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Gender-responsive standards: bringing standards for sustainable development and gender-equality to standards development bodies

01 June 2022 10:00 - 17:00
Hybrid: Room Tempus 2, Palais des Nations Geneva Switzerland

This event took place as part of the WP.6 Forum 

Standards are a pervasive part of our lives. They are at the conceptualization of all products around us and determine what and how is brought onto the market. Until now, very often the reference for establishing standards has been the male morphology, leaving half the population unrepresented in the development of standards for products which they likely use on a daily basis. In order to reach true sustainable development, the 2030 agenda – and more specifically SDG 5 – on gender equality need to be brought into the product lifecycle at the earliest possible time and be considered at all stages.

This one-day event shall bring forward the results of a three-year project within the Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and Standardization Policies (WP.6) called “Enhancing usage and uptake of standards for sustainable development, gender equality and the empowerment of women”. This project was made possible by a generous contribution from the German government. It shall highlight:

  • The Standards for SDG portal, mapping around twenty thousand standards of a dozen international standards development organizations
  • E-learning modules on key topics relevant to standards development and their use
  • The Gender-Responsive Standards Initiative of WP.6 and the progress it has been able to achieve as well as the points of view of the key stakeholders in this initiative
  • A summary of the training webinars offered to standards development organizations
  • A series of videos from standards development organizations

Beyond what has been accomplished and what we have learned from this work, the event will also look at what are the potential problems and next steps.

For additional information, please consult the event flyer here.

Meeting programme

10:00-10:30 Welcome and keynote

 

Elisabeth TUERK

[Bio]

Director, Economic Cooperation and Trade Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

 

Tobias DIERGARDT

[Bio]

Project Coordinator, German Physikalisch -Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB)

 

Alia EL-YASSIR

[Bio]

Regional Director, Representative to Turkey; Europe and Central Asia Regional Office, UN Women

 

Stephanie EYNON

[Bio] [PPT]

Lead, ECE - WP.6 - GRSI;

Head of Standards - Makers Engagement & Inclusion, British Standards Institution (BSI)

 

 

10:30-11:15 Session 1: ECE WP.6 leading the international community on gender responsive standards

 

Lorenza JACHIA, Moderator

[Bio]

Senior Development Coordination Officer, UN Resident Coordinator Office, Serbia

 

Philip OKUNGU

[Bio] [PPT]

Documentation and Information Manager, African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO)

 

Michelle PARKOUDA

[Bio] [PPT]

Lead, ECE – WP.6 – GRSI – PT2;

Manager/Researcher, Standards Council of Canada (SCC)

 

Lut MERGAERT

[Bio] [PPT]

Partner/Research Director, Yellow Window

 

 

11:15-12:00 Session 2: Standards for SDG Platform

 

Lance THOMPSON, Moderator

[Bio]

Secretary, Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and Standardization Policies (WP.6), United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

 

José ALCORTA

[Bio] [PPT]

Head of Standards Development, International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

 

David HANLON

[Bio] [PPT]

Secretary, Conformity Assessment Board, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)

 

Young-Woo YUN

[Bio] [PPT]

Head of Standards Section, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

 

Ulises NERI FLORES

[Bio] [PPT]

Vice Chair México – UNECE Expert Group on Resource Management (EGRM-UNECE)

 

 

14:00-15:00 Session 3: Implementing Gender-Responsive Standards

 

Gabrielle WHITE, Moderator

[Bio]

Vice Chair, WP.6;

Senior Trade Policy Advisor, Global Trade Policy Division, Natural Resources, Canada

 

Anoush der BOGHOSSIAN

[Bio]

Head of Trade and Gender Unit, World Trade Organization (WTO)

 

Lucy HE

[Bio]

 

Lead, ECE – WP.6 – GRSI – PT1;

Technical Officer, Energy Safety / High Hazards, Energy and Public Safety, Work Safe New Zealand

 

Deborah WAUTIER

[Bio]

Project Manager, Policy & Partnerships, CEN/CENELEC

 

Mónica SANZO

[Bio]

Director of Cooperation and International Relations, Spanish Association for Standardization (UNE)

 

 

15:00-16:00 Session 4: Implementing gender action plans: objectives and challenges

 

Rosie SEVILLE, Moderator

[Bio]

 

Vice Chair WP.6;

First Secretary, Economic & Trade Team, Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva

 

Katrina FOTOVAT

[Bio]

Senior Official, State Department’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, United States of America

 

Karin LINDMARK

[Bio]

Head of Technical Policies and Standardisation Services, Swedish Institute for Standards (SIS)

 

Hoki KARGBO

[Bio][PPT]

Acting Manager, Landing/Destination Inspection Department, Sierra Leone Standards Bureau (SLSB)