Gender, Equality and Diversity Branch (GED)

The Gender, Equality and Diversity Branch (GED), part of the Conditions of Work and Equality Department of the International Labour Office, is responsible for promoting equality and respect for diversity in the world of work.

GED expertise focuses on issues related to equal opportunities and treatment for all women and men in the world of work, and eliminating discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, indigenous identity and disability. The Branch provides policy advice, tools, guidance and technical assistance to constituents including with respect to promoting more inclusive workplaces, and ensuring that policies, programmes and institutions are gender-responsive.

GED coordinates the ILO Action Plan for Gender Equality, which is the results-based tool for operationalizing the 1999 policy on gender equality and mainstreaming in the International Labour Office.

The Branch oversees the ILO global Gender Network comprised of headquarters-based Gender Coordinators and field-based Senior Gender Specialists, along with gender focal points in all units and offices.

GED participates in United Nations inter-agency initiatives that promote gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as decent work for persons with disabilities, and the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples. The Branch also liaises with civil society groups and academic institutions.

Highlights

  1. Publication

    Procedures for consultations with indigenous peoples - Experiences from Norway

  2. Women at Work Trends 2016

    The Women at Work report provides the latest ILO data on women’s position in labour markets, examines the factors behind these trends and explores the policy drivers for transformative change.

  3. Publication

    Global Mapping of the Provision of Care through Cooperatives - Survey and Interview Findings

    ILO Cooperatives Unit (COOP) and the Gender, Equality and Diversity Branch (GED) undertook a joint initiative to assess the global landscape of cooperatives that provide care, identify the challenges and opportunities that cooperatives face, and determine the resources that cooperatives need in order to be viable care providers, enterprises and employers.

  4. Status Report

    Indigenous Peoples in the World of Work in Asia and the Pacific

  5. Working Paper

    The gender and motherhood wage gap in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: An econometric analysis

    Working Paper No. 6 / 2015

  6. Event

    International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2015: A Day for All

  7. Decision from the ILO GB 325th Session

    Violence against women and men in the world of work

    ILO Governing Body agrees to placing a standard setting item on the agenda for the 2018 International Labour Conference on 'Violence against women and men in the world of work' and asks the ILO to convene a Tripartite Meeting of Experts to discuss the subject in 2016.

Key resources

  1. Gender balance in the International Labour Conference

    This report is a compilation of data on the representation of women and men in the International Labour Conference.

  2. ILO Action Plan for Gender Equality 2016-17

    This Action Plan aims to support effective and inclusive gender-responsive delivery of the Decent Work Agenda by operationalizing the ILO gender equality policy.

  3. ILO Participatory Gender Audits

    ILO uses participatory gender audits to promote individual and organizational learning on ways to mainstream gender in order to help achieve equality between women and men.

  4. ILO Gender Network Handbook

    This handbook is targeted to ILO Gender network members as well as all ILO staff and representatives of constituents – governments, and employers’ and workers’ organizations – as a support to effectively mainstream gender in all their work.

  5. Reports and conclusions of the ILC 2009 Committee on Gender Equality