Gender data: Informing gender-responsive human rights due diligence

Building on the Gender Data Guidance jointly developed by ETI and other key partners in the industry (BSR, Sedex, Fair Wear Foundation, Partnership for Sustainable Textiles and the Dutch Agreement for Sustainable Garments and Textiles), this case study focuses on how ETI continued to influence the enabling environment and support the integration of the gender data indicators into existing tools by other industry stakeholders. 

Why gender data is important 

Gender-disaggregated supply chain data can help identify a wide range of risks that disproportionately affect women in the workplace as a result of their gender. For example: 

• It can reveal situations where women might be found in more vulnerable contract types, such as fixed term, temporary or seasonal contract types, and in general more informal working conditions, compared to men; 
• Why women are not in leadership positions e.g. because they may not have the same access to trainings or networking opportunities, or they may be time constrained due to unpaid care responsibilities; 
• It can help identify health and safety procedures or infrastructure that are not fit for women given biological differences or types of activities done in the workplace; 
• It can help uncover root causes of complex workplace issues such as gender-based violence and harassment, which predominantly affects women workers. 

When data fails to take into account gender and treats everyone as equal, it makes it difficult to understand certain risks and inequities that may be gender-related. According to the Workforce Disclosure Initiative 2023, only 21% of companies reported that they collected data on the gender composition of their value chain workforce. The lack of gender-disaggregated supply chain data essentially results in gender-blind policies and programmes, and poor outcomes not just for women workers, but for all workers.  

Collecting gender-disaggregated data 

For ETI, it is important that our member companies conduct human rights due diligence with a strong gender lens, and this has to be informed by reliable and accurate gender-disaggregated supply chain data. The challenge, however, is that companies often do not know what data to ask for and how to interpret it. Additionally, suppliers who have to make this data available, are unclear about the benefits of doing so. The Gender Data Guidance supports precisely this, whereby businesses can embark on a journey of collecting more and better gender-disaggregated supply chain data, as an integral part of supply chain due diligence and monitoring. 

The collaborative effort that was initiated by ETI to bring key stakeholders in the industry together and build on existing guidance without re-inventing the wheel was a significant achievement because brands often complain that there are too many pieces of guidance and tools out there and they don't know which to use. Furthermore, the organisations involved have been able to individually disseminate the guidance thus broadening the reach and impact of the original BSR Gender Data and Impact Framework.   

Driving industry change 

There continues to be uptake of the guidance by the organisations involved in this collaborative effort. For example, Fair Wear integrated the Level 1 indicators into their brand performance check. ETI and PST have built on their partnership and are jointly implementing a pilot project in South India that addresses the gaps in understanding by suppliers of why gender-disaggregated data is useful for them and for their buyers, and how to develop or strengthen systems to capture this data accurately. In another project, PST is also developing a questionnaire tool to support the capture of Level 1 and 2 data at factory level. 

Over 76,000 

Supplier sites, registered on the Sedex platform have used our joint Gender Data Guidance Level 1 indicators through their Self Assessment Questionnaires.

More notable however, is the collaboration with Sedex that has led to the integration Level 1 indicators into their revised Self Assessment Questionnaires (SAQs). To date, over 76,000 supplier sites registered on the Sedex platform have completed SAQs that include Level 1 data indicators from the Gender Data Guidance. This essentially means a significant increase in gender-disaggregated supply chain data that is now available for companies to utilise as part of their due diligence efforts. This is particularly useful for smaller companies, or those with limited resources to invest in elaborate data collection exercises at production country level. 

At an organisational level, ETI continues to emphasise the importance of using gender-disaggregated supply chain data to inform risk assessments and overall human rights due diligence through a number 
of targeted initiatives across all sectors. With the increased focus on HRDD legislation, it is ever more important that companies understand the need for data that highlights the severity and likelihood of risks to workers based on their gender, and thus be in position to appropriately mitigate and prevent these risks.