Advancing Gender Equality through the SDG Ambition Benchmarks

In recent years, increased expectations from investors, regulators, employees, and customers have put significant pressure on companies to deal with complex sustainability challenges.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the only universally agreed framework defining the world we want to live and do business in. Integrating the Goals into core corporate strategies is the most effective way to understand, report, and measure sustainability impacts in a holistic way while anticipating regulatory changes.

However, determining the starting point for your company’s efforts to advance the 2030 Agenda and implementing the 17 SDGs may seem like a challenging task.

The UN Global Compact, in consultation with business leaders and partner organisations, has developed 14 SDG Ambition Benchmarks, to simplify the task and translate ambition into action. The benchmarks include clear pathways and sample actions for companies to take, and they focus on the areas of the SDGs where the private sector could have the greatest impact on global efforts to achieve the Goals by 2030.

All SDGs are highly interconnected. Gender equality is not confined to Goal 5, in fact across all 17 Goals there are 52 indicators related to women and girls.

Advancing gender equality in your organisation through the SDG Ambition Benchmarks has the potential to unlock positive impacts across all of the Goals, including Goal 1 (No Poverty), Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and Goal 10 (Reduced Inequalities).

Discover how to future-proof your business, ensure profitability, and drive the future we want through the Benchmarks below:

1.     Equal pay for work of equal value

Ranging from 7.7% in the UK (April 2023), the gender pay gap represents untapped potential for business innovation, growth, and profitability, as gender diversity in the workplace can lead to up to 20% better business outcomes.

Although the gender pay gap and equal pay for work of equal value are not the same, both concepts draw attention to existing pay inequalities between men and women. Achieving pay equity requires companies to address all parts of remuneration, i.e., salary and any other directly or indirectly paid benefits.

Businesses should start by assessing and monitoring the pay gap between men and women in similar roles in their organisation. This allows businesses to identify pay gaps and opens discussions about how these gaps should be addressed. Companies can support this process by reviewing the allocation of resources, identifying training that needs to be provided, developing a communication strategy to enhance employee understanding and support, and consciously assessing the value of different jobs in the organisation.

Pay is a highly influential factor on employee motivation, progression and retention in the workplace. Closing the gender pay gap can not only increase employee morale and ensure fair progression routes but also promote a trusted brand image and create a productive and innovative company culture.

2.     Gender balance across all levels of management

Although business leaders identify gender equality as a priority, less than 30% of businesses have clear and measurable goals and targets in place to achieve gender equality.

Research has shown that having women in top management teams correlates with better financial performance. Businesses committed to gender equality should actively work towards combating gender stereotypes and include female talent, skills, and perspectives in boards and other leading management positions.

Businesses should start by assessing their gender equality performance. By using the Women’s Empowerment Principles Gender Gap Analysis Tool, companies can find out more about potential areas of improvement and identify opportunities to set future corporate goals and targets.

Participating companies of the United Nations Global Compact can join the Target Gender Equality Accelerator. Through facilitated performance analysis, capacity-building workshops, peer-to-peer learning and multi-stakeholder dialogue at the country level, Target Gender Equality supports companies in setting and reaching ambitious corporate targets for women’s representation and leadership, starting with the Board and Executive Management levels.

3.     Improve diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are three separate, but complementary concepts businesses should include in their strategies and operations. Diversity refers to differences and similarities, not only in personal characteristics (age, disability, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, people living with HIV) but also in values, workstyles, caring responsibilities, hierarchical levels, and work roles.

Gender equality measures should be strongly embedded in intersectional diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, accounting for the dynamics between gender and LGBTQIA+ issues, racial equity, disability rights, immigration, and more. Considering intersectionality can not only tackle structural inequalities experienced by marginalised groups but also unlock additional benefits for businesses.

There are tools available to help businesses assess their current state of DEI, such as the ILO GBDN Self-Assessment for disability inclusion policies and practices, the UN LGBTIQ+ Standards Gap Analysis Tool, and the Women’s Empowerment Principles Gender Gap Analysis Tool.

Businesses can implement targeted measures to build an inclusive workforce, such as anonymous and skills-based hiring processes. Furthermore, companies can invest in and implement DEI policies that specifically take disadvantaged groups into account. Moreover, companies can create more economic opportunities by increasing access to education and training. Finally, central to improving DEI in an organisation (including its value chain) is undertaking due diligence, especially by engaging with supplier organisations.

There is still a long way to go if we are to achieve gender equality by 2030. By working collectively, educating each other, and sharing our experiences, companies can unlock business benefits and create the transformational change necessary to achieve the SDGs.

If you are interested in joining any of our gender equality activities, please contact us.

Written by Lea Burkart, Governance & SDGs Programme Coordinator.