Standards Development

Scope

Standardization in the field of gender equality with the aim of developing a technical guidance on how to promote and implement gender equality in all types of organizations, public or private, regardless of their size, location and field of activity.

The objective is to develop guidelines on:

- Concepts, terms and definitions;

- Identification of existing good practices;

- Definition of actions, strategies, policies for the promotion and implementation of gender equality

Excluded: Related standardization work on diversity in human resources management as covered by ISO/TC 260 “Human resources management”

Purpose

The international context

Women’s rights are not only fundamental human rights, but also a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.

Over the last decades, important progress has been made: more and more girls are going to school, fewer are forced into early marriage, more women are serving in positions of leadership, and laws are being reformed to promote gender equality. A quarter of a century ago, the Fourth UN World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action launched the most comprehensive framework for achieving women’s empowerment and gender equality. Its 12-point Action Plan covers all areas of development, such as:

- fight against poverty, violence, armed conflicts,

- access to education and training, healthcare and power and decision-making sharing,

- support for institutional mechanisms and human rights,

- women’s role in the economy, the media, and with regards to the environment,

- and finally the specific needs of young girls.

Indeed, since the Beijing declaration, there has been significant progress but many challenges remain to be addressed in order to achieve the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, and especially SDG 5: gender equality and women’s empowerment. However, most, if not all of the 17 UN sustainable development goals include the promotion and implementation of gender equality and women’s empowerment, in a gender-mainstreaming approach.

Many initiatives are undertaken and funded by a variety of stakeholders at local, national or international level to advance gender equality in all areas.

For instance, at the G7 Biarritz Summit in 2019, the Heads of State and Government of the G7 launched an international coalition to fight gender inequality, called the Biarritz Partnership for Gender Equality. This was the starting point, among French stakeholders, for reflecting on how to deepen international collaboration to accelerate structural changes.

The 25th anniversary of the Beijing Conference will be celebrated in June 2021 during the Generation Equality Forum, Beijing +25. It will take stock of the progress made and encourage new measures to further gender equality. Standardization contribution to this international agenda To build on this momentum, we propose the creation of an international standard on gender equality, which will add another building block towards the realization of gender equality and women and girls’ rights.

The new standard will also support the UN SDG 5 on gender equality and women’s empowerment. According to the existing international frameworks, the following subjects are first proposed:

- access to inclusive, equitable and quality education,

- access to inclusive, equitable, and quality health services, including in the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights,

- prevention and fight against gender-based violence,

- women’s economic empowerment,

- equal, meaningful and effective participation of women in all decision-making spaces and public life.

This list can be discussed and extended if necessary at a later stage with subjects such as climate and environment, specific needs of youth, etc. V01/2020 Form 4: 

These subjects will be addressed through the prism of five pillars: internal dimension, activities and investments, external relationships, internal and external communication, and Social Responsibility (SR) policy of organizations.

This standard is not intended to compete with:

• The work in progress within the ISO/IEC Joint Strategic Advisory Group (JSAG) on Gender responsive standards which was established to help ISO and IEC committees ensure gender is considered in the standards development process.

• The existing national or international public policies, regulations or legislations. It aims to provide a methodology that encourages organizations to integrate this issue into their internal and external policies and operations.

It will provide them with guidelines on how to promote and implement gender equality, This technical guidance will help organizations to establish their strategies relating to gender equality, identify actions and policies to achieve their objectives, assess risks and opportunities and guide their communication or reporting activities.