Accelerating gender parity: A toolkit

Over the past 10 years, the World Economic Forum has brought together a community of influential leaders committed to addressing the global gender gap with a focus on the economic aspects of gender parity. We have benchmarked national, regional and industry gender gaps and gathered best practices adopted by leading companies in all regions of the world. To accelerate the closing of the global gender gap in employment, companies and governments can benefit from a platform to learn from each other’s experience and be inspired by possibilities for further action. To that end, the World Economic Forum has been fostering communities through which leaders can exchange knowledge, discuss adapting models to local circumstances and celebrate impact. The principles showcased in this toolkit highlight several approaches taken to closing gender gaps in companies across the globe. Each of these practices has a potentially transformative role but is most effective within a consistent company-wide strategy, resting on a strong foundation of labour standards, including health and safety. For such an approach to work, leaders must commit for the long-term and manage some of the short-term barriers and trade-offs. There is an urgent need to accelerate progress towards gender parity, particularly as labour markets face both technological disruption and talent shortages. We hope that the principles for action outlined herein will serve to deepen existing commitments, inspire fresh, impact-focused initiatives to promote gender parity, and further work with geographical and sectoral focus.