WEPs Transparency
and Accountability
Framework
Creating
Transparency on
Gender Equality
to Transform
Business

UN Women would like to thank the organizations that provided input and feedback into the development of the
WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework, including amfori, Bloomberg, EDGE, Equileap, Global Reporting
Initiative, UN Development Programme, UN Global Compact, Value for Women, and the World Benchmarking
Alliance.
The framework was developed by UN Women with the support of BSR and with the financial support from theEuropean Union through the WE EMPOWER-G7, WeEmpower Asia and Win-Win Programmes as well as amfori.

Foreword

Businesses have a criticalrole in enacting policies
that support women’s
economic empowerment
and ensuring these efforts
are measured, reported andaligned to areas that havethe greatest impact.

T

he integration of gender statistics and sex
disaggregated data in corporate reporting
practices gives companies purpose and helps
them set and socialize their top priorities. It is key
to enabling employees, consumers, communities
and investors to better understand how theorganization contributes to gender equality
and women’s empowerment in the workplace,marketplace and community.

The world is better with more women at the table,
and businesses hold a critical piece of the puzzle
to bringing about such transformation. Benefits ofworking towards gender equality are far-reaching,from higher staff morale, strengthened linkages
with the local community and an enhanced
bottom line, to better access to markets, increased
sales and new investments.
With the support of this guiding document,
I encourage all progressive companies andorganizations to systematically measureperformance of their gender-related policies andpractices. I expect that it will help you make adifference within your organization and along the
global supply chains.
Among the thousands of WEPs signatories
actioning gender equality and women’s
empowerment across 141 countries, many of these
progressive companies and organizations are
already using transparency and accountability
frameworks to enhance and tailor their genderrelated values and performance in reporting. And
my hope is that you will join us too on this journey.

Mohammad Naciri
UN Women Regional Director
for Asia and the Pacific

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform BusinessiPreface

Business leaders andstakeholders agree thatwhile not everything ofvalue can be counted, it isdifficult to manage what
is not measured. Current
corporate reporting
practices have shownhow public reportingon a specific issue candrive companies to takemeaningful action.

Despite the potential to trigger change,
companies rarely collect gender statistics andgender-disaggregated data to measure outcomeson gender equality and women’s empowerment in
the workplace, marketplace and community; andthey are even less likely to report on this publicly.
A growing number of stakeholders, including
employees, consumers, investors, and civilsociety, are calling on companies to disclose
more information on their efforts towards genderequality. At the same time, the evidence base forwhy business should promote gender equality
continues to expand. Companies with greater
progress on gender equality and with policies andpractices in place to empower women are more
resilient and see stronger growth.

ii

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business

The Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs)
provide a holistic framework for companies
to promote gender equality and women’s
empowerment in the workplace, marketplaceand community and drive positive outcomesfor society and business. Launched in 2010by UN Women and UN Global Compact, theWEPs are informed by international labor andhuman rights standards and grounded in therecognition that businesses have a stake in, anda responsibility for, gender equality and women’s
empowerment. As of 1 December 2020, over
4000 companies have signed and committed tothe implementation of the WEPs.
As laid out in Principle 7, transparency andaccountability are required for companies touphold their commitments to gender equality
in the workplace, marketplace, and community.
Measuring and reporting mechanisms are crucial
to monitor and track performance and progress.
The WEPs Transparency and Accountability
Framework presented in this document aims toprovide companies with a holistic set of indicatorsthat are most likely to advance gender equality
across corporate value chains aligned withexisting corporate gender equality frameworks.
We believe that by using the WEPs Transparency
and Accountability Framework as a tool fortransparent reporting, companies, with support
from government and other stakeholders, canmore effectively work towards a gender equal
economy that works for all women and men.
The WEPs Transparency and Accountability
Framework aims to build on and align withexisting corporate gender reporting platforms.
To that end, an extensive mapping and external
engagement was carried out to inform thedevelopment the of the framework.

Contents
1

The WEPs Journey

3

The WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework

5

How should companies report on the WEPs Transparency
and Accountability Framework?

6

Where does the Framework fit in your WEPs journey?

11

From Measurement to Action: The WEPs Action Planning Tool12

How to report the indicators on www.weps.org?

14

Annex 1: Key Terms and Definitions

15

Annex 2: Indicator Categories and Criteria

16

Annex 3: Definition of Essential Indicators

18

Annex 4: Making the Business Case: Indicator Topics
and Rationale

25

Annex 5: Indicator Alignment with Existing Gender
Reporting Platforms

31

Annex 6: Resources

The WEPs takebusinesses througha journey... to drive
gender equality
across theirindustry

The WEPs Journey

The WEPs JourneyCommitting to and implementing the WEPs
takes businesses through a journey thatenables them to put in place tailor-made
impactful measures to drive gender equality
across their industry and promote inclusive,
sustainable growth. Once companies haveendorsed the WEPs, the the Transparency andAccountability Framework and corresponding
Action Planning Tool support companies toactivate, sustain and report on the WEPs.
Companies can use the WEPs Action Planning
Tool to develop a gender action plan andimplement gender-responsive policies
and practices. While the the Transparency
and Accountability Framework provides
companies with recommended indicators to
track and monitor progress and report publicly.

The WEPs Action Planning Tool is available
for WEPs signatories through their respective
national UN Women Programme Offices.
The Tool enables companies to assess
their efforts to promote gender equality,
prioritize areas for action, and develop agender action plan. Companies can use theExcel-based tool to collect and input dataand identify highlighting major gaps andareas for improvement. Based on the results,
companies can build a gender action plan
including priority action areas, a timeline,
ownership, accountability mechanism, KPIs,
and next steps.
The Action Planning Tool is offered tocompanies as part of the mentorship andimplementation programmes around the WEPs.
The tool is not publicly available but UN
Women in your respective countries can
support you.
The Action Planning Tool is not needed toreport your progress.

1. Consider
Reactivate
6. Report

2. Sign

5. Sustain

3. Activate

4. Engage

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business

1

The WEPs Journey

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aims to achieve gender equality andsimultaneously acknowledges throughout the Declaration that advancing women’s human rights
as well as gender diversity and inclusion are a prerequisite for inclusive and sustainable growth.
The Sustainable Development Goal 5 aims to achieve gender equality and empowerment all
women and girls. Gender equality is also key to the achievement of all other Goals. The WEPs are
the primary vehicle for business to deliver on the gender equality dimensions of the 2030 Agenda
and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework will help companies to track and monitor
progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment and the achievement of the SDGs. In
addition, some of the indicators align with specific SDG Targets or topic areas, specifically thoserelated to SDG 5 on Gender Equality and SDG 8 on Decent Work and Economic Growth (seeAnnex 4: Indicator Alignment with Existing Gender Reporting Platforms).
Resources: https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-and-the-sdgs; https://www.adb.org/publications/genderequality-sdgs-asia-pacific

17 PARTNERSHIPSFOR THE GOALS

1NO
POVERTY
HUNGER
2 ZEROJUSTICEAND STRONG
16 PEACE,
INSTITUTIONSHEALTHAND WELL-BEING
3 GOODON
15 LIFELANDEDUCATION
4 QUALITY

GENDEREQUALITY AND
WOMEN’SEMPOWERMENT

BELOW
WATER
14 LIFEACTION
13 CLIMATE

5

GENDEREQUALITY

CLEAN WATERSANITATION
6 AND
CONSUMPTION
12 RESPONSIBLE
AND PRODUCTION
AND
7 AFFORDABLE
CLEAN ENERGYCITIES AND
11SUSTAINABLE
COMMUNITIESINEQUALITIES
10 REDUCED2

INNOVATION AND
9 INDUSTRY,INFRASTRUCTURE

WORK
AND ECONOMIC
8 DECENTGROWTHWEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business

The WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework

The WEPs Transparency andAccountability Framework
A comprehensive tool to measure corporate progress
towards implementing the WEPs and promoting
gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The WEPs Transparency and Accountability
Framework is divided into three distinct categories(See Annex 2: Indicator Categories and Criteria for
more details):

1. Essential Reporting Indicators

2. Complementary Indicators

3. Input and Support Measuresand Indicators

Companies can use the Transparency andAccountability Framework to track and measureprogress for women in the workplace, marketplace,and community. The WEPs Transparency andAccountability Framework can also support
companies to measure and report progress against
other commitments and reporting platforms,
including the Sustainable Development Goals aswell as the UN Guiding Principles on Business andHuman Rights (See Annex 4: Indicator Alignment
with Existing Gender Reporting Platforms).
The indicators were chosen based on theirpotential to drive transformative change forgender equality and women’s empowerment in
the workplace, marketplace and community andcreate more equitable economic opportunities forall. Ease and probability of companies to reportwere also considered during the development
and selection of the indicators. The indicators aim
to challenge the status quo while also enablingcompanies and organizations to understand theirperformance on gender equality and women’s
empowerment across their value chain.

Creating Transparency
WEPs Transparency
on Gender Equality
and Accountability
to Transform
Framework
Business
Creating
Transparency
on Gender
Equality Framework
to Transform Business
The Women’s Empowerment
Principles
Monitoringand Evaluation

3

The WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework

WEPs signatories – companies (private,public, state-owned and cooperatives) of
any size, location, and industry, establishedunder national law, as well as industry
associations and chambers of commercecommitted to advancing genderequality and women’s empowerment
in the workplace, marketplace, andcommunity – are encouraged to use the
WEPs Transparency and Accountability
Framework. Governments, regulatory
bodies, academia, civil society, andcorporate reporting platforms can use the
WEPs Transparency and Accountability
framework as a guide to integrate genderreporting into their organizational
reporting requirements as well as includingthese in their regulations, policies, laws,
guiding principles etc. to contribute tocreate more gender-inclusive businesses
at large.

What does the Transparency and Accountability
Framework mean for companies?
Companies are strongly encouraged to reportpublicly on all Essential Reporting Indicators. UN
Women also recommends that companies reporton the Complementary Reporting Indicators,
whenever possible. The official WEPs website
www.weps.org offers a platform where companies
can publicly and/or privately report on.
UN Women also recommends that companies
report on the Complementary Reporting
Indicators, whenever possible.
UN Women is committed to working closely withgovernments and other stakeholders to integrate
the Essential Reporting Indicators into mandatory
reporting requirements for transformative change
across sectors, countries, and globally.

How should companies report on the WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Companies and employers taketransformative action to address key
areas, close gender gaps, and foster
safe and inclusive workplaces.

Indicator
categories

cy

en
ar

p
ns

ic
bl

g

sin

ea
cr

In

pu

tra

Essential Reporting
Indicators
Indicators measuring positive,
irreversible and sustainable change forgender equality. Any company, anywhere in theworld, can report on them easily.

Complementary Reporting Indicators
Indicators measuring key areas to tackle systemic barriers to gender equality andwomen's
economic empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and community (not standardized
across countries, sectors and/or size of company).

Input and Support Measures and Indicators
Indicators measuring organizations' inputs to change, such as policies, and measures that are foundational toachieving gender equality and women's empowerment. For example, a parental leave policy serves as an input
to driving change towards more parents – mothers and fathers – taking leave. Measuring their leave and return
to work allows the organization to measure its retention rate of talent (women and men). Where specified,
Indicators may be specific to an industry (i.e., finance) or capture data on emerging issues (i.e., Artificial
intelligence) where evidence is showing to have differentiated impacts on women and men but for whichdata and reporting may be undeveloped.

4

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform BusinessHow should companies report on the WEPs
Transparency and Accountability Framework?

How should companies reporton the WEPs Transparency andAccountability Framework?
Companies can integrate the framework
into their existing Monitoring & Evaluation
processes or conduct a stand-alone genderassessment. The framework can be use annuallyor updated regularly throughout the year. Certain
indicators may be collected and reported on
more frequently. As much as possible, companies
are encouraged to report on the data publicly
either in a stand-alone gender equality report, aspart of their business, sustainability or corporatesocial responsibility reporting (ESG-Reporting), or through existing gender reporting platforms(see Annex 4: Indicator Alignment with Existing
Gender Reporting Platforms).

A dditional diversity categories: Where
possible, companies should report acrossadditional diversity categories to captureintersecting and multiple identities of
their employees. This includes but is not
limited to:Age: Companies should report data fordifferent age groups: under 30 years ofage, between 30-50 years of age, and50 years of age and older
Race/ethnicity, where legally allowed andrelevant
Nationality

Data should be reported as follows:F iscal year: Data should be provided for thelast full fiscal year.

Disability
Sexual OrientationE mployee coverage: Data provided
should cover at least 80%
of a company's employees.

Creating Transparency
WEPs Transparency
on Gender Equality
and Accountability
to Transform
Framework
Business
Creating
Transparency
on Gender
Equality Framework
to Transform Business
The Women’s Empowerment
Principles
Monitoringand Evaluation

5

Where does the Framework fit in your WEPs journey?

Where does the Framework fit
in your WEPs journey?
The Framework is accompanied by an Action Planning
Tool and complements the WEPs Gender Gap Analysis
Tool, which together aim to support companies andemployers to understand their performance on genderequality and women’s empowerment across their value
chain and drive action on key areas, close gender gaps,
and foster safe and inclusive workplaces.

Step 1
Gender Gap Analysis
Tool
Companies assess genderequality performance acrossthe workplace, marketplace,and community. The
anonymous tool identifies
gaps in a company's
performance at fourlevels: policy/commitment,
implementation,measurement andtransparency.

Step 2
Action Planning Tool
Companies develop an
action plan to advancegender equality in theworkplace, marketplaceand community. The
Action Planning Tool
help close major gaps inpolicy, implementation
measurement, andtransparency. The KPIs alignto the Transparency andAccountability Reporting
Framework to facilitate
reporting and show progress.
Companies do not needto rely on this tool to start
reporting on Indicators, thetool provides guidance to set
target and actions.

WEPs Gender Gap
Analysis Tool website

6

This tool is a support
tool but not publicly
available and no
pre-requisite forcompanies to report.

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business

Step 3
Transparency andAccountability
Reporting Framework
Companies use theTransparency andAccountability Reporting
Framework to set anddefine internal and external
indicators to facilitate
regular public reporting on
progress against the WEPs.
The indicators constitute acomprehensive framework
to measure corporate
progress towards WEPs
implementation.

Equality Means
Business:
WEPs BrochureWhere does the Framework fit in your WEPs journey?

Overview of the Indicators
The following table provides an overview
of all Essential and Complementary
Reporting Indicators with a reasoning
why these indicators will enabletransformative change towards
more equitable workplaces.

Essential
Reporting Indicators
Indicators measuring positive,
irreversible and sustainable change forgender equality. Any company, anywhere in theworld, can report on them easily.

Complementary Reporting Indicators
Indicators measuring key areas to tackle systemic barriers to gender equality
andwomen's economic empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and community (notstandardized across countries, sectors and/or size of company).

Essential Reporting Indicators

1a

Percentage ofwomen in seniorleadership level
positions*

1b

Percentageof women on
non-executive
board (only forcompanies witha non-executive
board) *Women inleadership

Equal pay2

Ratio of thebasic salary andremunerationof women tomen for each
employee
category, by
significant
locations ofoperation*

Why is this indicator important?
Women only hold 29 per cent of leadership roles and 22
per cent of board seats globally. Having more women in
leadership holds multiple benefits for companies including
improved financial performance and shareholder value,
reduced risk of fraud and corruption, increased customer
and employee satisfaction, greater investor confidence,and enhanced market knowledge and reputation. When
women leaders have adequate support and resources,
increased gender parity at the top can create a role model
effect to encourage more women to pursue leadership
positions and help counteract societal biases about
women in leadership roles. Tracking women in leadershipenables companies to set meaningful, time-bound targets
and hold themselves accountable.
Globally, women are paid 20 percent less than men on
average, contributing to gaps in wealth, retirement savings
and income vulnerability limiting women’s ability to takefull advantage of career and professional opportunities.
For women of colour, women with disabilities, Indigenous
women, and migrant women the pay gaps are evenhigher. In addition to being illegal on many countries
and a violation of women’s rights, gender pay inequities
impact employee motivation and productivity, contributing
to overall business performance. Paying women lessthan their male counterparts in the workplace is likely
to negatively impact women’s commitment and trustin the organization leading to fewer talent interested injoining the organization, greater turnover, lower employee
retention, and lower productivity which come at a highmonetary and time cost for employers. Increasingly
governments and public reporting platforms are requiring
companies to report on equal pay, making it a legal andreputational liability for businesses.

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business7

Where does the Framework fit in your WEPs journey?

3aPercentage of
new hires who
are women*

3bPercentageof employees
promoted who
are women

Equal
opportunities
in theworkplace
Retention rateof employeesthat took4b
parental leave,disaggregatedby sex*

Safe andinclusive
workplaces

84

Has confidential,
anonymousgrievance,
resolution andnon-retaliation
mechanisms
and procedures
to address
and respondto reports andincidents ofviolence andharassment

Women suffer different types of discrimination
throughout their careers leading to poorer outcomesin the workplace and economy. Overall, progress on
women’s labour market participation has stalled, atonly 55 per cent, versus 78 per cent of men globally,
and women are overrepresented in short-term andpart-time contracts. Gender-based discrimination in
the workplace infringes on women’s economic rights,
impacting hiring and recruitment, promotions anddevelopment opportunities, and women’s and men’sability to take and return from parental leave. Tracking
the share of women hired and promoted provides
insights into the opportunities for women to advancein the workplace and create the pipeline needed toachieve more equitable representation of women across
a company. Women undertake 75 per cent of unpaid
care and domestic work globally, a share that increases
when they become mothers. Monitoring employee
retention rates post-parental leave can help to identify
whether a company culture supports working parents
and allows employees to balance their personal andprofessional responsibilities. In addition, comprehensive
maternity and paternity policies and initiatives toensure both women and men take advantage of paid
leave have shown to improve employee attraction andretention rates.
Violence and harassment against women is aa violationof women’s rights but nevertheless present in alljobs, occupations, and sectors of the economy acrossthe world. Currently there is not an agreed set ofquantitative indicators for this area and corporate data
is rarely collected and even less likely to be reported.
However, due to the global and pervasive nature ofviolence against women, companies have a crucial role toplay in combatting workplace violence and harassment
and in supporting women victims of domestic violence.
The ILO Convention 190 sets out a global framework forgovernments and companies to address violence andharassment in the world of work, including confidential,
anonymous grievance, resolution and non-retaliation
mechanisms and procedures to address and respondto reports and incidents of violence and harassment.
Additionally, addressing violence and harassment against
women provides an economic benefit for the private
sector as it is estimated to cost countries up to 3.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) due to loss of
incomes, opportunities, and workplace productivity.

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform BusinessWhere does the Framework fit in your WEPs journey?

Complementary Reporting Indicators
Reporting
Areas

Women’s
representationin nontraditionalroles

Training anddevelopment

Equitable
Procurement
Practices

Indicator

Rationale

Percentageof women in
traditionally
underrepresented
roles

While gender gaps in education are closing slowly,
women are less likely to have access to training andprofessional development and women’s skills are
not in line with skills needs in the changing worldof work. As a result, women are often segregated in“feminized” sectors and roles, where wages are typicallylower. In addition, women face discriminatory norms,
practices and, in some places, laws when entering
traditionally male sectors, such as construction, heavy
manufacturing, and engineering, among others.

6

Average hours of
training that theorganization's
employees haveundertaken,
disaggregatedby sex andemployee level*

Increasing women’s access to education and training
has been shown to increase women’s labour force
participation rates. It can also catalyze women’s
advancement to leadership positions in an organizationand enable women to full underrepresented roles.
Addressing the training and development gap for
women, also enables companies to develop current
and future skills, attract, engage, and retain talent, andimprove overall productivity, agility, and adaptability of
the workforce. The increased application of technology
and automation across all sectors makes addressing
the training and education gap more imperative as
women face a gap in STEM skills, low participation in thetechnology sector and yet female-dominated sectors
and jobs, such as manufacturing and teaching, face rapid
automation and technology applications.

7

Percentage ofprocurement
spend withwomen-owned
businesses

8

Percentage ofprocurement
spend withbusinesses withgender equalitycommitments

9Percentage ofworkers in supply
chain receiving
a living wage,
disaggregated bysex

5

Women-owned businesses face several barriers toaccess and fully participate in local and global value
chains, including limited funding, unpaid care work, anddiscriminatory business environments. At the same time,
women-owned businesses represent the fastest-growing
market segment in some regions and globally holds thepotential to contribute to global economic growth andthe creation of new jobs. Sourcing from women-owned
businesses increases profitability, provides access to newmarkets, increases supplier availability, and enhances
corporate reputation and customer loyalty. In addition,
women are over-represented in vulnerable and low wage
positions in supply chains. Minimum wage is rarely enoughto meet the basic needs of employees and their families.
Thus, a commitment to living wage means companies
work toward ensuring all workers in their supply chainsare paid a wage sufficient to meet the basic living needsof an average-sized family in a particular economy.

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business9Where does the Framework fit in your WEPs journey?

Genderresponsive
marketing

Genderresponsive
Product designand development

Women incommunities

10

10

Has a
stand-alone
responsible
marketingpolicy or acommitment
embeddedin a broader
corporate policythat addresses
the portrayalof genderstereotypes

Advertisements and marketing materials often
mirror and reinforce existing gender stereotypes.
Taking a gender transformative approach canenhance consumer loyalty, expand market reach,and attract and retain the next generation ofskilled workers. Embedding gender into themarketing policy or commitment is the firststep to avoid gender stereotypes and promote
positive portrayals of women and girls. This
includes marketing campaigns are free of genderstereotypes, and respect women, men and genderbalance and systematically depict women and men
as empowered actors with progressive, intelligent,and multi-dimensional personalities. Companies
with inclusive and gender-responsive marketing
practices are also more attractive to women talent.

11

Has a policy orcommitment
embedded in a
wider corporate
policy to integrate
inclusive genderconsiderations
into productdesign anddelivery

When companies ignore gender perspectives
during product design and delivery, they risk
exacerbating existing gender divides or creating
new ones. Integrating gender considerationsin product design and delivery is a business
opportunity: women account for over USD20
trillion in consumer spending per year and are
the fastest growing consumer economy and thatby 2028 women will control close to 75 per centof discretionary spending worldwide. However,
women continue to be underserved and underfinanced across sectors.

Percentage
of financial
or pro-bono
support forgender equality
programs

When companies ignore gender during productdesign and delivery, they risk exacerbating existing
gender divides or creating new ones. Integrating
gender considerations in product design anddelivery is a business opportunity: women accountfor over USD20 trillion in consumer spending
per year and are the fastest growing consumer
economy and that by 2028 women will control
close to 75 percent of discretionary spending
worldwide. However, women continue to beunderserved and under financed across sectors.

12

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform BusinessFrom Measurement to Action:
The WEPs Action Planning Tool

From Measurement to Action:
The WEPs Action Planning Tool
The WEPs Transparency and Accountability
Framework is accompanied by an Action Planning
Tool which allows companies to do a high-levelassessment of their efforts to promote genderequality, prioritize areas for action, and develop
a gender action plan. Companies can use theExcel-based tool to collect and input data andidentify highlighting major gaps and areas for
improvement. Based on the results, companies
can build a gender action plan including priority
action areas, a timeline, ownership, accountability
mechanism, KPIs, and next steps.

How is the WEPs Action Planning Tool
structured
Instructions explains how to use the tool.
 verview provides you with a high-levelO
overview of the WEPs Transparency andAccountability Framework indicators.

Results displays the detailed results of theassessment and helps you to prioritize areas
for actions.
 ction Plan enables you to set targets,Ameasures, and timeframes for priority areas
for improvement.
R ecommended Actions lists recommendations
for each indicator and issue area to improveyour performance on gender equality.
Factsheet presents global and regional
performance on the WEPs Transparency andAccountability indicators, where available.
F ull WEPs Indicator List presents the entire
list of WEPs Transparency and Accountability
indicators, key definitions, and suggested
calculation methodologies.

D ata Collection enables you to input yourcompany's data and results from the WEPs
Gender Gap Analysis Tool.

This tool is currently
not publicly available.
For further information
please contact:
weps@unwomen.org

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business11How to report the indicators on
www.weps.org ?

How to report the indicatorson www.weps.org ?
Reporting on WEPs Company
Profile Page

To date you can report on thefollowing Essential indicators:

At the time of signing the WEPs, you are requested
to provide data against three baseline indicators:

1. Percent of women and men employees

1. Percentage of women
employees
2. Percentage of women atmanagement level

3. Percentage of women on
boards/executive teams/
partners
This information remains internal to the WEPs
Secretariat unless you publish this information on
the WEPs website by creating your company’s
profile page.
At the Reporting stage of the WEPs Journey, youhave an opportunity to share additional data on
progress made in your WEPs implementation. This
progress is shared on your Company Profile Page.

12

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business

2. Percent of women and men in senior
management positions
3. Percent of women and men on boards
4. Ratio of women’s salary to men’s salary
5. Percentage of new hires – women and men
6. Percentage of promotions and career
opportunities – women and men
7. R etention rate of women and men FTE
employees who took parental leave.
8. The Company has a confidential grievance,
resolution, reporting and non-retaliation
mechanism and procedure to address
and respond to incidents of violence andharassment.
For a more detailed description of each indicator[Please look at Annex 3]
As WEPs Signatories, reporting is voluntary. For
companies who wish to report, you can share
progress with the WEPs Secretariat for internal use
only or make it available publicly on your WEPs
Company Profile Page.

How to report the indicators on
www.weps.org ?

Practical steps on reporting privately or publicly on your WEPs
company profile pageFor more detailed instructions on editing general information on your company profile page see here.
1. Go to weps.org
2. Click “Sign in” in the upper right corner

3. Click “Create/Edit Company Profile”. The page
will open to allow you to edit the profile.

Any public information would be shared at thebottom of the company profile page as graphs.

For more details

4. Scroll to the bottom to “Share your Progress”
5. Answer the questions for each indicator.
Companies can choose public or private for eachindicator with the blue button on the right sideof the page

6. Once complete, Click on the green “Save”
button to update the content on the company
profile page.

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business13Annex 1

Annex 1

Key Terms and Definitions
Below is a list of terms and definitions that are used throughout the WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework. There are additional definitions
provided per indicator in the full indicator Framework.

 ender: Refers to the social differences, as opposedG
to the biological ones, between women and menthat have been learned, are changeable over timeand have wide variations both within and between
cultures (UN Women).
Sex: The physical and biological characteristics that
distinguish males and females (UN Women).
Sex-disaggregated data: ex-disaggregated data
is data that is cross-classified by sex, presenting
information separately for women and men, girls
and boys. Sex-disaggregated data reflect roles,
real situations, general conditions of women andmen, girls and boys in every aspect of society.
For instance, the literacy rate, education levels,
business ownership, employment, wage differences,
dependents, house and land ownership, loans andcredit, debts, etc. When data is not disaggregated bysex, it is more difficult to identify real and potential
inequalities. Sex-disaggregated data is necessary for
effective gender analysis(UN Women).
Employee: An individual who is in an employment
relationship with the organization, according tonational law or its application (GRI).

Worker: A person that performs work, the term

‘workers’ includes, but is not limited to, employees,
further examples of workers include interns, apprentices,
self-employed persons, and persons working fororganizations other than the reporting organization,e.g., for suppliers. (GRI).
 upplier: an organization or person that provides
S
a product or service used in the supply chain of thereporting organization (GRI).
A supplier is further characterized by a genuine
direct or indirect commercial relationship withthe organization.
Examples of suppliers can include, but are notlimited to:		 • Brokers: Persons or organizations that buy
and sell products, services, or assets forothers, including contracting agencies that
supply labor.
		 • Consultants: Persons or organizations that provide
expert advice and services on a legally recognizedprofessional and commercial basis. Consultants arelegally recognized as self-employed or are legally
recognized as employees of another organization.
		 • Contractors: Persons or organizations working onsite
or offsite on behalf of an organization. A contractor
can contract their own workers directly, or contract
sub-contractors or independent contractors.
		 • Distributors: Persons or organizations
that supply products to others.

14

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business		 • Franchisees or licensees: Persons ororganizations that are granted a franchise or
license by the reporting organization. Franchises
and licenses permit specified commercial
activities, such as the production and saleof a product.
		 • Home workers: Persons at home or in otherpremises of their choice, other than theworkplace of the employer, who perform
work for remuneration, and which results in a
product or service as specified by the employer,
irrespective of who provides the equipment,materials or other inputs used.
		 • Independent contractors: Persons ororganizations working for an organization,a contractor, or a sub-contractor.
		 • Manufacturers: Persons or organizations thatmake products for sale.
		 • Primary producers: Persons or organizations thatgrow, harvest, or extract raw materials.
		 • Sub-contractors: Persons or organizations
working onsite or offsite on behalf of anorganization that have a direct contractual
relationship with a contractor or sub-contractor,
but not necessarily with the organization. A
sub-contractor can contract their own workers
directly or contract independent contractors.
		 • Wholesalers: Persons or organizations thatsell products in large quantities to be retailed
by othersAnnex 2

Annex 2

Indicator Categories and Criteria
Category

Criteria

Explanation

Essential Reporting Indicators
Indicators measuring sustainable andirreversible positive change for women.
Currently have an accepted measurement andreporting framework.

Transformative

Indicators should measure outcomes for women that will lead to sustainable and irreversible positive change
as identified in the UN Secretary-General's High -Level Panel on Women's Economic Empowerment1.

Likelihood of
response/
Ease ofreportingComplementary Reporting Indicators
Indicators measuring key areas tacklingsystemic barriers to women’s economic
empowerment across the value chain.
However, the measurement of these
indicators is currently not standardized acrosscountries, sectors and/or size of company.
Complementary Reporting indicators canprogress to Recommended Reporting
Indicators as measurement standards andpublic reporting requirements mature.
Inputs and Supporting Indicators
Policies, practice, and outcomes required
for success in the Reporting Indicators. For
example, the outcome of parental leave being
taken by all parents is supported by inputs
such as a parental leave policy for all parents
and sex-disaggregated data on parents taking
parental leave and return to work rates.

Transformative

Indicators should be included such that companies are willing to respond, informed by current reporting
practices, aligned with existing reporting mechanisms, limited reputational or legal risk, and themeasurement and collection process is feasible for companies within existing systems. The Indicators:•a re included in the Gender Gap Analysis Tool and at least six other gender platforms•a re aligned with international standards/SDGs•h ave an accepted measurement framework
Indicators should measure outcomes for women that will lead to sustainable and irreversible positive change
as identified in the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Women's Economic Empowerment.

The following measurable outputs
and outcomes are the foundations fortransformation across WEPs 1-6, including:
Policies and commitments; Goals andtargets; Trainings and implementation; Sexdisaggregated data collection and reporting

Likelihood of
response/
Ease ofreporting

Indicators should be included such that companies are willing to respond, informed by current reporting
practices, aligned with existing reporting mechanisms, limited reputational or legal risk, and themeasurement and collection process is feasible for companies within existing systems. The Indicators:• Included in the GAT and at least four other gender platforms•M easurement is less common due to lack of accepted measurement framework, or differences acrosssectors, regions, and company sizes

Input, output,
and outcome

Indicators can be input, output, or outcome related to measure a company's commitment, implementation,and progress towards implementing the WEPs, creating gender equal workplaces, and promoting women's
empowerment throughout their value chain.

Quantitative or
Qualitative

Indicators can be quantitative or qualitative to capture the range of commitments, policies, and programs
that impact the outputs and outcomes for women across the value chain.

Global relevancy

Indicators are foundational to achieving gender equality and will support achievement of the Reporting
Indicators. They are:•R
 elevant to all business regardless of sector or size•A
 ligned to the GAT and linked to achievement of the WEPs

Sector specificIndicators may be specific to a sector, role or industry (i.e., finance) or capture data on emerging issues (i.e.
Artificial intelligence) where evidence is showing have gendered impacts on women and men but for whichdata and reporting may be undeveloped.

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business15Annex 3

Annex 3

Definition of Essential Indicators
Percent of women and men employees
INDICATOR: Percentage of women and men employees
as a percentage of total number of employees
DEFINITION: Employees include (i) permanently
contracted and (ii) temporarily contracted (such as
seasonal) workers on a Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) basis.
This follows the HIPSO definition for FTE, which includes
directly hired individuals and individuals hired throughthird party agencies so long as those individuals provide
on-site services related to the operations of the clientcompany. This also includes FTE worked by seasonal,
contractual and part-time employees.
CALCULATION: To calculate the percent of FTE
employees that are women, count the total number of
FTE women employees, and divide this number by the
total number of FTE employees. The same calculation
can be done for men employees. As per the HIPSO
definition above part-time jobs can be converted to fulltime equivalent jobs on a pro rata basis, based on local
definition (e.g. if the working week equals 40 hours, a
24 hr/week job would be equal to 0.6 FTE job). Seasonalor short-term jobs are prorated based on the portion of
the reporting period that was worked (e.g., a full-time
position for three months would be equal to a 0.25 FTE
job for a reporting period of one year). If the information
is not available, the rule-of-thumb is two part-time jobs
equal one full-time job.

Percent of women and men in senior

management positions

INDICATOR: Percentage of women and men in senior
management positions as a percentage of total number ofsenior managers in the organization.
DEFINITION: Senior managers are defined as FTE
employees at C-Suite level or equivalent (e.g. Managing
Directors, Partners). Titles may change depending on sizeand structure of a company, so Signatories should use theirjudgement to assess whether positions are
C-Suite equivalent.
CALCULATION: To calculate percent of senior management
who are women, Signatories should divide the number ofwomen senior managers by the total number ofsenior managers.

Percent of women and men on the board
INDICATOR: Percentage of women and men on thecompany board.
DEFINITION: Board members are defined as members whoplay an active role on the Board. An active role may include
acting in an advisory capacity for key decisions and does
not necessarily require a full-time role in the organization.
CALCULATION: To calculate percent of Board members who
are women, Signatories should divide the number of womenon the Board by the total number of Board members.

16

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform BusinessRatio of women’s salary to men’s salary
INDICATOR: Ratio of women’s salary to men’s salary
DEFINITION: Women’s and men’s salaries include threecomponents: (1) Fixed salary – a salary that a person
receives on a stable or fixed basis, that is, the employee
receives the same amount every month (or pay period).
(2) Additional salary – this is the salary that an employee
receives on a temporary basis, for example, associatedwith the performance of a longer period of work, or ascompensation for an expense that they had to incur. This
amount varies from month to month (or pay period). (3)Variable salary – a salary that the employee receives inrecognition for their performance or for the overall resultsof the company or organization.
CALCULATION: Calculate women’s salaries by adding
up all the salaries and dividing by the number of women.
The same calculation should be performed for men. Then
divide the average women salaries by average men salaries.
Both cash salaries and salaries in kind (according to theirobjective economic valuation) should be counted as dotaxes and social insurance, whether payed to the worker orto the public authorities (the full cost to the company). To
calculate salary data, it must be comparable and the time
period need to be the same for all employees, preferably
one full year. If you plan to include employees who havenot been employed for the entire period (one year), theirsalaries should be increased proportionately. For example,
if a person has been employed for 6 months their salaries
should be multiplied by 2. For example, the person has aFixed Salary of 15,000 per year, working 50 per cent of
the working day, then this calculation will result in 30,000
per year (allowing you to compare your salary with that ofpeople who work 100 per cent of the working day).

Annex 3

Percentage of new hires – women and men
INDICATOR: Percentage of newly hired FTE employees –women and men.
DEFINITION: New hires are defined as an employee (1)who has not previously been employed by the company/
organization; or (2) who was previously employed by
the company/organization but has been separated fromsuch prior employment for at least 60 consecutive days.
CALCULATION: To calculate percentage of newly
hired women employees, Signatories should divide thenumber of newly hired FTE women employees by the
total number of FTE newly hired employees. To calculate
the percentage of newly hired FTE men employees,
Signatories should divide the number of newly hired
men employees by the total number of newly hired
employees (or just subtract the percentage of newly
hired women employees from 100 percent).

Percentage of promotions and career

Retention rate of women and men FTE

INDICATOR: Percentage of promotions and career
opportunities – women and men

INDICATOR: Retention rate of women and men FTE
employees who took parental leave

DEFINITION: Ratio of FTE women and men in senior
management (see #2 above) compared to ratio of FTE
women and men employees (see #1 above).

DEFINITION: Parental leave includes maternity,
paternity, parental and adoption leave. Eligibility isdefined by the national legal requirements and any
additional eligibility criteria that the employer may havefor additional benefits. The retention rate is determinedby employees retained in the company or organization
12 months after returning from parental leave.

opportunities – women and men

CALCULATION: To calculate percent of promotions andcareer opportunities for women and men, refer to thedefinitions of employees and senior management above.
Then divide the ratio of FTE women in senior managementby the ratio of FTE women employees; and then divide theratio of FTE men in senior management by the ratio of FTE
men employees.

employees who took parental leave

CALCULATION: To calculate the retention rate of
women, divide the total number of women employees
retained in the company or organization 12 months after
returning to work following a period of parental leave by
the total number of women employees taking parental
leave. Same calculation to be performed for men taking
parental leave.
The Company has a confidential grievance,

resolution, reporting and non-retaliation
mechanism and procedure to address
and respond to incidents of violence andharassment.
Yes | NoWEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business17Annex 4

Annex 4Making the Business Case:
Indicator Topics and Rationale
Principle
1

TopicHigh-level
Leadership

Business case and rationale
High-level corporate commitments and leadership on the WEPs enables transformative change as it isintegral for integrating the principles of gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace,marketplace, and community. Corporate leadership demonstrates commitment and behavioral change at
the highest level and enables high-level advocates for women’s empowerment to operate internally andexternally within their peer networks.
Commitment and leadership on women’s empowerment can deliver business benefits including improved
innovation2, market growth3,4, enhanced trust and credibility with employees, consumers and stakeholders,and increased cost savings and productivity5. By committing to women’s empowerment, companies are also
committing to upholding Universal Declaration of Human Rights principle of ‘equal rights of men and women’6,
as well as the gender dimensions of the UN Guiding Principles on Responsible Business Conduct7 and various
international standards under the ILO8. Committing and leading on women’s empowerment also contributes
towards SDG 5 and can drive progress across all SDGs9. This commitment thereby forms an integral part ofoverall corporate sustainability.

2

Equal Pay

Globally, women are paid 22 per cent less than men on average. This contributes to a gender wealth gap, women’sability to save for retirement, and general income vulnerability limiting women’s ability to take full advantage ofcareer and professional opportunities.10 Some of the gap can be linked to factors such as education and training, care
responsibilities, work experience, enterprise size and union density. The explained portions reflects discrimination,
implicit biases, and social norms in society. Most of the pay gap remains unexplained.11 Companies play an importantrole in addressing gender pay gaps and are increasingly taking action to remove discrimination in the workplace.
Pay impacts employee motivation and productivity, contributing to overall business performance. Paying womenless than their male counterparts in the workplace is likely to negatively impact women’s commitment and trust in
the organization. This can lead to lower talent acquisition, greater turnover, lower employee retention, and lower
productivity which come at a high monetary and time cost for employers.12 Closing the gender pay gap can also help
increase human resource management’s effectiveness and productivity.
The ILO Convention 100 on equal renumeration sets the global standard for how governments and companies
can ensure equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value.13 Increasingly governments
and public reporting platforms are requiring companies to report on equal pay.14 Gender pay gaps, then, are also
becoming legal and reputational liabilities for businesses. This can have legal and reputational implications anddeter investors and consumers.

18

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform BusinessIndicators(Essential, Complementary,
Inputs and Supporting Indicators)• Has a holistic, organization-wide
gender equality strategy/action
plan that identifies specific priority
areas where further improvement
can be made with dedicatedresources for implementation (e.g.,budget, human resources, etc.)• Reports publicly on all WEPs
Essential Reporting Indicators• Has undertaken an independent
gender audit/evaluation• Ratio of the basic salary andremuneration of women to men
for each employee category, by
significant locations of operation• Has a stand-alone policy or acommitment embedded in a
broader corporate policy that
addresses equal pay for work ofequal value, aligned with national
regulatory requirements and theILO Convention 100 on Equal
Remuneration

Annex 4

Principle

Topic

Indicators(Essential, Complementary,
Inputs and Supporting Indicators)

Business case and rationale
To identify and measure your organization’s pay gap, please see UN Women’s ‘Diagnosis for Equal
Renumeration’. Please also see the UN Women guidance note ‘Closing Gender Pay Gaps to Achieve Gender
Equality at Work’ and ‘WEPs Action Card – Closing Gender Pay Gaps’ for suggested actions for companies toclose the gender pay gap.

Equal
Opportunities
in theWorkplace

Women suffer different types of discrimination throughout their careers leading to poorer outcomes in theworkplace and economy. Overall, progress on women’s labour market participation has stalled, and only
55 per cent of adult women are in the labour market, versus 78 per cent of men globally. Women are also
overrepresented in short-term and part-time contracts which contribute to the gender pay gap and verticalsegregation.15 While some progress has been made on women’s leadership, women still only hold 29 per cent ofleadership roles globally, excluding them from high-paid positions and decision-making roles, and denying thenext generation of women female leaders as role models and mentors.16
In addition, women are underrepresented on company boards, holding only 22 per cent of board seats globally.17
Gender-diverse boards have shown to improve decision-making and governance, contribute to talent attraction
and retention, build brand equity, enhance consumer insights, and overall improve corporate performance andprofitability.18
Please see the UN Women guidance note ‘Building Inclusive Boards to Achieve Gender Equity’ and ‘WEPs Action
Card – Gender Parity on Boards’ for suggested actions for companies to improve board diversity.
Gender-based discrimination in the workplace impacts hiring and recruitment, promotions and development
opportunities, wages and benefits, and safety and well-being. Implementing policies and practices to ensure a
workplace is free from gender discrimination enables women’s labour participation and leadership. Collective
bargaining with for example union or worker committees can help companies identify the greatest barriers to genderequality in the workplace and can support closing gender gaps in the workplace, including the gender pay gap.19
While education gaps have slowly begun to close, women are less likely to have access to training andprofessional development and women’s skills are not in line with future skills needs20,21. As a result, women are lesseconomically active, are underrepresented in leadership positions and the labour market remains segregated bygender whereby women work in “feminized” sectors, where wages are typically lower.
A recent ILO report identified unpaid care work as the main barrier preventing women from getting into,
remaining, and progressing in the labour force22. Globally, women perform 76.2 per cent of total hours of unpaid
care work, more than three times as much as men23. Since unpaid care and domestic chores affect women’s
economic prospects and possibilities to work, this directly impacts on business and their capacity tohave ahealthier, diverse, and productive workforce.
International regulatory instruments and frameworks such as the ILO Convention for Maternity Protection and theILO Convention for workers with family responsibilities enhance the responsibilities of countries and governments
in guaranteeing the rights and wellbeing of workers ensuring work-life balance and preventing discrimination
because of their condition of caregivers.

•P ercentage of women in seniorleadership level positions•P ercentage of women on nonexecutive board(only for companies with a
non-executive board)•P ercentage of new hires who are
women, disaggregatedby employee level•P ercentage of promoted employees
who are women, disaggregated by
employee level•R etention rate of employees thattook parental leave, disaggregatedby sex• Percentage of women in traditionally
underrepresented roles• Has time-bound, measurable goals
and targets to increase women's
representation in leadership• Has time-bound, measurable goals
and targets to increase women's
representation in non-traditional roles• Provides leadership training,coaching, and/or mentoring
to support women to accessmanagement and leadership
positions• Percentage of employees by
employment contract, disaggregatedby sex• Annual turnover rate, disaggregatedby sex• Percentage of managers/seniorleadership with clear diversity andinclusion goals

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business19Annex 4

Principle

Topic

Business case and rationale
Investments in care and flexible work policies and programmes that support all employees as caregivers andparents can help to remove this barrier and support all employees in the workplace. Additionally, comprehensive
maternity and paternity policies and initiatives to ensure both women and men take advantage of paid leave
have shown to improve employee attraction and retention rates24 including attracting future talent by matching
the values of younger generations entering the workforce. Comprehensive maternity and paternity policies andinitiatives also enable companies to retain women in the work force and benefits from the new and strengthened
skills parents develop that can be transferred to the workplace including time management and multi-tasking.
However, when adequate support is not provided for parents taking and returning from leave, it can also lead toloss of employees, which is way tracking employee retention post-parental leave is important to identify issues.25
Please see the UN Women guidance note ‘Attracting and Retaining Talent through Inclusive Family-Friendly Policies’for suggested action in prioritizing, establishing and implementing comprehensive maternity and paternity policies
and initiatives.
Gender Bias can be conscious or unconscious and has serious consequences on the outcomes for womenparticularly in the workplace which has traditionally been a male-dominated space. Globally, 91 per cent of men
and 86 per cent of women hold at least one gender bias.26 Addressing gender bias can shift workplace culture
to be more inclusive and ensure that women can fully benefit from the policies and programs in place to support
their advancement in the workplace.

Indicators(Essential, Complementary,
Inputs and Supporting Indicators)• Has a stand-alone policy orcommitment embedded in a
broader corporate policy on nondiscrimination and equal opportunity
policy covering recruitment,
retention, re-entry and promotion of
all individuals• Total number of incidents of
discrimination related to sex orgender• Total number of corrective actions
taken related to incidents of
discrimination related to sex orgender• Percentage of employees in a tradeunion or on a worker committee,
disaggregated by sex

Finally, gender-based discrimination is interconnected with other forms of discrimination and achievingtrue gender equality for all women requires an intersectional approach. To ensure that women from diverse
backgrounds and races are represented and included in policies, programmes, and decision-making, companies
and organizations need to apply an intersectional lens to the WEPs and strengthen their efforts to achieving
gender equality while targeting racism and discrimination in the world of work.
For more information in adopting an intersectional approach to the WEPs please see UN Women’s ‘Call to Action:
Leveraging the WEPs Framework to Target Racism and Discrimination in the World of Work’.
3

Safe andInclusive
Workplaces

Violence and harassment against women is a violation of women’s human rights and a major barrier to achieving
equality of opportunity and access to decent and dignified work. However, violence and harassment against
women, including in the world of work, is pervasive. It is present in all jobs, occupations, and sectors of theeconomy in all countries across the world. It is estimated that as many as 75 percent of the world’s women aged
18 years and over, have experienced sexual harassment27. Some women are disproportionately more affectedby violence and harassment due to their employment status, the type of work they carry out, or because of theconditions in the sector that they work in.
The workplace presents an important intervention point to address violence and harassment against women byaddressing social norms, modelling new behaviors, and providing safe spaces. ILO Convention 190 sets out aglobal framework for governments and companies to address violence and harassment in the world of work.28

20

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business• Has confidential, anonymous
grievance, resolution and nonretaliation mechanisms andprocedures to address and respondto reports and incidents of violenceand harassment•Percentage of employees who
have taken training on violenceand harassment in the workplace,disaggregated by sex

Annex 4

Principle

Topic

Indicators(Essential, Complementary, Inputs andSupporting Indicators)

Business case and rationale
Additionally, addressing violence and harassment against women provides an economic benefit for theprivate sector. The psychological and physical impacts of sexual harassment lower workers’ job satisfaction,organizational commitment, and productivity and result in poor workplace relations, decreased worker
engagement, and reputational risk for organizations. Violence and harassment against women is estimatedto cost countries up to 3.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) due to loss of incomes, opportunities,
and workplace productivity29.
Please see the UN Women guidance note ‘Tackling Sexual Harassment in the World of Work’ for suggested
action in prioritizing, establishing and implementing robust sexual harassment policies and practices
which promote the physical and emotional health, safety and wellbeing of all employees. Additionally,
UN Women’s brief: ‘The COVID-19 Shadow Pandemic: Domestic Violence in the World of Work - A Call to
Action for the Private Sector’ provides details on how companies responding to the problem during the
COVID-19 crisis and provides recommendations for companies on what are the immediate and long-term
measures could be taken.
Women and men have differing health needs, although both share the right to health under the UN
Declaration of Human Rights. Women’s specific needs are often related to their reproductive role andresponsibilities. Failure to meet these needs in the workplace results in women leaving the workforce,
stepping back from more challenging roles, or poorer health outcomes for women. In the case of thelower socio-economic group, such as women factory workers, unequal distribution in access to foodand lower prioritization of women’s health needs, make them even more vulnerable toill-health.
The workplace setting offers an efficient and largely underutilized entry point for improving access tohealth care services and information. Furthermore, investing in women’s health not only benefits employees
and surrounding communities, but it can also have a positive impact on business performance. Investments
in hygiene and reproductive health in the manufacturing setting have shown to reduce absenteeism, staff
turnover, overtime, fewer production errors and increased productivity.

• Has a stand-alone policy or commitment
embedded in a broader corporate policythat explicitly prohibits violence andharassment of any kind, in line with ILO
Convention 190• Provides confidential support for victimsof violence and harassment, including
domestic violence• Has policies and procedures to ensure safety,
security, confidentiality, and protection of
victims of sexual harassment at workplace• Has a policy prohibiting nondisclosureagreements pertaining claims of sexual
harassment in settlement agreements,
unless requested by the victim and does
not require sexual harassment claims to go
to private arbitration (Optional based on
country legislation)• Ratio of work-related injuries for men
to women• Has a company-wide policy orcommitment to respect and support
access to quality health care, including
sexual and reproductive health where
relevant, which is reflected in company
programs and employee benefits.
• Conducts a workplace risk assessment as
part of its operational health and safety
procedures to identify specific genderrelated risks, including violence andharassment.
• Number of breastfeeding facilities per 50
women employees• Absenteeism rate, disaggregated by sex• Percentage of women on health andsafety committee out of total committee
membership• Number of adequate and safe toilet
facilities per 50 women employees
to accommodate hygiene needs suchas clean water and soap and disposal
methods for feminine hygiene products

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business21Annex 4

Principle

Topic

Business case and rationale

4

Training
and Career
Development

Investing in workplace policies and programmes that open avenues for advancement of women at all levels
and across all business areas enables companies to develop current and future skills, attract, engage, and retain
talent, and improve overall productivity, agility, and adaptability of the workforce. Increasing women’s access to
education and training has been shown to increase women’s labor force participation rates30. It can also catalyze
women’s advancement to management and leadership positions in an organization and enable women
to full underrepresented roles.
Mentoring, as one mechanism for training and developing, has shown to increase employee morale and job
satisfaction, reduce turnover, enable the transfer of leadership and management skills to newer staff, and increase
improve organizational problem-solving and onboarding processes.

Indicators(Essential, Complementary,
Inputs and Supporting Indicators)• Average hours of training that theorganization's employees haveundertaken, disaggregated by sex
and employee level• Provides training, skills development,
education, networking, andmentoring to recruit women in nontraditional roles

Please see UN Women’s guidance note ‘Mentoring in the Workplace’ for details on how to develop and roll out acustomized mentoring programme for your organization.
The increased application of technology and automation across all sectors makes addressing the training andeducation gap more imperative as women face a gap in STEM skills, low participation in the technology sector
and yet female-dominated sectors and jobs, such as manufacturing and teaching, face rapid automation andtechnology applications.
5

GenderResponsive
Procurement

A 2020 report analyzing corporate responses to the WEPs Gender Gap Analysis tool found only 4 percentof companies track the percentage spent on women-owned businesses, and 3 percent publicly report on it.31
Women-owned businesses still face a number of barriers as women struggle to access and fully participate in local
and global value chains32, including limited funding, time constraints given expectations about women’s roles as
primary caregiver, and challenging business environments attributed to laws, politics, religions, and culture thatnegatively affect women. Currently, purchases from women-owned businesses account for a mere 1 per cent of thetotal spend33.
At the same time, women-owned businesses represent the fastest-growing market segment in some regions,and globally, it holds the potential to strongly contribute to global economic growth and to the creation of newjobs.34 In addition, sourcing from women-owned businesses increases profitability, provides access to new markets,
increases supplier availability, and enhances corporate reputation and customer loyalty: one study found thatapproximately 34 per cent of companies who had diversified their supplier base by engaging with women-owned
businesses reported a positive impact
on their profitability.35
Women represent a large proportion of workers in the supply chains but continuously encounter genderedchallenges that are frequently overlooked, such as occupational segregation, more vulnerable working conditions,
unequal pay, poor access to maternity rights, and limited access to training.

22

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business• Percentage of procurement spend
with women-owned businesses• Percentage of procurement spend
with businesses with commitments
to gender equality• Percentage of workers in supply
chain receiving a living wage,
disaggregated by sex• Percentage of suppliers screenedusing gender criteria• Percentage of workers in supply
chain, disaggregated by sex andemployee level• Has procurement targets and/or
goals for the amount or percentage
spend with women-owned
businesses• Has procurement targets and/or
goals for the amount and percentage
spend with businesses withcommitments to gender equality

Annex 4

Principle

Topic

Indicators(Essential, Complementary,
Inputs and Supporting Indicators)

Business case and rationale
Empowering women workers through gender-responsive policies and supplier capacity building programmes canimprove on turnover, absenteeism, and retention rates, foster more inclusive working environments, and provide
more dignified working conditions.36 Codes of conduct are often used in factories to set the standard for workplace
conditions; however, they rarely address women’s rights and needs. This means that the unique needs of womenin the workforce remain unaddressed, exposing companies to potential production and delivery disruptions,bottlenecks, and inefficiencies.37
Women are over-represented in vulnerable and low wage positions in supply chains. In addition, the global genderwage gap means women are routinely paid less than men for the same work. Requiring minimum wage ensuresthat suppliers are paying the minimum legally allowed to all employees, regardless of sex. Unfortunately, minimum
wage is not always enough to meet the basic needs of employees and their families. Thus, a commitment to living
wage means companies work toward ensuring all workers in their supply chains are paid a wage sufficient to meet
the basic living needs of an average-sized family in a particular economy (ILO).
Gender-responsive procurement can catalyze improvements on women’s empowerment across the value chain,provide new market opportunities and lower risks through supplier diversity, and improve brand reputation andcustomer loyalty.
Please see UN Women’s guidance note ‘Gender-Responsive Procurement’ for details on how to signatories
in prioritizing, establishing and implementing gender-responsive and ethical procurement practices withoutcompromising quality, efficiency, cost savings and value for money.

GenderResponsive
MarketingAdvertisements and marketing materials often mirror and reinforce existing gender stereotypes. Research across
28 countries found that 53 per cent of consumers say advertising often sets unrealistic expectations and puts
pressure on women and 50 per cent feel advertising often sets unrealistic expectations and puts pressure on girls
and 45 per cent say they still see many sexist ads that offend them.38
At the same time, the business case for taking agender transformative approach to marketing and advertising
is growing showing how it supports enhanced consumer loyalty, expanded market reach, and attract and retain
the next generation of skilled workers. Consumers are looking for the brands and companies they buy from tosupport gender equality: 75 per cent of consumers feel more positive toward companies that demonstrate in theiradvertising that men and women have the same capabilities and roles. While on the other hand, 52 per cent ofconsumers are likely to switch brands if a company’s messaging is not personalized and inclusive of them.39• Offers independently, or as partof a business association, ongoing
capacity building to suppliers andvendors to support continuous
improvement on gender equality• Has a supplier or vendor codeof conduct that explicitly states
support for gender equality• Offers independently, or as partof a business association, ongoing
capacity building to suppliers andvendors to support continuous
improvement on gender equality• Has a supplier or vendor codeof conduct that explicitly states
support for gender equality• Has a commitment to pay a living
wage to all workers in company
supply chain• Has a policy requiring all suppliers to
pay at least the legal minimum wage
to all workers in the company supply
chain• Has a stand-alone responsible
marketing communication policy
or a commitment embedded ina broader corporate policy that
addresses the avoidance of genderstereotypes and promotes positive
portrayals of women and girls.

Embedding gender into the marketing policy or commitment is the first step to ensure marketing and advertising
avoid gender stereotypes and actively promote positive portrayal of women and girls. This includes marketing
campaigns are free from gender stereotypes, and respect women, men and gender balance and systematically
depict women and men as empowered actors with progressive, intelligent, and multi-dimensional personalities.

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business23

Annex 4

Principle

Topic

Business case and rationale

GenderResponsive
Product
design anddevelopment

When companies ignore gender during product design and delivery, they risk exacerbating existing gender divides
or creating new ones. For example, seatbelts, headrests, and airbags have mainly been designed based on datacollected from car crash dummy tests using the physique of men and their seating position. As a result, women are
47 per cent more likely to be seriously insured and 17 per cent more likely to die than a man in a similar accident.40
Similar issues are found in the medical field which has not systematically tested new products on equally
representative samples of women and men.
Companies are increasingly turning to machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support with routine
tasks such as scanning of resumes or responding to client inquiries. However, research has found these tools to
be biased against women in computer vision systems, natural language processing systems, as well as safety andessential product and service delivery. This is due to the lack of gender-disaggregated data in the design process
or majority male design teams which fail to consider gender.41 This is likely to lead to long-term consequences
for business: Gartner, a technology research firm, estimates that by 2022, 85 per cent of AI projects will delivererroneous outcomes due to bias in data, algorithms or the teams responsible for managing them.42
Integrating gender considerations in product design and delivery is also a business opportunity: women accountfor over USD20 trillion in consumer spending per year and are the fastest growing consumer economy and thatby 2028 women will control close to 75 per cent of discretionary spending worldwide. However, women continue
to be underserved and under financed across sectors. Research in women’s health remains underinvested inwith more limited product offerings.43 The IFC estimates that globally there is a USD300 billion gap in financing
for formal, women-owned small businesses, and more than 70 per cent of women-owned small and medium
enterprises have inadequate or no access to financial services. This negatively impacts women’s ability to save,grow their business and support their families.44

6

Women incommunities

Companies can play an important role in investing in community development programmes to make valuable,
effective, and responsible contributions to gender equality and women’s empowerment. This requires embedding
gender in corporate social responsibility activities, philanthropy, public advocacy, and partnerships and tracking
and monitoring the reach of investments through sex-disaggregated data. Using gender criteria, such as issues
related to violence and harassment or unpaid care work, to assess community programs ensures that, at aminimum, programs are not reinforcing gender discrimination and where possible are working to tackle negative
stereotypes and social norms.
Despite the gender-specific risks, human rights and social impact assessments are often gender-neutral. In 2019,
the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights released the “Gender Dimensions of the Guiding Principles
on Business and Human Rights” to provide guidance on how to integrate the respect of women’s human rights
at all stages of due diligence and access to remedy, from gender-sensitive assessments to the implementation ofgender-transformative measures and remedies. Currently, only 9 per cent of companies taking the WEPs Gender
Gap Analysis Tool report assessing the differentiated impacts on men and women during human rights or social
impact assessments and only 12 per cent report publicly the number of beneficiaries from community projects,
disaggregated by sex.45

24

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform BusinessIndicators(Essential, Complementary,
Inputs and Supporting Indicators)• Has a policy or commitment
embedded in a wider corporate
policy to integrate inclusive genderconsiderations into product designand delivery (i.e., design of new
applications, financial services, etc.)• [Sector specific] Percentage of total
financial support and investment,
alone or in partnership with banks
and financial institutions, to provide
credit and other financial services towomen entrepreneurs• [Sector specific] Undertakes productsafety tests that adequately capture
potential risks
for women• [Sector specific] Undertakes genderresponsive assessments of machinelearning and AI tools to prevent
perpetuating gender biases andavoid adverse impacts on women• Percentage of financial or probono support for gender equality
programs• Has a stand-alone policy or acommitment embedded in a broader
corporate policy that addresses
embedding gender in corporatesocial responsibility activities,
philanthropy, public advocacy, andpartnerships

Annex 5

Annex 5

Indicator Alignment with Existing Gender
Reporting Platforms
UNDP Gender Seal

2x Challenge Criteria

Sustainable
Development
Goals Indicators

Global Reporting
Initiative

World Benchmarking
Alliance Gender
BenchmarkEquileap

1aPercentage of women in senior leadership level
positions

4

Yes

4,5,7

A2, A3

405-1

Yes

Yes

1a

Percentage of women on non-executive board (only forcompanies with a non-executive board)

4

Yes

1,2,3

A1

405-1

Yes

Yes

2

Ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women
to men for each employee category, by significant
locations of operation

5Yes

7a, 7b,7c, 7d,
7e

405-2

Yes

3.4

3a

Percentage of new hires who are women

3, 4

Yes

19

A5

401-1

Yes

5.2

12

3b

Percentage promotions going to women

3, 4

Yes

19

A5

401-1

Yes

5.2

12

4

Retention rate of employees that took parental leave,disaggregated by sex

8

Yes

32

5

Has confidential, anonymous grievance, resolution
and non-retaliation mechanisms and procedures
to address and respond to reports and incidents ofviolence and harassment

10

Yes

45

6.2

29, 30,31, 326

Percentage of women in traditionally
underrepresented roles

4

Yes

7

Percentage of procurement spend withwomen-owned businesses

13

WEPs Indicator

Workforce
Disclosure Initiative

Bloomberg Gender
Equality Index

5.5.2

Edge

11

WEPs Gender Gap
Analysis Tool

Gender and Diversity
KPI Alliance

The table below shows how the WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework algins with existing gender reporting platforms.

Yes

11

Yes

19

8.5.1

401-3

C17

C10
C16

405-1

Yes

13
18
WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business25

8Percentage of procurement spend with businesses withgender equality commitments

9Percentage of workers in supply chain receiving a living
wage, disaggregated by sex

10

Has a stand-alone responsible marketing policy or acommitment embedded in a broader corporate policythat addresses the portrayal of gender stereotypes

11

Has a policy or commitment embedded in a wider
corporate policy to integrate inclusive genderconsiderations into product design and delivery

12

Percentage of financial or pro-bono support for genderequality programs13

Has a holistic, organization-wide gender equality
strategy/action plan that identifies specific priority
areas where further improvement can be made withdedicated resources for implementation (e.g., budget,
human resources, etc.)1

Has undertaken a gender audit/evaluation

16

Has time-bound, measurable goals and targets toincrease women's representation in leadership1

17

Has time-bound, measurable goals and targets toincrease women's representation in non-traditional roles3

18

Has a stand-alone policy or a commitment embedded
in a broader corporate policy that addresses equal pay
for work of equal value, aligned with national regulatory
requirements and the ILO Convention 100 on Equal
Remuneration,1951

5

24

Yes

55a,
55b,
55c, 56

34

6

1,2

Yes
Yes

D19

1

8
13

Yes

19

Sustainable
Development
Goals Indicators

World Benchmarking
Alliance Gender
BenchmarkGender and Diversity
KPI Alliance

2x Challenge Criteria

UNDP Gender Seal

Global Reporting
Initiative

Workforce
Disclosure Initiative
3.3

33

18

15

Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business

Equileap

15

Reports publicly on all WEPs Recommended Reporting
Indicators

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework

Bloomberg Gender
Equality Index

B6

14

26

Edge

WEPs Indicator

WEPs Gender Gap
Analysis Tool

Annex 5

19

Provides leadership training, coaching, and/or
mentoring to support women to access management
and leadership positions

20

Percentage of employees by employment contract,
disaggregated by sex

21

Annual turnover rate, disaggregated by sex

22Percentage of managers/senior leadership with clear
diversity and inclusion goals, which include genderequality related goals, included as part of their annual
performance reviews

C10

Yes
3

Yes

401-1

Sustainable
Development
Goals Indicators

World Benchmarking
Alliance Gender
BenchmarkGender and Diversity
KPI Alliance

Workforce
Disclosure Initiative

Yes

102-8
18

2x Challenge Criteria

UNDP Gender Seal

Global Reporting
Initiative

Yes

Equileap

4

Bloomberg Gender
Equality Index

Edge

WEPs Indicator

WEPs Gender Gap
Analysis Tool

Annex 5

12

Yes
Yes

14

Yes

23

Percentage of addressed incidents of discrimination
related to sex or gender

2

406-1

6.3

5

24

Total number of incidents of discrimination related tosex or gender

2

406-1

6.3

5

25

Total number of corrective actions taken related toincidents of discrimination related to sex or gender

2

406-1

26

Percentage of employees who have taken gender bias
training, disaggregated by sex

27

Percentage of employees in a trade union or on aworker committee, disaggregated by sex

28

Percentage of employees that were entitled to paid
parental leave, disaggregated by sex

8

Yes

29

Return to work rate of employees that took paid
parental leave, disaggregated by sex

6

Yes

32

30

Percentage of employees taking advantage of caregiversupport programs, disaggregated by sex

8Yes

33, 36,37, 38B931

Has a stand-alone policy or a commitment embedded
in a broader corporate policy that addresses supporting
employees as parents and caregivers, covering all
employees in major locations of operation

6

Yes

30

8a

Yes

41

10.3.1

Yes
8.8.2
401-3
401-3

20A
Yes

20A,
21, 22
20A,
20B

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business

27

Yes

30

8b

20B

Yes

33, 36,37, 38B937

B9Offers support programs for parents and caregivers,
regardless of sex or marital status

836

Offers flexible work options for all employees

937Percentage of employees who have taken training
on violence and harassment in the workplace,disaggregated by sex
Ratio of work-related injuries for men to women

11

39

Provides confidential support for victims of violenceand harassment, including domestic violence

1040

Has policies and procedures to ensure safety, security,
confidentiality, and protection of victims of sexual
harassment at workplace10

Has a policy prohibiting nondisclosure agreements
pertaining claims of sexual harassment in settlementagreements, unless requested by the victim and does
not require sexual harassment claims to go to private
arbitration (Optional based on local and national legislation)

Has a company-wide policy or commitment to respectand support access to quality health care, including
sexual and reproductive health where relevant, which isreflected in company programs and employee benefits.

28

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business29
GRI 403
30

Yes

12

20A, 21,
22
22

44

38

43

Yes

46, 47

C17

30

C12

3

26

Sustainable
Development
Goals Indicators

20A

34

Conducts a gender-responsive risk assessment as part ofits human rights due diligence process to identify specificgender-related risks, including violence and harassmentand ensure personal safety and security of all employees.

World Benchmarking
Alliance Gender
Benchmark8a

Number of weeks of paid paternity/secondary caregiver
leave in all major locations of operation

42

Gender and Diversity
KPI Alliance

Equileap

30

33

41

Workforce
Disclosure Initiative

Bloomberg Gender
Equality Index

Yes

Number of weeks of paid maternity leave available in all
major locations of operation

UNDP Gender Seal

Edge

6

32

Global Reporting
Initiative

WEPs Gender Gap
Analysis Tool

WEPs Indicator

2x Challenge Criteria

Annex 5

44

Number of breastfeeding facilities per 50 women
employees

45

Absenteeism rate, disaggregated by sex

46

Percentage of women on health and safety committeeout of total committee membership

47

Number of adequate and safe toilet facilities per 50
women workers to accommodate hygiene needs suchas clean water and soap and disposal methods forfeminine hygiene products

11

Average hours of training that the organization's
employees have undertaken, disaggregated by sex andemployee level

4

Yes

Provides training, skills development, education,
networking, and mentoring to recruit women in nontraditional roles

4

Yes

48

49

Percentage of suppliers screened using gender criteria

51

Has procurement targets and/or goals for the amountand percentage spend with women-owned businesses52

Has procurement targets and/or goals for theamount and percentage spend with businesses withcommitments to gender equality

53

Has a supplier or vendor code of conduct that explicitly
states support for gender equality

14

54

Offers independently, or as part of a business association,
ongoing capacity building to suppliers and vendors to
support continuous improvement on gender equality

14

Percentage of workers in supply chain, disaggregatedby sex and employee level

Sustainable
Development
Goals Indicators

World Benchmarking
Alliance Gender
BenchmarkGender and Diversity
KPI Alliance

Workforce
Disclosure Initiative

2x Challenge Criteria

UNDP Gender Seal

Global Reporting
Initiative

Equileap

Yes

50

55

Bloomberg Gender
Equality Index

Edge

WEPs Indicator

WEPs Gender Gap
Analysis Tool

Annex 5

13

404-1

20

50

Yes

Yes

5.1

8, 10

C15

18

C16

18

C15

15

15

24

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business

29

56

Has a commitment to pay a living wage to all workers in
its supply chain

57

Has a policy requiring all suppliers to pay at least thelegal minimum wage to all workers in the company
supply chain

58

Has a stand-alone responsible marketing
communication policy or a commitment embedded in a
broader corporate policy that addresses the avoidanceof gender stereotypes and promotes positive portrayalsof women and girls

15

Percentage of total financial support and investment,
alone or in partnership with banks and financial
institutions, to provide credit and other financial
services to women entrepreneurs (Optional based on
sector)

18

59

60

Undertakes product safety tests that adequately
capture the potential risks for women (Optional basedon sector)

61

Undertakes gender-responsive assessments of machinelearning and AI tools to prevent perpetuating genderbiases and avoid adverse impacts on women (Optional
based on sector)

62

Percentage of direct beneficiaries from community
projects and initiatives, disaggregated by sex

63

Percentage of community programs assessed using
gender-related criteria

30 WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework

Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business

3.3

54

49

34

Sustainable
Development
Goals Indicators

World Benchmarking
Alliance Gender
BenchmarkGender and Diversity
KPI Alliance

Workforce
Disclosure Initiative

2x Challenge Criteria

UNDP Gender Seal

Global Reporting
Initiative

Equileap

Bloomberg Gender
Equality Index

Edge

WEPs Indicator

WEPs Gender Gap
Analysis Tool

Annex 5

Annex 6

Annex 6

Resources
Principle

Topic

UN Women Resources

High-level Leadership

Call to Action Call to Action: Leveraging the WEPs Framework to Target Racism and Discrimination in the World of Work
Webinar: How Can the Women's Empowerment Principles Benefit Your Company?
Report: Empowering Women at Work: Company Policies and Practices for Gender Equality
Tool: The WEPs Gender Gap Analysis Tool

1

High-level Leadership

Case Study: Taking a Global Approach to Gender Equality
Case Study: Advancing Sustainability Management through Reporting2

Equal Pay

Tool: Diagnosis for Equal Renumeration
Guidance Note: Closing Gender Pay Gaps to Achieve Gender Equality at WorkWEPs Action Card: Closing Gender Pay Gaps
Webinar: Making Equal Pay for Women and Men a Reality

Equal Opportunities in the
Workplace

Guidance Note: Building Inclusive Boards to Achieve Gender Equity
WEPs Action Card: Gender Parity on Boards
Guidance Note: Attracting and Retaining Talent through Inclusive Family-Friendly Policies
Webinar: Women's Leadership for Gender Equality
Case Study: Creating the Culture of Inclusion
Case Study: Harnessing a Culture of Inclusion and Diversity
Case Study: Improving the Gender Balance on Boards and in Leadership
Case Study: Levelling the Playing Field for Women in the Workplace

3

Safe and Inclusive Workplaces

Guidance Note: Tackling Sexual Harassment in the World of Work
Brief: The COVID-19 Shadow Pandemic: Domestic Violence in the World of Work - A Call to Action for the Private Sector
Case study: Fighting Everyday Sexism and Domestic Violence in the Workplace

4

Training and Career
Development

Guidance Note: Mentoring in the Workplace
Webinar: Mentoring to Advance Women’s Professional Development
Case Study: Harnessing Women's Talent in the Electricity Sector

5

Gender-Responsive
Procurement

Guidance Note: Gender-Responsive Procurement
Webinar: Gender-Responsive Procurement: A Transformative Strategy for Creating Better Systems for Women’s Entrepreneurship

Gender-Responsive Marketing

Case Study: Creating Gender Equality in Fashion

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business31

h ttps://hlp-wee.unwomen.org/en
Accenture (2019), Getting to Equal 2019: Creating a Culture That Drives Innovation, https://www.accenture.com/us-en/about/inclusion-diversity/gender-equality-innovation-research3
Accenture (2019)4
EY (2013), “Women: The next emerging market”, https://assets.ey.com/content/dam/ey-sites/ey-com/en_gl/topics/growth/
WomenTheNextEmergingMarket.pdf
5
Accenture (2019)6h ttp://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/preamble.shtml
7h ttps://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Business/Gender_Booklet_Final.pdf
8UN (2019), “Gender guidance for the Guiding Principles on Business sand Human Rights” https://libguides.ilo.org/gender-equalityen/standards
9
UN Women, “Women and Sustainable Development Goals”, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/
documents/2322UN%20Women%20Analysis%20on%20Women%20and%20SDGs.pdf
10
ILO (2018/19), Global Wage Report.
11UN (2020), Global Issue: Economic Inequalities Along Gender Lines Remain Pervasive, https://www.un.org/development/desa/
dpad/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/publication/WESP_MB135.pdf
12h ttps://www.randstad.com/workforce-insights/talent-management/gender-pay-gap-hurting-your-workforces-performance/
13
ILO Convention 100 : Equal Remuneration, 1951, https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_
ILO_CODE:C100
14
Hariton, L. (2019), “Employers: Fix the Pay Gap, or You’ll Be Left Behind”, https://www.catalyst.org/2019/04/01/equal-pay-daygender-gap/
15
Financial Times, “Part-time working plays crucial role in gender pay gap”, https://www.ft.com/content/fccde92e-0817-11e8-96509c0ad2d7c5b5; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320906078_Part-time_employment_the_gender_wage_gap_and_
the_role_of_wage-setting_institutions_Evidence_from_11_European_countries
16h ttps://www.grantthornton.global/globalassets/1.-member-firms/global/insights/women-in-business/2020/women-inbusiness-2020_report.pdf
17https://2020wob.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2020-GDI-FINAL.pdf
18h ttps://www.weps.org/sites/default/files/2020-11/56.%20WEPs%20GUIDANCE%20%E2%80%A2%20Inclusive%20boards%20%28final%29.pdf
19
BSR and UNGC (2020), “Women’s Empowerment and Business: 2020 Trends and Opportunities”, https://www.bsr.org/reports/
WEP-AnnualReport2020.pdf
20h ttps://www.un.org/en/un75/women_girls_closing_gender_gap
21h ttp://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2020.pdf
22h ttps://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_633135/lang--en/index.htm
23h ttps://www.ilo.org/asia/media-centre/news/WCMS_633284/lang--en/index.htm
24h ttps://www.bcg.com/publications/2017/human-resources-people-organization-why-paid-family-leave-is-good-business.aspx
25h ttps://hbr.org/2018/09/how-companies-can-ensure-maternity-leave-doesnt-hurt-womens-careers
26h ttp://hdr.undp.org/en/GSNI
27h ttps://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2019/addressing-violence-andharassment-against-women-in-the-world-of-work-en.pdf?la=en&vs=4050
28h ttps://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C19029h ttps://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/socialsustainability/brief/violence-against-women-and-girls
30https://www.un.org/en/un75/women_girls_closing_gender_gap
31
BSR and UNGC (2020), “Women’s Empowerment and Business: 2020 Trends and Opportunities”, https://www.bsr.org/reports/
WEP-AnnualReport2020.pdf
32
Cheng, M. (2018), “8 Major Challenges Women Face In Business”, https://www.forbes.com/sites/margueritacheng/2018/10/31/8major-challenges-women-face-in-business/#75e0f9816461
33
UN Women (2017), The Power of Procurement: How to Support Women-Owned Business.
34
IFC (2017), “Women Entrepreneurs Are Essential for Private Sector Development in Emerging Markets”, https://www.
ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/d7623440-8bb4-4827-9ce5-470dcb6f86b1/Entrepreneurship+Offering+Brochure+July2017.
pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=lQps6KM
35
UN Women (2017), The Power of Procurement: How to Support Women-Owned Business.
36BSR, HERproject webpage, Impact, https://herproject.org/impact
37
BSR (2019), Gender Equality in Codes of Conduct, https://www.bsr.org/en/our-insights/report-view/gender-equality-in-codes-ofconduct-guidance38
Unstereotype Alliance (2018), “Advertising is Out of Sync with World's Consumers”, https://www.unstereotypealliance.org/en/
resources/research/ipsos-study---advertising-is-out-of-sync-with-worlds-consumers
39Unstereotype Alliance (2018), “Advertising is Out of Sync with World's Consumers”, https://www.unstereotypealliance.org/en/
resources/research/ipsos-study---advertising-is-out-of-sync-with-worlds-consumers
40
Hiethammer, C. (2020), “AI Bias Could Put Women’s Lives at Risk - A Challenge for Regulators”, https://www.forbes.com/sites/
carmenniethammer/2020/03/02/ai-bias-could-put-womens-lives-at-riska-challenge-for-regulators/#1b658c77534f
41
Hiethammer, C. (2020), “AI Bias Could Put Women’s Lives at Risk - A Challenge for Regulators”, https://www.forbes.com/sites/
carmenniethammer/2020/03/02/ai-bias-could-put-womens-lives-at-riska-challenge-for-regulators/#1b658c77534f
42
Gartner (2018), “Gartner Says Nearly Half of CIOs Are Planning to Deploy Artificial Intelligence’’ https://www.gartner.com/en/
newsroom/press-releases/2018-02-13-gartner-says-nearly-half-of-cios-are-planning-to-deploy-artificial-intelligence43Stengel, G. (2020), “Women’s Healthcare: A Market Ripe for Disruption Lacks Investment” https://www.forbes.com/sites/
geristengel/2020/07/08/womens-healthcare-a-market-ripe-for-disruption/#65daf19d1a01
44IFC, Bridging the Gender Gap In Finance, https://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/news_ext_content/ifc_external_corporate_site/
news+and+events/news/bridging+the+gender+gap+in+access+to+finance45
BSR and UNGC (2020), “Women’s Empowerment and Business: 2020 Trends and Opportunities”, https://www.bsr.org/reports/
WEP-AnnualReport2020.pdf
1

2

32

WEPs Transparency and Accountability Framework
Creating Transparency on Gender Equality to Transform Business