This document has been developed as a background note to strengthen business understanding and capacity across sectors in implementing gender-responsive due diligence. The background note highlights the relevant aspects of OECD due diligence guidance related to gender, analyses structural and systemic drivers that shape gendered risks, and presents practical measures for integrating a gender perspective throughout the due diligence process. The background note will be used to discuss gender-responsive due diligence, including a scenario workshop at the 2026 OECD Forum on due diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector. The OECD conducted informal expert and stakeholder consultations and interviews, and discussed the issue in sessions at the 2025 OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector, “How addressing business practices and gender norms in global garment supply chains can help tackle gender based violence and harassment” organised by RISE (Reimagining Industry to Support Equality) and 2025 OECD Forum on Responsible Mineral Supply Chains, “Responsible Sourcing, Inclusive Impact: CrossSector Solutions for Gender-Responsive Due Diligence” organised by Women’s Rights and Mining network. The background note references the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, as well as key OECD Guidance standards, notably the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct, the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas, the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement in the Extractive Sector, the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Garment and Footwear Supply Chains, the OECD-FAO Guidance for Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains, and OECD Responsible Business Conduct resources on gender (See Box 1.1). This document was prepared with financial support from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Gender blindness refers to the failure to recognize that the roles and responsibilities of men/boys and women/girls are assigned to them in specific social, cultural, economic, and political contexts and backgrounds. Projects, programs, policies, and attitudes that are gender-blind do not take into account these different roles and diverse needs. They maintain the status quo and will not help transform the unequal structure of gender relations.
This refers to the equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of women and men and girls and boys. Equality does not mean that women and men will become the same but that women’s and men’s rights, responsibilities, and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female. Gender equality implies that the interests, needs, and priorities of both women and men are taken into consideration, recognizing the diversity of different groups of women and men. Gender equality is not a women’s issue but should concern and fully engage men as well as women. Equality between women and men is seen both as a human rights issue and as a precondition for, and indicator of, sustainable people-centered development.
The preferred terminology within the United Nations is gender equality rather than gender equity. Gender equity denotes an element of interpretation of social justice, usually based on tradition, custom, religion, or culture, which is most often to the detriment of women. Such use of equity in relation to the advancement of women has been determined to be unacceptable.
Gender mainstreaming refers to “the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.”
Gender-responsive approaches actively consider and address gender-specific differences. Their goal is to promote gender equality – for example, by implementing regulations that reduce the risks faced by women in female-dominated sectors, such as the textile or cosmetics industries. The term is commonly used in international political discourse.
Sex-disaggregated data is typically collected and analyzed in two biological categories: males and females, and then used to develop programs and policies. Sex-disaggregated health data tells you the numbers of men and women affected by a particular disease, condition, or cause of death (Gender Equity Unit, 2024). For example, human biomonitoring data is often disaggregated by sex for comparing population exposures between the sexes. When data is not disaggregated by sex, it is more difficult to identify real and potential inequalities (UNICEF, 2017).