Drivers of Change for Workplace Gender Equality

This brief delineates seven critical drivers necessary for fostering workplace gender equality (WGE). The foundation of effective WGE practices lies in sustained leadership commitment and accountability, which ensures engagement across all organisational levels and fosters a culture viewing gender equality as mutually beneficial. An evidence-based gender equality strategy, clearly defining goals, roles, and responsibilities, is crucial for establishing a unified vision and promoting accountability. This strategy should be supported by comprehensive HR policies that address pay equity, promotion, and flexible work practices, and underscored by rigorous data and analytics to guide decision-making and measure progress.

Employee perceptions are vital for creating an inclusive workplace culture; thus, regular communication and consultation are recommended. Additionally, fostering gender equality knowledge and skills among staff is essential, with a focus on effective capacity-building measures over conventional training methods, which may be less impactful. Transparency in communications, both internally and externally, plays a pivotal role in building accountability and sharing progress towards achieving gender equality. Commissioned by Investing in Women (IW), this rapid appraisal document summarises existing donor literature associated with influencing WGE in South East Asia and assesses the alignment of these findings with the work of IW and the four Business Coalitions based in Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam.