Gender in business and human rights

While it is generally acknowledged that women are disproportionately and differently affected by adverse business-related human rights impacts, there has arguably been too little attention to gender issues in most business and human rights frameworks and initiatives. That includes those for implementing the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

This has been noted by several actors, including the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights which issued a Gender Guidance for states and businesses in 2019.

With the aim of contributing to addressing this gap, the Danish Institute for Human Rights is working on several projects focusing on taking a gender-responsive approach to business and human rights, in particular with the view to increasing attention to the rights of women and girls.

1: Portal on gender & business and human rights

In collaboration with the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, the Institute has developed a Gender Portal featuring latest resources and analysis, as well as a complementary blog series supported by OpenGlobalRights.

Purpose

The purpose of the Gender Portal is to support all actors working with business and human rights to promote gender justice as a critical component, so laws, policies and practices affirm human rights and give expression to the dignity and leadership of people with different gender identities and expression. The Gender Portal features latest news and developments; powerful guidance and toolkits; as well as evidence, research and analysis.

The complementary blog series explores critical topics at the nexus of gender, business and human rights, looking at practical examples that demonstrate why gender justice is necessary and how it might be achieved.

2: Women in business and human rights: A mapping of topics for state attention in UNGPs implementation processes

This mapping paper provides an overview of key topic areas for attention for states in strengthening their gender focus in UNGPs implementation processes, including national action plans on business and human rights (NAPs).

Purpose

The objectives of the mapping are to:

• Contribute to understanding women’s rights and gender in relation to business and human rights dialogue and UNPGs implementation processes, including NAPs;
• Demonstrate the linkages between the UNGPs and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with regard to women’s rights; and
• Identify good practices regarding selected specific areas of concern related to business and women’s rights (employment and labour rights; land and natural resources; essential services and privatisation; trade and investment; and access to effective remedy).

The mapping focuses in particular on actions that states may take to further strengthen attention to gender in UNGPs implementation processes, i.e. rather than on how businesses may implement gender-responsive human rights due diligence. The mapping is based on desktop research as well as conversations with key resource persons to gather insights and good practice examples.

3: Report: Towards gender-responsive implementation of extractive industries projects

Gendered social relations mean that women and men are impacted differently by extractive industries projects. Despite this, extractive industries companies frequently take a gender-neutral approach to human rights due diligence.

As a consequence, women are often marginalised in stakeholder engagement, and their rights are insufficiently considered in project planning and implementation. Projects thus miss out on a comprehensive understanding of the social context, their impacts on workers and communities, and how these can best be addressed.

Purpose

The purpose of this report is to contribute to learning on key challenges, as well as good practice opportunities for practitioners working in and with the extractive industries, on how a gender-responsive approach can be embedded in project planning and implementation. In particular, the report explores how strengthened engagement with women can act as a key enabler for human rights due diligence.

The report focuses on six select dimensions of human rights due diligence in extractive industries projects: (1) community relations; (2) land acquisition and resettlement; (3) security; (4) local content; (5) grievance resolution; and (6) strategic social investment. For each topic, a short overview of key gender issues is provided, as well as suggestions for addressing challenges and enhancing gender-responsive due diligence in practice. Further resources for extractive industries project staff are provided for each topic, and case studies are included to provide insights on key challenges and potential solutions in concrete project settings.

4: Report: Addressing the gender dimensions of business and human rights

The summary report presents some of the highlights and key themes emerging from a series of online learning exchanges. The objectives of the learning exchanges were to foster the greater integration of existing knowledge on gender into the field of BHR; promote exchange and collaboration between practitioners and researchers actively working on the intersection of gender and BHR, with a view to enhancing the future direction of both practice- and research-based activities and outputs; and collectively identify key engagement opportunities for addressing the gender dimensions of BHR.

This report is intended to serve as a resource document for those who participated in the exchanges, as well as the BHR community more broadly, to further strengthen the gender dimensions of BHR.