Standards shape the products that surround us and facilitate global trade. However, it is also important to ensure that all human beings are adequately represented both in the processes of developing standards and in the outcomes they produce. There is often a misconception that technical standards are gender-neutral, however, standards often serve as “invisible infrastructure,” silently influencing every aspect of our lives through the products, processes and services we use daily. When standards fail to be gender-responsive, their impact can be both widespread and overlooked. Gender-responsive standards consider both sex—the biological characteristics of individuals—and gender, which refers to the social and cultural expectations assigned to both women and men.
Some products, when not developed with a-fit-for-purpose gender lens, have adversely affected women due to biases in design, testing and implementation. Some notable examples include personal protective equipment, clothing for professional and recreational use, passive restraint systems in vehicles, construction equipment, and pharmaceuticals.
Gender bias is not limited to physical products—it also extends into highly technical fields such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially in that these systems rely on data inputs and training algorithms. Therefore, if the input datasets are built on historical or societal biases, the AI is likely to further reinforce traditional gendered stereotypes.
Technologies that appear neutral or universally beneficial at first glance can have unintended gendered consequences when misused or applied without gender lens. Geo-localization technologies are widely used in cell phone applications to enhance user experience. However, this technology can also be hacked or exploited, allowing individuals to be tracked without consent. This clear misuse poses significant cyber-stalking risks, which disproportionately affects women. While the technology itself seems neutral or even beneficial, its potential for misuse creates unequal safety risks across genders.
Another example surfaced during the COVID 19 pandemic which led to widespread adoption of personal protective equipment, such as masks and clothing, to reduce viral transmission. While the primary goal of these stands was health and safety, early designs of these products were developed to fit Caucasian male aged 25-30. This oversight had critical implications for women, who are over-represented in the health care system and had reduced protection from the equipment due to poor fit and design. Recognizing this issue, technical committees revised the standards, incorporating gender-specific anthropometric data to ensure that masks fit and protect all users effectively. This adjustment not only addressed an oversight but also enhanced overall health safety outcomes.
An example from an everyday include household products which often contain chemicals tested on male biological standards, despite women being more likely to handle these products in their day-to-day. Standards governing these products aim to ensure safety and prevent adverse health effects, giving consumers confidence in their use. However, when gender-specific biological differences are not considered during testing and standardization, the intended safety outcomes inevitably fall short. Incorporating women’s biological specificities into safety assessments not only enhances product safety, but also ensures that standards deliver their intended outcomes equitably across genders.
Given the obvious importance and need to address this issue, in 2016, the UNECE Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and Standardization Policies (WP.6) initiated efforts to promote gender-responsive standards. This work resulted in the UNECE Recommendation U which outlines key activities to ensure that standards are developed through inclusive gender lens. This is accompanied by a Declaration, an actionable commitment for standards development organizations (SDO) to embed gender consideration into their operational processes. As of December 2024, 86 organizations have signed this declaration, demonstrating their commitment to advancing gender equality in standardization.
The International Organization for Standards (ISO) and the International Electro-technical Commission (IEC), two of the world’s largest SDOs were early adopters of WP.6 Recommendation U and signatories to the declaration. These organizations have implemented gender action plans that include mandatory gender-sensitization training and gender impact assessments for every new or revised standard to ensure that they do not inadvertently reinforce gender biases or create unequal outcomes.
In 2022, the WP.6 established a Team of Specialists on Gender-Responsive Standards (GRS). This team serves as a platform to exchange experiences and develop guidance on implementing effective gender action plans across standard development processes. The UNECE secretariat is now advancing this initiative through an extra-budgetary project funded by the German Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt. This two-year capacity building project will focus on mainstreaming gender considerations across the entire quality infrastructure, including market surveillance, conformity assessment, accreditation, metrology, technical regulations and standardization. The project will be implemented in Albania, Benin and Georgia, in close collaboration with the national agencies and international organizations, to ensure that gender considerations become an integral part of quality infrastructure system in these countries.
UNECE has developed comprehensive resources to support gender integration in standards and related processes including:
Recommendation U on Gender-Responsive Standards (available also in French and Russian)
Declaration on Gender-Responsive Standards and Standards Development and signatory database
Guidelines on Developing Gender-Responsive Standards (available also in French, Russian, Spanish and Chinese)
Why Gender-Responsive Standard Are Better for Everyone (available also in Russian and soon in French)
Guide for standards-related gender action plans
Multilingual Glossary of Terms Related to Gender and Trade (multilingual in English, French, Russian and Spanish)
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Palais des Nations, Geneva
