Embedding Gender in Sustainability Reporting: a Practitioner’s Guide
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) developed ‘Embedding Gender in Sustainability Reporting: a Practitioner’s Guide’ following a twelve-month research and consultation project to help companies see the business value of gender inclusion. This global initiative, for which the governments of Germany, Iceland, and Switzerland are lead sponsors, seeks to help enterprises tap emerging best practices in sustainability reporting, achieve bottom-line benefits, and create new opportunities for women in the private sector by better understanding and managing gender perspectives in their businesses.
Research on companies’ reporting on gender equality found that companies rarely report much gender disaggregated data despite the inclusion of genderrelated indicators in the GRI framework, and global recognition of the importance of gender equality (Grosser and Moon 2008).1 This educational resource has been produced by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and IFC, with the support of the governments of Germany, Iceland, and Switzerland, to help organizations using the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework embed material gender issues in sustainability reports. It is also intended to inform the formal process of integrating gender in future updates of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework (also known as the G3 Guidelines).
This report highlights some of the existing and emerging business drivers for improving practices and reporting on material gender issues. These are further to the legal and ethical imperatives for reporting on gender issues (as, for example, set out in international human rights legal and policy frameworks), which are also discussed. In turn it offers practical steps on how to integrate gender in sustainability reporting. It can, for example, help organizations benefit from emerging best practices in sustainability reporting, achieve bottom-line benefits, and create new opportunities for women in the private sector by better understanding and managing gender perspectives in their businesses. Adding a gender perspective to existing nonfinancial reporting frameworks may also help private companies win recognition by workers, investors and consumers.
Research on companies’ reporting on gender equality found that companies rarely report much gender disaggregated data despite the inclusion of genderrelated indicators in the GRI framework, and global recognition of the importance of gender equality (Grosser and Moon 2008).1 This educational resource has been produced by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and IFC, with the support of the governments of Germany, Iceland, and Switzerland, to help organizations using the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework embed material gender issues in sustainability reports. It is also intended to inform the formal process of integrating gender in future updates of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework (also known as the G3 Guidelines).
This report highlights some of the existing and emerging business drivers for improving practices and reporting on material gender issues. These are further to the legal and ethical imperatives for reporting on gender issues (as, for example, set out in international human rights legal and policy frameworks), which are also discussed. In turn it offers practical steps on how to integrate gender in sustainability reporting. It can, for example, help organizations benefit from emerging best practices in sustainability reporting, achieve bottom-line benefits, and create new opportunities for women in the private sector by better understanding and managing gender perspectives in their businesses. Adding a gender perspective to existing nonfinancial reporting frameworks may also help private companies win recognition by workers, investors and consumers.
