Bridging the Digital Gender Divide: Include, upskill, innovate – OECD (2018)

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OECD, 2018 – 151 pages

This report explores a range of factors that underpin the digital gender divide, bolsters the evidence base for policy making and provides policy directions for consideration by all G20 governments. The report finds that hurdles to access, affordability, lack of education as well as inherent biases and sociocultural norms curtail women and girls’ ability to benefit from the opportunities offered by the digital transformation. In addition, girls’ relatively lower educational enrolment in disciplines that would allow them to perform well in a digital world – such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, as well as information and communication technologies – coupled with women’s and girls’ more limited use of digital tools could lead to widening gaps and greater inequality. Co-ordinated policy action can help narrow the digital gender gap. This requires:

  • Raising awareness and tackling gender stereotypes.
  • Enabling enhanced, safer, and more affordable access to digital tools.
  • Stronger cooperation across stakeholders to remove barriers to girls and women’s full participation in the digital world.

Unlocking Markets for Women to Trade – ITC (2015)

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International Trade Centre, 2015 – 80 pages

This publication provides insights to decision-makers on women’s participation in trade and the challenges they face. It provides data from importers and exporters in 20 developing countries; outlines the trade barriers; shares models of good public and private sector initiatives; and provides recommendations for policymakers to engage female entrepreneurs more fully in the global economy.

The report outlines a road map to rapidly boost the participation of women in the global economy, which has eight pillars for policy and programming action:

  • Better data. Collect, analyse, and disseminate data on women’s economic participation, to shape policies and programmes with impact.
  • Sensitive trade policies. Create trade policies and agreements that enhance women’s participation in trade.
  • Access to public procurement. Empower women-owned businesses to participate in the US$10 trillion annual public procurement market. Their current share is an estimated 1%–5%.
  • Diversity in corporate procurement. Create corporate procurement programmes that embed diversity and inclusion in value chains.
  • Certifying women-owned businesses. Set up mechanisms to certify ownership and eligibility of women-owned businesses.
  • Improving business environments. Address supply-side constraints that especially affect women-owned businesses.
  • Bridging the finance gap. Close the gap between men and women for access to financial services gap.
  • Adopting reforms. Ensure legislative and administrative reforms guarantee women’s rights to ownership and control over resources.

Guide on Gender Mainstreaming: Business, investment and technology services for private sector development – UNIDO (2015)

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UNIDO, 2015 – 82 pages

All United Nations agencies share responsibility for improving gender equality and thus need to understand the relevance of gender issues to fulfilling their mandate. By systematically mainstreaming gender into its Business, Investment and Technology (BIT) interventions to strengthen Private Sector Development (PSD), UNIDO is contributing to ensuring equal opportunities for women and men. The aims of this guide are to:

  • Explain what gender mainstreaming means for UNIDO.
  • Describe how key thematic aspects of BIT/ UNIDO’s work relate to gender.
  • Provide practical, step-by-step guidance on how to systematically mainstream gender into BIT projects.

Violence and Harassment at Work: A guide for small and medium enterprises to prevent violence and harassment in the workplace – RVO (2020)

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RVO, 2020 – 24 pages

This guide is designed to help SMEs tackle the problem of violence and harassment by:

  • Informing about the characteristics of violence and harassment in the workplace.
  • Providing background information on the adopted ILO Convention 190.
  • Providing tips to more effectively tackle and prevent violence and harassment at work.
  • Sharing some workplace initiatives of SMEs, brands, trade unions, and other key players.
  • Supporting in creating a positive, inclusive work environment that prevents violence and harassment.

The Business Case for Women’s Economic Empowerment: An Integrated Approach – ICRW (2014)

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ICRW, 2014 – 8 pages

This study highlights the eight building blocks of WEE. Additionally, it presents results from research on corporate-funded WEE programmes.

Main takeaways:

  • While there are a lot of corporations investing in WEE, there is little available data about what is working and what is not.
  • Most programmes focus on access to education, financial support, training, and employment opportunities rather than a more integrated approach based on a human rights framework that delivers the broader conditions necessary for women to thrive.
  • There is an opportunity and desire to increase collaboration and improve communications between the women’s rights sector and corporations working in WEE programmes.

A ‘How-To’ Guide to Measuring Women’s Empowerment – Oxfam (2017)

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Oxfam, 2017 – 48 pages

To understand the extent to which its projects have contributed to women’s empowerment, Oxfam has developed a measurement tool based on a composite index – the Women’s Empowerment Index. This builds on experience and tools from the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

  • Section one of this report presents the framework that has been developed to measure women’s empowerment.
  • Section two presents the characteristics of the index and provides suggestions as to how it might be applied.
  • Section three presents the five steps involved in defining and constructing the Women’s Empowerment Index.
  • Section four discusses future evolution of the measurement tool.

Understanding and measuring WEE: Definition, framework, and indicators – ICRW (2018)

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ICRW, 2018 – 12 pages

This document is intended as a conceptual guide, rather than an operational toolkit. Economic empowerment is a complex process, and the general framework presented here will have to be adapted to meet the needs of specific projects. This document presents:

  • A definition of women’s economic empowerment.
  • A measurement framework that can guide the design, implementation, and evaluation of programs to economically empower women.
  • A set of illustrative indicators that can serve as concrete examples for developing meaningful metrics for success.

Beyond Income: A critical analysis of agency measurement in economic programming – MDF (2018)

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MDF, 2018 – 58 pages

MDF has created a practical framework that measures and monitors women’s access and agency, both of which are key indicators of WEE. Access is defined as a women’s ability to access economic resources and information, while Agency is the ability to make decisions and act on economic opportunities. Within the report six dimensions of WEE are examined:

  • influence on social norms
  • economic advancement
  • decision-making
  • functions and workloads
  • access to opportunities
  • access to assets and services

Incubate, Invest, Impact. Building and Investing in High-Impact Enterprises for Empowering Women and Girls – GIZ (2014)

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GIZ, 2014 – 92 pages

This study explores how the social entrepreneurship ecosystem can unite to develop an action plan on gender lens incubation and investing for enterprises focused on the low-income market segment in India. An analytical framework to identify high impact enterprises that promote gender equality and women’s and girl’s empowerment is put forward in the study. Challenges and related solutions are highlighted for these high impact businesses that empower women and girls, which will need to be addressed by the broader ecosystem if they are to achieve their potential for transformative change. While this study goes beyond the assumption that high impact enterprises for empowering women and girls are only those that are owned and led by women, it does consider the gender-specific barriers that need to be overcome for a woman entrepreneur or business leader.

The Global Landscape of Gender Lens Investing – Intellecap (2019)

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Intellecap, 2019 – 52 pages

This report provides a comprehensive overview of gender lens investing – defined as an investing approach to promote social and/or economic empowerment of women, in addition to financial returns. It presents the landscape of gender lens investing and analyses strategies used by gender lens investors across the globe. In doing so, it also examines ways in which businesses promote the social and economic empowerment of women and correlates investment strategies. The report studies patterns and draws insights about the evolution of the strategies, the financial instruments used in adopting them and regions where they are implemented.