Ongoing work

Important steps have already been taken in OECD countries to combat gender inequality but significant disparities remain in educational and occupational choices. The OECD Gender Initiative monitors the progress made on gender equality, through data and analysis, and provides best practices for achieving greater equality (see our flyer). Our work includes the following areas:

Education

Education at a Glance 2021 contains a wide range of indicators on gender differences in education, including data on attainment, entry, graduation, and employment and earnings, disaggregating them on the basis of gender (along with several other characteristics)
Beyond Academic Learning - First Results from the Survey of Social and Emotional skills includes data by gender of 10 and 15 years-old
The OECD engaged with the G7 UK Presidency to support its agenda on girls’ education. This supported Foreign and Development Ministers “Declaration on Girls Education: Recovering from COVID-19 and Unlocking Agenda 2030” (2021)
A series of In-focus briefs on gender:
- What can schools and teachers do to help boys close the gap in reading performance? (2021) shows that boys tend to lack the basic reading proficiency needed for today’s knowledge societies. This issue explores how to narrow the gender gap in reading performances at school
- The future at five: Gendered Aspirations among Five-Year-Olds (2021) encompasses a collection of robust empirical information and in-depth insights on children's learning development at a critical age
- Do girls and boys engage with global and intercultural issues differently? (2021) builds on a series of questions that PISA 2018 asked students regarding their global and intercultural attitudes and dispositions
- Why do more young women than men go on to tertiary education? (2021) analyses gender variations in the transition from upper secondary to tertiary education
The 2021 Skills Outlook, launched in June 2021, highlights that gender gaps are apparent not only in foundation skills but also in lifelong learning participation because of caring responsibilities. It also examines how changes in the demand for skills in the labour market affect men and women differently
The Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Thailand report, published in July 2021, examines how gender gaps, alongside disparities by age, socio-economic background and geographic location determine differences in access to high quality VET programmes
Gender gaps in school and in the labour market: A forthcoming report will look at gender gaps in school and in the labour market based mainly on PISA, PIAAC and EAG data

Gender differences in social and emotional skills: A forthcoming thematic report will examine gender differences in social and emotional skills among boys and girls, and the types of environments, in schools, with peers and at home, that can influence these skills
Skills in Ibero-America – Insights from PIAAC on gender differences: Jointly with the World Bank, the OECD is co-producing a short report analysing the difference in skills by gender in the Latin American countries participating in PIAAC
The Gender stereotypes in education working paper, released in May 2022, maps policies and practices to challenge gender stereotypes in education. It examines the impact of gender stereotypes in education and presents curriculum arrangements, capacity-building strategies and school-level interventions across countries, in line with the OECD Strength through Diversity’s analytical framework.

Employment and work-life balance

The OECD Family Database provides a wealth of gender-relevant data on families, children, employment and work-life balance, including on the Distribution of working hours for couples with children and policy supports such as Parental leave systems
The first OECD-wide stocktaking of Pay Transparency Tools to Close the Gender Wage Gap was released 30 November 2021 with the Swedish authorities
The Permanent Representation of Iceland to the OECD and the OECD organized an event in September 2022 to mark the International Equal Pay Day: Can we share better parental leave policies? Watch REPLAY
The OECD report The Role of Firms in Wage Inequality, launched in December 2021 shows that gaps in pay between firms explain about one third of overall wage inequality. The report discusses relevant policy measures that would raise wages and reduce wage inequality without adverse effects on employment and output
“Shecession” or “Momcession”? The OECD’s Risks that Matter survey presents Caregiving in Crisis: Gender inequality in paid and unpaid work during COVID-19,which provides cross-national evidence that when schools and childcare facilities shut down, mothers took on the brunt of additional unpaid care work and experienced labour market penalties and stress
A paper on the determinants of the gender pay gap “Sticky floors or glass ceilings? The role of human capital, working time flexibility and discrimination in the gender wage gap”, released in May 2021, suggests that “sticky floors” related to social norms, gender stereotyping and discrimination account for 40% of the gender wage gap, while the “glass ceiling” related to the motherhood penalty accounts for around 60%
In July 2021, the OECD released Bringing Household Services Out of the Shadows, Formalising Non-Care Work in and Around the House. This report illustrates the importance of the sector and reviews international approaches in formalising the non-care household service market and estimates the economic value of unpaid housework
The OECD and ILO prepared a joint paper on Women at Work in G20 countries: Policy action since 2020 for the 2nd Meeting of the G20 Employment Working Group under Italy’s Presidency, June 2021
In 2021, the Italian G20 Presidency developed, with OECD and ILO support, a G20 Gender Roadmap towards and beyond the Brisbane goal encompassing policy measures to create better and equally paid jobs and to remove barriers to women’s labour market participation
The paper “Labour market transitions across OECD countries: stylised facts” was released in December 2021. A second paper including a policy analysis of gender gaps in labour market hirings will be presented in spring 2022
The Trade in Employment database was updated in November 2021, and will soon include indicators of employment in Global Value Chains by characteristic (including gender), with selected results published on OECD.STAT
A paper on boosting employment opportunities in Finland was released in June 2021, including a special focus on how to increase activity rates of mothers with a view to narrowing the gender wage gap
Gender Equality in Chile: Towards a better sharing of paid and unpaid work was launched in July 2021, on Peru in June 2022 - and on Colombia and Costa Rica coming up in 2022. The OECD Database on Gender gaps in Latin America and the Caribbean presents data all countries in Latin America
The OECD runs a project with DG Reform and the Hungarian authorities on reducing gender gaps in employment in Hungary, which will continue until Summer 2022
The OECD is undertaking a Gender Review of Estonia to be released late Spring/Summer 2022
Relying on linked employer-employee datasets from 10 countries, The human side of productivity : Uncovering the role of skills and diversity for firm productivity documents that Gender and cultural diversity among managers – and to a lesser extent, among workers – is positively related to firm productivity
A paper on the scarring effects of recessions on young women is under preparation. It will provide cross-country evidence and policy advice based on microdata to explore how economic downturns affect the subsequent earnings and employment profiles of young females vs young males
A joint report with IDB and UNESCO on the Effects of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Women’s Work (to be published in March 2022) outlines the state of knowledge about the impact that AI systems have on women’s opportunities for work, as well as their position, treatment and status within the workforce
The OECD will report progress on the implementation of the OECD Gender Recommendations (i.e. the 2013 Recommendation on Gender Equality in Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship [OECD/LEGAL/0398] and the 2015 Recommendation on Gender Equality in Public Life [OECD/LEGAL/0418]) to the Meeting of the Council at Ministerial level (MCM) in May/June 2022
The OECD supported by the US government is working to develop new indicators in 2022 on Gender in the areas of teleworking; the digital gender divide; the use of parental leave; and, the impact of tax/benefit systems
Building on The Role of Firms in Wage Inequality, the OECD is undertaking a detailed analysis of the role of firms and the Gender Pay Gap in Germany and selected other countries. The study is scheduled for release in late Spring/Summer 2022
The OECD, ILO and UN Women established the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC). EPIC shares publications and tools – including a legal database, and organizes events, workshops and exchanges towards achieving SDG target 8.5 on equal pay between men and women for work of equal value
OECD work on LGBTI+ inclusion assists countries in evaluating their LGBTI+-inclusive policies and undertake country-specific reviews (the first devoted to Germany will be published by Summer 2022). The OECD aims, with support of the US, to more thoroughly evaluate the economic returns for OECD countries of improving LGBTI+ inclusion
Based on contributions from colleagues from across the OECD, a comprehensive gender analysis brought together in The Pursuit of Gender Equality, an Uphill Battle, Volume II will be launched during the second part of 2022.

Entrepreneurship

The OECD’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative (WE Initiative) forms an umbrella for the various thematic pillars of the Centre for Entrepreneurship’s (CFE) work with a gender lens, including SME access to finance, Social Economy and Social Innovation, Women in Tech, Business Development Services, Inclusive Entrepreneurship and national/regional country reviews
The OECD in collaboration with the European Commission released The Missing Entrepreneurs 2021 in November 2021. This volume examines how public policies at national, regional and local levels can overcome barriers to business start-ups and self-employment by people from disadvantaged or under-represented groups in entrepreneurship, including women
The May 2021 report Entrepreneurship Policies through a Gender Lens was prepared in collaboration with the Global Women’s Entrepreneurship Policy Research Project. The report presents evidence on the gender gap in entrepreneurship and its causes and examines how to strengthen the scope and effectiveness of entrepreneurship policies for women
The OECD/EU Better Entrepreneurship Policy Tool is an online tool designed for policy-makers and other interested parties at local, regional and national level who wish to explore how public policy can: support youth, women, migrants and the unemployed in business creation and self-employment, and support the development of social enterprises
The Future of Business Survey (FOBS), a collaboration between Facebook, the OECD, and the World Bank, provides timely data on SMEs disaggregated by gender and by age of business owners/managers, in addition to breakdowns by the size, economic activities and age of businesses
Advancing gender equality through the social economy: A forthcoming report will explore how the social economy is advancing gender equality through employment. It will also draw lessons learned from the social economy for the wider economy
The Committee for Industry, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) is conducting a project on job quality within the DynEmp project to analyse employment opportunities and job quality across different groups of workers, including women in start-ups.

Public governance

The technical advisory group on tackling gender-based violence (TAG), established by the OECD Working Party on Gender Mainstreaming and Governance in 2020, has organised has had a series of thematic policy dialogues to deepen peer-to-peer learning on priority issues of gender-based violenceGBV since its creation. In 2021, TAG provided strategic and technical guidance for the development of the 2022 OECD Survey on Strengthening Governance and Survivor/Victim-centric Approaches to end gender-based violence

The OECD will report progress on the implementation of the OECD Gender Recommendations (i.e. the 2013 Recommendation on Gender Equality in Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship [OECD/LEGAL/0398] and the 2015 Recommendation on Gender Equality in Public Life [OECD/LEGAL/0418]) to the Meeting of the Council at Ministerial level (MCM) in May/June 2022
The OECD released its Policy Framework for Gender-sensitive Public Policy , which was presented as a MCM deliverable and welcomed by ministers (MCM meeting, October 2021). This policy framework outlines the values and enablers for gender-sensitive public governance, identifies instruments and tools, and considers issues around policy implementation and policy evaluation
On 28 April 2021, the Forum virtual event “Building a gender-equal recovery” reflected on the need to mainstream gender-sensitive approaches in recovery plans and to ensure representation and participation in key decision-making processes on the recovery, as a way to promote more inclusive and equal societies
Ongoing OECD work on Gender Budgeting by the Committee of Senior Budget Officials (SBO) and its Network on Gender Budgeting included a report Gender and Capital Budgeting as released in July 2021. The Network will analyse results from a gender budgeting survey in 2022
In December 2021, the OECD released Promoting gender equality through public procurement as prepared under the auspices of the Working Party of Leading Practitioners on Public Procurement. The report shows how public agencies can use their purchasing power to encourage suppliers to improve their performance on women’s empowerment
The OECD and its Senior Infrastructure and PPP Officials Network released “Selected stocktaking of good practices for inclusion of women in infrastructure” (October 2021). The report proposes a framework for incorporating gender considerations at each stage of the public investment process, and involve more women in infrastructure leadership and decision-making
On 13 July 2021, the OECD organised the G20 Gender and Infrastructure Group ad hoc meeting, providing countries with an opportunity to hear country presentations on tools to mainstream gender considerations into infrastructure planning and decision-making
The OECD programme on Public Procurement and Responsible Business Conduct is preparing a policy brief on the “Economic benefits for governments to ensure the integration of RBC standards throughout supply chains in public procurement activities” for release in 2022
The 2021 Regulatory Policy Outlook includes results from the Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance (iREG) survey. The results suggest there has been an increase in requirements among OECD member countries to assess gender impacts when developing regulatory proposals: from 27 countries in 2014, to 32 countries in 2020
The WP-GMG is planning to convene a Symposium on the theme of gender-disaggregated and intersectional data for evidence-based policymaking and also discuss substantive issues around monitoring and accountability for gender mainstreaming
A gender mainstreaming and governance country review is under way for the Czech Republic, Colombia and Morocco.

Taxation

Released in February 2022, Tax Policy and Gender Equality: A Stocktake of Country Approaches analyses country priorities for tax policy and gender, explicit and implicit biases, policy developments, data availability, and priorities for future work in over 40 countries from the G20, OECD and beyond
A paper on Taxation of Part-Time Work in the OECD presents new calculations of the effective tax rates on part-time work including those for male and female part-time workers and for different household types, based on the OECD’s well-established Taxing Wages models
The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes has launched a pilot programme for Women leaders in tax transparency. The initiative will build a network of women officials championing tax transparency in their tax administrations, and promoting gender equality via mentorship and leadership modules
Taxing Wages includes annual modelling of effective tax rates on labour income for different household types provides insights on the tax system incentives for second earners’ labour market participation. The 2022 edition will be released in April
A 2021 March on Gender event discussed the impact of tax on gender, including the role of tax in the COVID recovery, gender and tax policy in developing countries and gender budgeting. The 2022 edition, Breaking the tax bias: How to promote gender equality in taxation, will be held mid-March
In 2021, the Platform for Collaboration on Tax (OECD, IMF, UN and WB) formed an informal subgroup working on tax and gender and released a joint blogpost and held a joint event on key tax and gender issues
In January 2021, a video on Tax and Gender: Releasing potential and promoting equality was presented to the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting meeting. The video highlights that as long as men and women face different socioeconomic realities, tax systems will affect them in different ways
Learn about the OECD Forum on Tax Administration's Gender Balance Network (GBN), aimed to help improve the gender balance across the FTA members by leveraging the more balanced position that already exists in some administrations, and identifying effective policies and practices to promote gender equality.

OECD Regional Initiatives on Governance and Competitiveness

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the MENA-OECD Initiative on Governance and Competitiveness for Development supports women’s political and economic empowerment at the regional level and involves dedicated Gender Projects such as the Morocco Country Programme and the upcoming Egypt Country Programme
The MENA-OECD Women’s Economic Empowerment Forum (WEEF) organised a series of regional dialogues on “Women’s Economic Empowerment and Digitalisation in the post-COVID-19 MENA economies”. Building on the conclusions of this series, the 2022 WEEF Annual Meeting (organised at the OECD Istanbul Centre) will set guiding principles and recommended actions
The Southeast Asia Regional Project (SEARP) includes a Gender Initiative through which two reports were released in 2021: Strengthening Women’s Entrepreneurship in Agriculture in ASEAN and the SIGI 2020 Regional Report on Southeast Asia
Gender equality in Latin America and the Caribbean: Towards a better sharing of paid and unpaid work focuses on women's disproportionate responsibility for unpaid care and domestic work in the region. Reports on Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru will appear in 2021 and an overview is due in 2022
The OECD Eurasia Competitiveness Programme considered the impact of COVID-19 on women in Eastern Europe, the Southern Caucasus and Central Asia, and identified priority areas for an inclusive recovery for all. Gender Gaps in Eurasia: The daunting effects of COVID-19 appeared in English and Russian in 2021
The South East Europe Competitiveness Outlook 2021 has a focus on gender equality in chapters on employment and education.

Competition, Corporate Governance and Investment

In 2022, the OECD Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs (DAF) continues its work on Gender Inclusive Competition Policy. Evidence from seven projects supports the development of a practical guide for competition authorities on how to build a gender inclusive competition policy and include gender considerations in enforcement
The OECD reviews gender diversity on boards and in senior corporate management to monitor progress in how countries are addressing recommendations on this topic under the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance and the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises
The 2021 OECD Corporate Governance Factbook, published in June 2021, includes a section with updated comparative data across all OECD and G20 members, tracking progress in implementing policies and practices related to the participation of women on corporate boards and in senior management
DAF contributed to the 2021 March on Gender campaign with events on competition, private pensions, anti-corruption, financial inclusion, investment, responsible business conduct and corporate governance. The latter built on the continued OECD collaboration with the G20 Private Sector Alliance for the Empowerment and Progression of Women’s Economic Representation (EMPOWER)
As part of its guidance on Responsible Business Conduct, DAF prepared a note on “Integrating a Gender Perspective into Supply Chain Due Diligence” in 2021, providing examples of practical actions for business to carry out gender sensitive due diligence in agricultural supply chains
Under the ongoing OECD FDI Qualities initiative, the OECD FDI Qualities Indicators assess the contribution of foreign direct investment (FDI) to gender equality in OECD and non-OECD countries. The FDI Qualities Policy Toolkit, prepared in 2021, provides policy guidance on how to improve the impact of FDI on women in host countries
In March 2021, DAF published the report “Towards Improved Retirement Savings Outcomes for Women”, which analyses the causes behind the 26% average gender pension gap across OECD countries, explores how the design of retirement savings plans affects men and women differently, and provides policy options to help close the gap.

Development

The GENDERNET - OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Network on Gender Equality - is the international forum for gender experts from DAC development co-operation agencies and foreign ministries. Its “GENDERNET plus” format supports exchanges with representatives from non-DAC countries, multilateral organisations, development banks, DFIs, civil society and the private sector
The DAC Recommendation on Ending Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance aims to strengthen international co-operation and collaboration in implementation of the recommendation
The Development Co-operation Directorate (DCD) conducts data and policy analysis on gender and development co-operation, including: women’s economic empowerment; COVID-19 prevention and response; development finance for gender equality and economic empowerment; conflict-affected and fragile contexts and the women, peace and security agenda; the climate-gender nexus; and gender-based violence
The DCD ipublished in May 2022 Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls - Guidance for Development Partners around leadership, planning and design, implementation and programming, finance, monitoring and evaluation, and institutional capacity, with a view to achieving transformative change for gender equality. (en français : L'égalité des genres et l’autonomisation des femmes et des filles - Orientations pour les partenaires au développement)
The OECD publishes annual data and analysis on financing in support of gender equality and women’s empowerment from DAC donors and provide guidance on good practices and policies for gender equality and women’s empowerment, including gender mainstreaming. Most recent figures for 2020 are expected in April 2022
In June 2021, the DCD published “Development finance for gender equality: the Generation Equality Forum Action Coalitions”- an analysis of the development finance available for gender equality in each thematic area of the Generation Equality Forum Action Coalitions
Gender-based violence (GBV) is a persistent global crisis, a shadow pandemic. Eliminating it takes a global effort and sustained financing. In November 2021, the DCD published an analysis of the global development finance landscape towards the elimination of GBV, and how ODA can continue to make an impact in response
The DCD has undertaken an analysis of blended finance for gender equality. By attracting large volumes of private capital, blended finance funds and facilities can mobilise more financial resources for gender equality and for the empowerment of women and girls, helping to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals. Publication is forthcoming
ODA is critical to improve gender analysis by development partners and gender-responsive budgeting tools’ application across public finance management systems. The OECD and UN Women’s jointly developed recommendations to respond to the gender impacts of COVID-19 highlight the need for tailored policies and resources for gender equality and women’s empowerment
To better deliver on gender equality in development co-operation and humanitarian action, the OECD has conducted analysis on DAC members’ approaches to integrating gender equality throughout the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus, published in July 2021
Gender equality and fragility are inextricably linked. Recent OECD analysis (2021) highlights that gender inequalities are both a key driver and perpetuator of fragility. Following this analysis, the OECD continues to analyse how development partners can respond to growing gender inequalities in fragile contexts
Addressing climate change is a global issue and one that must be gender-sensitive. To better combat the devastating effects of climate change and gender inequality, official development assistance (ODA) can be leveraged to support gender-responsive climate action. A publication on the topic is forthcoming
In partnership between the Development Co-operation Directorate and SWAC, research and analysis is being conducted to highlight how development partners are engaging on work towards addressing gender equality in the Sahel and West Africa region. A publication on the topic is forthcoming

In August 2021, PARIS21 became the new secretariat of the Gender Data Network - a joint initiative between PARIS21, Data2X, UNECA, and Open Data Watch which supports better gender data production, communication and use across countries. For instance, PARIS21 organised a “Training-of-Trainers” on gender data communication in September 2021
In 2021, PARIS21 launched a free e-learning course in partnership with UN Women on “Communicating Statistics on Women's Economic Empowerment”, designed for journalists and statisticians
In October 2021, PARIS21 as Secretariat of the Bern Network, launched its Clearinghouse for Financing Development Data, a new, free online platform that aid recipients, donors and others can use to analyse data financing flows, and identify funding gaps, including gaps in financing for gender data
In November 2021, PARIS21 published the annual Partner Report on Support to Statistics - PRESS 2021. The results show a persisting stagnation in the donor financing for gender data in low- and middle-income countries
In 2022, PARIS21 will publish its Synthesis Report summarising its 3-year work with countries and UN Women on mainstreaming gender data in statistical planning in in low- and middle-income countries
PARIS21 worked with the governments of Maldives and Paraguay to integrate a gender perspective in the strategic planning for statistics. A gender-responsive National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (2021-2030) in Maldives and a National Strategy for the development of Gender Statistics (2021-2025) in Paraguay were launched in November 2021
Integrating a gender perspective in statistical planning is central to PARIS21’s support to national statistical offices (NSO), especially regarding the design of National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDS gender module and NSDS Training), training curricula on communication, and NSO leadership and data planning tools (e.g. ADAPT gender module).

Financial Education

The OECD Recommendation on Financial Literacy adopted by the OECD Council during the 2020 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting encourages Adherents to take into account the needs of women in developing their financial literacy policies and programmes

The G20/OECD-INFE Report on Supporting Financial Resilience and Transformation through Digital Financial Literacy, published in October 2021, includes case studies of how digital financial education can support the financial resilience of various groups at risk of financial vulnerability, including women

The G20/OECD-INFE Report Navigating the Storm: MSMEs’ Financial and Digital Competencies in COVID-19 times, published in October 2021, presents gender disaggregated results about levels of financial literacy, digitalisation and the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on micro, small and medium enterprises in 14 countries
In 2021, the OECD International Network on Financial Education (INFE) conducted a stocktaking questionnaire among its members. Results will complement data from the 2020 OECD/INFE International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy and feed into a chapter for The Pursuit of Gender Equality – volume II (2022).

Health

Health indicators disaggregated by gender are available on the OECD Gender Data Portal
Health at a Glance 2021: OECD Indicators shows that there is still a considerable gender gap in life expectancy, with women living on average over 5 years more than men across OECD countries, but this gap has narrowed by one year since 2000 due to more rapid gains among men
There are also important gender gaps in risk factors to health: for example, smoking rates continue to be much higher among men. 2022 will see the releases of Health at a Glance: Europe, Health at a Glance: Latin America and the Caribbean, and Health at a Glance: Asia/Pacific
Preventing Harmful Alcohol Use shows that certain population groups, such as women with high levels of education and individuals at the two extremes of the income distribution, are more likely to binge drink. The 2022 OECD March on Gender seminar on “Women and Alcohol” will discuss trends in women’s drinking
The COVID-19 Pandemic imposed enormous challenges to the Long-term care sector and its overwhelmingly female workforce as discussed in Rising from the covid-19 crisis policy responses in the long-term-care sector as released in December 2021
The COVID-19 crisis has exposed gender differences in brain and mental health disorders. Within the OECD March on Gender 2021, a seminar on Innovations to Address Women’s Brain Health Inequalities analysed gender differences in neurological outcomes, supported by the OECD New Approaches to Economic Challenges (NAEC) Neuroscience-inspired Policy Initiative (NIPI)
The NIPI has established a working group of gender experts, neuroscientists and medical professionals to look at gender differences in brain health outcomes. In 2021, the group published blogs on Closing the Brain Health Gap: Addressing Women’s Inequalities; Brain-Based Inequalities for Women and Women's Brain Health.

Digital Transformation and Science

Deepening the evidence base on the role of women in the digital transformation is essential for developing better policies. The OECD’s Going Digital Toolkit presents the gender dimension across a number of key indicators
In October 2021, the Science, Technology & Innovation Directorate (STI) organised a high-level event in the margins of the MCM on Addressing digital gender divides, highlighting new indicators on gender from the Going Digital Toolkit
The under-representation of women in certain areas of science, technology and innovation has long been a concern. The OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Outlook 2021 finds that the current academic system discriminates against women and a number of social groups leading to a lack of diversity in the research workforce
Most countries have established strategies to address the under-representation of women in STI. The Gender balance and inclusiveness dashboard of the EC-OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Compass (STIP Compass) includes national measures to promote the participation of under-represented groups in S&T education and research careers
On 29 March 2021, within the March on Gender, STI and the ITF organised a virtual event with on Addressing the gender bias in artificial intelligence data to begin to explore the gender data bias in artificial intelligence, and best practices and policy recommendations to address it
Using figures on gender equality in artificial intelligence from the OECD.AI Policy Observatory, STI is publishing a new joint report with the IDB and UNESCO on “The effects of AI on the working lives of women”. The report will be launched via an online discussion on 8 March 2022
The Digital Economy Outlook flagship publication (next edition in 2023-4) will continue to include evidence and analysis on gender issues
The Committee on Consumer Policy (CCP) is conducting a consumer survey to measure financial personal consumer detriment associated with e-commerce, enabling the collection of gender information. Results will be published in 2022.

Environment

Listen to new OECD podcast: Women, climate change & data: why we need to better understand the environment-gender nexus (March 2022)
The report on Gender and the Environment - Building Evidence and Policies to Achieve the SDGs (2021) shows the major existing gaps in evidence gathering on the gender-environment nexus and on gender mainstreaming in environmental policies
In December 2021, the OECD Environment Directorate (ENV) released a COVID-19 Policy Response titled “Gender-relevance of policies in the OECD Green Recovery Database”, mapping the limited presence of gender-sensitive measures in the OECD Green Recovery Database and proposing policy actions towards gender equality and environmental objectives in the COVID-19 recovery
The OECD, with UNDP and UN WOMEN, is developing a “gender-green policy tracker”. This tracker builds on the UN COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker and the OECD Green Recovery Database, and identifies green and gender-sensitive measures through the gender-environment nexus. It will be presented at Stockholm +50 (2-3 June 2022)
A blogpost “Let’s choose to challenge the climate crisis with a gender lens” was published in March 2021
During the 8th OECD Forum on Green Finance and Investment (October 2021), a dedicated session on “Promoting gender equality and women's economic empowerment through green policies and finance” was organised
A one-year project on Empowering women in the transition towards green growth in Greece started in June 2021
ENV is working on a Working Paper on Women’s Leadership in Environmental Action (expected to be released in March 2022)
A Policy Paper on aligning green finance with gender equality and women’s economic empowerment objectives is being prepared with support from the US and is expected to be published in the second half of 2022
Three ENV indicators have been identified and are being populated with data disaggregated by gender: mortality rates from air pollution; development of green technologies, based on patenting 30 activity, and; exposure to environmental risks.

Transport

The policy brief on Gender Equality, the Pandemic and a Transport Rethink (2021) analyses the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on women in transport, highlighting policy insights and the way towards more sustainable, resilient and inclusive transport that address the priorities of both women and men
The third edition of the ITF Compendium Transport Innovation for Sustainable Development: A Gender Perspective (2021) assembles voices from the transport sector that highlight positive examples of how women as transport users can benefit from the innovations that are transforming the transport sector

The ITF is finalising a Gender Analysis Toolkit for Transport Policies to provide guidance to ITF member countries on how to conduct gender analysis for transport policies (expected: March 2022), which will also incorporate results of a questionnaire to ITF member countries on integrating a gender perspective in transport policies

A project on the gender-transport-climate change nexus was launched at the COP-26 ITF-led panel discussion: the "Role of Gender Equality in Decarbonising the Transport Sector" (8 November 2021); the report on Gender Equality and the Role of Women in Transport and Climate Change Action will be launched in May 2022

The ITF Consultation on Gender and Transport, an annual forum for ITF stakeholders for sharing best practices, was held on 11 February 2021. The Summit theme was Transport Innovation for Sustainable Development: Reshaping Mobility in the Wake of Covid-19. The 2022 Summit will focus on Transport for Inclusive Societies

The ITF and Transport Canada conducted a webinar on “Transport and Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+)” on Wednesday 13 January 2021, creating an opportunity to learn about Transport Canada’s approach to GBA+
Each year. the Gender Workstream of the Corporate Partnership Board (CPB) undertakes various activities to celebrate International Women’s Day. In 2022, CPB will hold an open event on 8 and 9 March on Women and Road Safety, and a workshop on 22 March on “Gender Biases in Career Advice”
For more information please consult the website: ITF Work on Gender in Transport.

Energy

In summer 2022, the IEA launched a new Gender and Energy Data Explorer offering detailed data on gender gaps in the energy sector in employment and wages, senior management, entrepreneurship and innovation
In 2021, the IEA and the Clean Energy, Education and Empowerment (C3E) initiative surveyed 25 energy ministries on gender balance in management, gender mainstreaming and gender-disaggregated data for the energy sector. Using the results, the IEA will develop a tool mapping best practice examples for advancing gender diversity
The IEA is collecting gender-disaggregated data for energy related to innovation, entrepreneurship, employment and senior management. Data will be accessible through a gender data portal in June 2022, on the energy and gender page. Analysis on women in senior management was published (2021) and further analysis is planned for 2022
In 2021, with the goal of better integrating a gender perspective in IEA work, the template for the IEA's in-depth country reviews was modified to include questions about gender mainstreaming and gender-disaggregated data. In addition, a gender section was included in the IEA’s Special report on Critical minerals (2021)
In June 2021, the Governing Board gave the green light to establish the IEA Gender Advisory Council. The Council, which consists of senior officials, will provide guidance to the IEA Secretariat and member governments in their gender mainstreaming efforts
The IEA coordinates the C3E workstream on knowledge and data collection and is playing an active role in helping C3E to apply for renewal in March 2022

In 2021, the NEA conducted surveys on career barriers for women working in the nuclear energy sector and gender-disaggregated data (employment, career trajectories, salaries). It is also collecting data on the number of male and female graduates in nuclear science and engineering in NEA member countries. Related publications are forthcoming
In cooperation with national organisations, the NEA organises joint international mentoring workshops to encourage female students to pursue STEM careers, including in the nuclear sector. Four virtual/hybrid workshops and one mentoring session were held in 2021 in Kenya, Japan, Russia, Spain, and Romania. Additional workshops are planned for 2022
The NEA develops targeted, multimedia communications to increase engagement and promote the contribution of women in the nuclear sector. A recent 2021 video campaign features NEA female scientists
Representatives from ministries, regulators, the nuclear industry, and technical support organisations of NEA member countries participated in four high-level meetings of the NEA Task Group on Improving Gender Balance in the Nuclear Sector in 2021 and February 2022, gathering data and identifying policy proposals supporting gender balance in the sector
The Global Forum on Nuclear Education, Science, Technology and Policy, an NEA initiative connecting academic institutions with NEA member countries and nuclear energy stakeholders, launched a working group on achieving gender balance in nuclear technology and academia in summer 2021
The Nuclear Education, Skills and Technology Framework (NEST), a multi-national NEA partnership to nurture the next generation of nuclear subject matter experts through international collaborative research projects, launched a strategy and roadmap on gender balance in September 2021.

Well-Being

OECD’s work on well-being and the OECD Well-being Framework highlight inequalities in all well-being outcomes by gender, age and educational attainment. These statistics are included in the regular How’s Life? reports, in the How’s Life? Well-Being database on OECD.Stat, and in country profiles for all OECD members
The OECD Better Life Index integrates information on gender inequality across its twelve domains of well-being
The OECD Time Use Database shows the average amount of time women and men spend in daily activities, with a focus on unpaid work
The OECD COVID-19 Recovery Dashboard mainstreams the gender-related aspects in measuring recovery efforts consistently with a broader set of SDG indicators
In January 2022, WISE published a paper on “Measuring the non-financial performance of business through the well-being lens”, which among other categories looks specifically into gender-related indicators of business performance
A seminar on COVID and gender inequality was co-organised with ELS as part of the COVID & Inequality webinar series in September 2021
The Metrics for Policies for Well-being and Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) project, How’s Life in Latin America? Measuring Well-being for Policy Making report - launched in October 2021, features an analysis of gender disparities in well-being in the LAC region
The COVID-19 and Well-being: Life in the Pandemic – released in November 2021, charts the short-term evolution of current well-being, inequalities in well-being, and resources for future well-being during the pandemic. It also include discussion of how this evidence could inform longer-term rebuild strategies
WISE is preparing a 2022 update of Measuring Distance to SDGs Targets report, aiming to also strengthen the measurement of targets related to gender and the environment in the context of COVID from a long-term perspective of the 2030 Agenda (to be published in April 2022)
Gender is an integral part of the forecasting and policy evaluation tools the WISE Centre is developing in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Italy (late Spring 2022). Gender-specific models ensure that findings and policy recommendations can be tailored to the needs of women and men
In 2022, an EC-funded project on the state of discrimination in the EU and its impact on society, the economy and public finances will be launched. The project will assess how gender interacts with other individual characteristics to create cumulative disadvantage (e.g. women with a minority background)
WISE is leading the creation of the OECD Observatory on Social Mobility and Equal Opportunity, which aims at developing and mainstreaming evidence on social mobility, equal opportunity, and related policies. The Observatory will pay particular attention to the role of gender inequalities and discrimination
Gender-disaggregated data will be part of the update of the Child Well-being Data Portal (June/July 2022). Provisionally, over three-quarters of the (200+) indicators available on the updated Portal will be disaggregated by gender. A large share of these indicators will be new to the Portal.

Violence against Women

The OECD Report Eliminating Gender-based Violence: Governance and Survivor/Victim-centred Approaches was launched in December 2021. This publication explores how countries can strengthen public governance systems, respond to the needs and experiences of survivors/victims, and improve access to justice and accountability to effectively address gender-based violence
“Truth Hurts”, the OECD Talk series on Preventing Violence Against Women, features practitioners addressing gender-based violence in conversation with OECD officials
ELS is collecting information about integrated services for survivors of gender-based violence. The questionnaires were circulated early 2022. A stand-alone report and a series of short briefs will be published in 2022-2023
The OECD is a partner in the Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies. This multi-stakeholder initiative aims to drive change and foster accountability in policies, systems and mechanisms, to mitigate gender-based violence risks against women and girls in settings of humanitarian crisis
OECD launched the pilot phase of the 2022 OECD Survey on Strengthening Governance and Survivor/Victim-centric Approaches to end gender-based violence in December 2021. A comparative report is due for 2022
OECD’s Working Party on Gender Mainstreaming and Governance established its technical advisory group on tackling gender-based violence.

Click here to access our reports and working papers on gender

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OECD Observer articles on gender by OECD experts and guests

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Trade

Trade and Gender: A Framework of Analysis, published in March 2021, suggests a framework for analysing impacts of trade and trade policies on women as consumers, workers and business owners.