capacity building; statistics andinformation; learning, knowledge management and communication; networking and partnerships;
internal functioning; and accountability.
Element 1 – ITTO policies, action plans and thematic programmes•

ITTO’s policy papers and guidelines will integrate a gender perspective and mainstream genderconsiderations wherever relevant.

•

ITTO’s strategic action plans will incorporate gender mainstreaming, including women’s empowerment,
as a strategic priority, as well as a key cross-cutting strategy to achieving other priorities set out in the plans.

•

To the extent possible, ITTO thematic programmes will include one or more objectives focused on
raising awareness of gender roles, norms and relations and promoting gender equality in the
programme context.

Element 2 – ITTO project cycle•

The ITTO project cycle will integrate and mainstream gender issues. Gender equality will be addressedin all phases of the project cycle, including project formulation, implementation, monitoring, review andevaluation.

•

The needs and interests of women and men, including their effective participation and outcome
benefits, will be equally taken into account and promoted within ITTO-funded projects.

•

All ITTO projects will be “gender-sensitive” and will examine gender roles, norms, relations and potential
project impacts through a gender analysis and seek to generate gender co-benefits in project design.

•

Wherever possible, ITTO projects will be “gender transformative” by including one or more objectives
focused on raising awareness of gender roles, norms and relations and positively changing (transforming)
those roles, norms or relations to improve gender equality and empower women. Such projects will
include women’s organizations and/or networks as project partners and, where appropriate, as
executing agencies.

•

In all cases, the gender analysis will:1– be appropriate to the project field (e.g. forest management, forest industry, trade), as well as the
project scale (local, national, regional, international);– include the collection of quantitative sex-disaggregated data where possible, as well as qualitative
information provided by stakeholders, both women and men; and– generate information and data to inform project design, interventions and desired outcomes,
including budget allocations.

•

Men and women will be provided with equitable opportunities to be included in stakeholder consultations
and decision-making during project formulation, implementation and evaluation.

•

ITTO will promote the collection, analysis and use of gender equality indicators and sex disaggregateddata in project monitoring, reporting and evaluation.

•

ITTO will utilize a results-based management approach in monitoring, reporting and evaluating genderrelated project outcomes and impacts, with evidence of actual results used to make course corrections
as needed.

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Additional guidance on gender analysis is contained in Appendix D of the ITTO manual for project formulation and reproducedon pages 10–14 of this report.

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Element 3 – Capacity building•

ITTO will seek to enhance the capacity of members to establish, strengthen and implement laws,
regulations and policies designed to achieve gender equality and empower women, particularly within
the tropical forest sector.

•

The Executive Director will promote a shared commitment to gender equality within the Secretariat andensure that staff members have the understanding, training and capacity needed to carry out thesepolicy guidelines.

Element 4 – Statistics and information•

In addition to its programme and project work, ITTO will integrate gender in its data collection andstatistical processes, with a view to generating sex-disaggregated data for all applicable organizational
functions and categories of information. This will include data collected through national reporting on
ITTO’s criteria and indicators for sustainable management of tropical forests.

Element 5 – Learning, knowledge management and communication•

ITTO will enhance learning on gender equality and empowering women as part of its knowledge
management activities, including sharing experiences and lessons learned, upscaling best practices
from different situations and cultural contexts, and working to develop a better understanding of genderand the international tropical timber economy.

•

The Secretariat will develop tools, products and platforms suitable for a variety of audiences to raiseawareness of the importance of gender equality to achieving ITTO’s objectives and to communicate
the Organization’s efforts and achievements in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment
in its policy and project work.

Element 6 – Networking and partnerships•

The Council, Committees and Secretariat will work with the Trade Advisory Group and the Civil Society
Advisory Group to strengthen gender mainstreaming in the ITTO.

•

The Executive Director will develop alliances with organizations and networks that work on genderequality, in particular UN Women and regional women’s organizations and networks, and explore
opportunities to develop joint gender equality initiatives with members of the Collaborative Partnershipon Forests.

ITTO policy guidelines on gender equality and empowering women

Element 7 – Internal functioning•

ITTO will strengthen efforts to seek gender balance in the Council bureaus, expert panels and working
groups.

•The Executive Director will ensure an office atmosphere and culture that is respectful of women employees
at all levels, enables them to reach their full potential, and promotes inclusion and transparency.

•

The Executive Director will take gender into consideration in engaging consultants, awarding
procurement contracts, and appointing members of Thematic Programme Advisory Committees.

Element 8 – Accountability•

ITTO will establish an accountability mechanism and timeline to track progress and measure successon gender integration and mainstreaming, including women’s empowerment, within the Organization’s
policy and project work and management practices.

•

The Executive Director and permanent Committees will monitor and regularly report to Council on theimplementation of these policy guidelines.

•

ITTO programme and project managers will ensure executing agencies and other partners report
regularly on gender integration in ITTO-funded programmes and projects, which may include developing
gender sensitive indicators to measure progress.

VI. Implementation actions
The policy guidelines will be operationalized through actions taken within existing resources, aswell as through priority activities identified by the Council in ITTO’s biennial work programmes(BWPs) which require additional voluntary contributions from members, beginning with the BWP
2018–2019. The Secretariat will propose implementation activities for Council’s consideration forinclusion in the BWPs.

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Appendix D of the ITTO manual for project formulation
Guidelines for project-related gender analyses
A. Introduction
1. Chapter II, Part 2 (page 24) of the ITTO manual for project formulation states that a project proposal
should include a stakeholder analysis that describes, inter alia, “the characteristics and size of thetarget and beneficiary groups (e.g. by age, gender and ethnic composition)”. The manual also specifies
that the stakeholder analysis should include a gender analysis to:• identify gender-based differences in resource access;• determine how different members of target communities will participate in and be affected by projectinterventions;• incorporate gender equity and empowerment in the project design process; and• “gender” the logical framework by defining indicators relating to gender equity and empowerment.
2. As a component of the stakeholder analysis under Part 2.1 (“Rationale”), which in its entirety should
not exceed three pages plus figures (see Table 2, page 18), the gender analysis should be no longer
than one page.
3. This appendix provides additional guidance on conducting gender analyses as part of ITTO operations.
It flows from the ITTO policy guidelines on gender equality and empowering women and supplements
the Guidelines for ensuring stakeholder participation in the project cycle contained in Appendix A ofthis document.

ITTO policy guidelines on gender equality and empowering women

B. Gender analysis
4. Gender analysis is typically a subset of social analysis. It is a tool used to identify, understand and explain
the roles and relations between males and females that exist in communities, countries, sectors andsocial segments and thereby to ensure that a project is “sensitive” to gender issues. Gender analysis isalso used to identify the relevance of gender norms and power relations in a specific context (e.g. national,
geographic, cultural, institutional or economic). In the ITTO context, a gender analysis will typicallyexamine and document:• the groups or communities of women relevant to a project (e.g. indigenous, local or professional),
the spheres in which they operate (e.g. rural or urban, public or private), and the cultural context;• differences in the status of women and men and their differential use of, access to and benefits
obtained from forest-based assets, resources, opportunities and services;• the influence of gender roles and norms on the division of time between paid employment in theforest sector and unpaid work (e.g. the collection of wood and non-wood forest products);• the influence of gender roles and norms on leadership and decision-making in the public and/or
private forest sector, constraints and opportunities, and entry points for narrowing gender gaps andempowering women; and• the potential differential impacts—including negative impacts—of a project on men and women.
5. The gender analysis framework will vary depending on the nature, scope and scale of the proposed
project (e.g. whether it focuses on tropical forest management, forest industry and/or the tropical timbertrade, and at what level). Regardless of the type of project, the gender analysis will help ensure thatprojects not only “do no harm” but also promote equality and, where relevant, help close the gender gap.
6. A gender analysis should be undertaken early in the project planning phase. In this way, an
understanding of gender roles and power relations can be built into projects and inform their design,
objectives, interventions and desired outcomes. The results of a gender analysis will also help:• ensure that the views of both men and women are taken into account in project formulation;• ensure that projects “do no harm” and avoid unintended consequences that increase inequalities
between women and men;
• identify data and knowledge gaps that the proposed project may wish to address; and• develop performance indicators for gender where appropriate for project monitoring, reporting andevaluation.
7. Most gender analysis frameworks involve collecting quantitative and qualitative sex-disaggregatedinformation and statistics on similar sets of issues, sometimes referred to as “domains”. Depending on
the type and location of a project, sources of quantitative sex-disaggregated data may include national
and international databases, non-governmental organizations, donor agencies, and the results of previous
gender analyses in a country/locality or conducted on relevant topics. Qualitative information may begenerated through interviews with potential stakeholders, both men and women, and project partners.
8. A gender analysis may take various forms depending on the project context, size, available resources,and existing sex-disaggregated data. It may be a stand-alone study or integrated into other project datacollection and/or analysis processes, such as social and environmental risk and impact assessments.
9. Given its benefits, a gender analysis is generally considered highly cost-effective. According to theGreen Climate Fund, gender mainstreaming and analysis does not necessarily signify additional project
costs and may well increase project effectiveness and efficiency.2
2

 ource: Mainstreaming Gender in Green Climate Fund Projects (GFC 2017)
Shttps://docs.euromedwomen.foundation/files/ermwf-documents/7234_3.199.genderinclimatechange.pdf

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C. Examples of questions to be asked/answered
10. The specific issues or domains addressed in a gender analysis will vary depending on whether the
project deals with the tropical forest resource base, forest industry development, or the international
trade in tropical timber and whether it is local, national, regional or international in scale. Below are
examples of the types of questions that could frame a gender analysis.3 Questions should be adapted
to fit the nature and scope of a given project, and some may not be applicable to all projects.
What is the project context?
• What demographic data—disaggregated by sex and income—are available?
• What are the respective roles, interests, needs and/or priorities of women and men?
• What is the legal status of women?
• What laws, policies and institutional practices influence the roles of men and women?
• What common beliefs, values and stereotypes exist related to gender?
Who has what?
• What are the levels of income and wages of women and men in the forest sector?
• What are the typical levels of education for boys and girls?
• What is the forest land-tenure and resource-use situation?
• Who controls access to, or owns, the forest?
• Do women have rights to forest land and resources?
• Do women and men have access to extension services, training programmes, etc.?
	Who does what?
• What is the division of labour between men and women in the forest sector?
• How do women and men participate in the formal and informal forest-based economy?
• How are women represented relative to men in the forest-based workforce?
• What specialized knowledge and skills do men and women have related to forests?
• How do women and men participate in non-market uses of forest resources?
	Who decides?
• Who controls/manages/makes decisions about forest-based resources, assets and finances?
• How do women and men participate in forest planning and decision-making and at what level?
• How much influence do women have in decision-making?
• Do men and women belong to forest-based cooperatives, trade unions or other types of economic,
political or social organizations?
Who benefits?
• How will the project benefit women and men?
• Will the services/products of the proposed interventions be accessible to and benefit both men and women?
• Will the proposed interventions increase the incomes of both women and men?

3

 hese sample questions are based on those commonly listed in gender analysis guidance documents, includingT
Mainstreaming Gender in Green Climate Fund Projects (GFC 2017).

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D. Example of gender questions in the logical framework
11. When formulating projects, the project’s logical framework (logframe) can offer an important opportunity
for gender mainstreaming. Table 1 sets out key questions to ask when designing a project logframe of
impacts, outcomes, outputs and activities.
Table 1: Examples of key questions on gender issues in the logframe
Impact• Is gender equality an overall objective of the project?
• Will men and women (of differing ages and socioeconomic groups) benefit equally from the project?

Outcomes• Does the outcome include any clear reference to women and men and existing inequalities
between them?
• Does the intervention have the potential to improve women’s access to self-provisioning andother productive resources, services, technologies, training and employment opportunities?
• Does the intervention have the potential to improve women’s decision-making on resources?

Outputs• Do the outputs respond to the different needs and priorities of men and women, as identified
in the gender analysis?
• Do the outputs challenge/redress existing gender inequalities and discriminatory norms andpractices?

Activities• Are women and men given equal opportunities to plan, participate in and monitor the project’s
activities?
• Do the planned activities take into account the roles and responsibilities of men and womenin order to ensure equal opportunities for and benefits from participation?

(Source: How to mainstream gender in forestry – A practical field guide (FAO 2016); www.fao.org/3/a-i6610e.pdf)

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E. Gender-sensitive versus gender-transformative projects
12. By incorporating a gender analysis in the project design phase, all ITTO project proposals are expected
to be gender-sensitive—that is, aware of and sensitive to gender issues as they apply in the projectcontext—and to seek gender co-benefits in project design and outcomes. Project proposals that go
beyond gender sensitivity to actively enhance gender equality and empower women are referred toas “gender transformative”.
13. Gender-transformative projects are those that critically assess and work to positively change genderroles, norms and relations in ITTO’s work. They include one or more objectives that aim to raiseawareness of gender roles and norms among women and men and to transform those norms throughactions that close the gap in gender equality and promote women’s rights, power, voice, economic
opportunities, skills and benefit-sharing (see Table 2).
Table 2: Examples of gender-transformative project objectives
Topic

Project objective

Awareness-raising • Enhance recognition of the role of women in the sustainable management of tropical
production forests, the use of forests for self-provisioning, and forest-based income
and information
generation, value chains and markets• Raise awareness of gender gaps and their negative impacts on the tropical timber economy• Generate improved information and data on the contributions of women to the forest
sector and the timber economy at all levels• Increase women’s awareness of their forest-based economic opportunities
Rights• Strengthen forest-related policies and legislation to promote gender equality at thenational, subnational and/or local levels• Enhance the implementation of applicable laws and policies• Strengthen women’s rights to forest land tenure and ownership and access to forest resources• Resolve conflicts between statutory and customary rights

Economic
empowerment• Support women’s forest enterprises at various levels• Improve women’s access to financial services and capital, including microfinancing and credit• Improve women’s access to forest-product markets• Improve women’s access to enabling technology, including information andcommunication technology, and wood-processing techniques• Strengthen women’s participation in forest value chains• Promote equal pay for women for equal work

Power and voice• Facilitate women’s participation in forest user groups• Enhance women’s participation and influence in forest-related decision-making at the
local, national and international levels• Promote women in management and leadership positions in forest institutions, national
forest authorities, private companies and concessions• Strengthen women’s forest-related networks at various levels• Monitor how actual practice reflects agreed procedures

Skills• Improve women’s access to forest-related education and training opportunities(technical, vocational, professional)• Improve women’s access to extension services• Enhance women’s employment and livelihood skills, including in value-added forest-based
processing industries

Benefits• Support the equitable distribution and sharing of benefits derived from forests for men
and women• Support equity between women and men in the generation of benefits derived from forests

POLICY DEVELOPMENT

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ITTO
ITTO policy guidelines on genderequality and empowering women

ITTO is committed to gender mainstreaming and enhancing
gender equality outcomes across its policy and project work.
The ITTO policy guidelines on gender equality and empowering
women institutionalize this commitment. The policy guidelines
serve as a framework for gender integration and mainstreamingin ITTO policies, plans, programmes, projects, activities andinternal functioning and are intended to enhance the impact
and effectiveness of the Organization’s operations in all areas
and at all levels.

International Tropical Timber Organization

International Organizations Center, 5th Floor, Pacifico-Yokohama, 1-1-1, Minato-Mirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama, 220-0012, Japan
Tel +81-45-223-1110 Fax +81-45-223-1111 Email itto@itto.int Web www.itto.int© ITTO 2018

Policy Development Series 22

International Tropical Timber Organization