Key Details
The report documents the scale of gender inequality across global supply chains - from workforce participation and wage gaps to legal barriers, workplace harassment and corporate disclosure - and proposes a framework for gender-responsive due diligence.
Theme | Key Finding | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
Gender concentration in supply chains | Women account for 41.9% of the global workforce but comprise 80–90% of workers in labour-intensive export sectors such as garments, agriculture and electronics. | Gender-related risks are concentrated in globally traded supply chains. |
Employment inequality | Women occupy 60–70% of lower-tier assembly, packaging and seasonal jobs but hold only 25% of management positions and lead just 15% of firms globally. | Occupational segregation limits career progression and decision-making power. |
Informality and wages | Around 70% of employed women in low- and middle-income countries work without formal contracts or social protection, while women earn about 20% less than men globally. | Informality and wage inequality increase vulnerability to exploitation. |
Structural legal barriers | 88 countries restrict women’s access to certain occupations, 52 lack equal-pay legislation and 13 do not prohibit workplace sex discrimination. | National legal frameworks continue to reinforce gender inequality. |
Corporate disclosure | Only 22% of listed companies disclose gender pay gaps, 17% publish promotion data by gender and 14% report gender-disaggregated workforce turnover. | Limited disclosure makes gender-related risks difficult to identify and manage. |
India and Bangladesh | Surveys indicate that at least 60% of women employed in garment factories experience workplace harassment. | Demonstrates why gender-responsive due diligence and grievance mechanisms are essential in labour-intensive export sectors. |
Gender Risks Are a Supply Chain Governance Challenge
The OECD report, Due Diligence Essentials for Gender in Global Supply Chains, argues that gender inequality is not simply a workplace issue but a structural feature of global production systems. Women are heavily concentrated in labour-intensive export industries such as garments, agriculture and electronics, yet remain disproportionately represented in lower-paid, insecure and informal employment while being underrepresented in leadership roles. As global supply chains expand, these structural inequalities increasingly become responsible business conduct risks rather than solely labour-market concerns.
Conventional Due Diligence Often Misses Gender Risks
The report’s central finding is that many corporate due diligence systems are poorly equipped to detect gender-specific risks. Conventional social audits often rely on gender-neutral checklists, lack gender-disaggregated data, employ auditors without specialist expertise and overlook hidden forms of discrimination and harassment.
Corporate disclosure remains limited, with relatively few companies reporting gender pay gaps, promotion rates or workforce turnover by gender. The report also cautions that emerging AI-enabled recruitment and workforce management systems could unintentionally reinforce existing labour-market inequalities unless appropriate safeguards are introduced.
Structural Barriers Extend Beyond the Workplace
According to the OECD, workplace inequalities reflect wider legal, economic and social barriers. Women continue to earn around 20% less than men globally and are significantly more likely to work without formal contracts or social protection. In many countries, legal restrictions continue to limit women’s access to occupations, equal remuneration and workplace protections.
The report also highlights unequal access to productive assets and representation. Women own less than 20% of land globally, receive only around 1% of public procurement contracts and remain substantially underrepresented in trade union leadership despite accounting for a large share of union membership. Unpaid care responsibilities further restrict women’s opportunities for career progression, overtime and labour mobility.
India Highlights the Need for Gender-Responsive Due Diligence
The report cites evidence from garment factories in India and Bangladesh, where surveys indicate that at least 60% of women workers have experienced workplace harassment. It argues that labour-intensive export industries often combine high female workforce participation with elevated risks of Gender-Based Violence and Harassment (GBVH), particularly where intense buyer pressure, short production deadlines and weak reporting systems exist.
Rather than relying solely on compliance audits, the OECD recommends embedding gender-responsive due diligence throughout supply chains by strengthening supplier incentives, improving workplace infrastructure, incorporating women’s perspectives into risk assessments, expanding independent grievance mechanisms and integrating gender considerations into purchasing practices.
What is Gender-Responsive Due Diligence?
Gender-responsive due diligence is an approach to responsible business conduct that identifies and addresses the different ways women and men experience risks within supply chains. It incorporates gender-disaggregated data, consultation with women workers, gender-sensitive grievance mechanisms and supplier practices that reduce discrimination, harassment and other structural inequalities.
Policy Relevance
The report shifts responsible business conduct beyond gender-neutral compliance by showing that companies need gender-responsive due diligence capable of identifying structural risks that conventional workplace audits often overlook.
Gender-related risks increasingly extend beyond labour law compliance to include buyer purchasing practices, supplier incentives, workplace infrastructure and grievance mechanisms, requiring businesses to examine how commercial decisions influence working conditions.
Growing due diligence requirements in major export markets mean Indian firms in textiles, electronics, agriculture and other labour-intensive sectors may increasingly need to demonstrate gender-responsive risk assessment alongside environmental and human-rights compliance.
Strengthening disclosure of gender-disaggregated indicators—including recruitment, pay, promotion, retention, complaints and leadership representation—can improve both corporate accountability and supply-chain transparency.
The report highlights emerging governance challenges associated with AI-enabled recruitment and workforce management, suggesting that algorithmic oversight will become an increasingly important component of responsible business conduct.
For India, expanding women’s participation in manufacturing and export sectors will require moving beyond employment generation towards improving workplace safety, career progression, supplier practices and effective grievance mechanisms across supply chains.
Follow the Full Report Here: Due Diligence Essentials for Gender in Global Supply Chains