Gender responsive standards and gender equality: Q&A with Michelle Parkouda

Standardization can benefit many areas of our lives. How has SCC’s work impacted the advancement of gender responsive standards?

You’ll hear people say things like standards are ubiquitous, or that they are an invisible infrastructure. And that is true. What’s worrisome about that is we now know that women have largely been invisible in this ubiquitous, invisible infrastructure. Standards aren’t unique in this respect. Medical research and other disciplines have also had to grapple with their legacy of androcentrism, in which men are seen as the default representative, with women largely excluded from research and consideration when requirements are being developed.

SCC has been proactive in bringing attention to the lack of consideration that women have received in standards development and the implications of that gender gap. Our study looking at how standards are associated with a reduction in the number of unintentional injuries for men – and not women – was groundbreaking. It helped to quantify the problem and demonstrate the severity of the consequences of the gender gap in standards development.

Importantly, other organizations have also used that research to make the case for the need for gender responsive standards in their presentations and project proposals. This work requires concerted effort to make progress. It also requires people and organizations who are willing to be trailblazers. By prioritizing gender responsive standards organizationally, SCC has established itself as a leader on this topic and has been instrumental in making real progress to ensure standards protect everyone.

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Why do we need more women in standards development?

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Declaration for Gender Responsive Standards notes that women are under-represented in standards development.

We see that with SCC’s member data, women currently represent 25% of our mirror committee (MC) members. While we have argued at the UNECE, and elsewhere, that the onus should not be on women to ensure that a standard is gender-responsive, it turns out that the presence of women on committees does have a positive impact. Research in other sectors has shown that when women’s participation is higher, products are more likely to be gender responsive.

Our research has also shown that when there are women on SCC’s MCs, the committees perform better. This was independently determined by our Standards and International Relations Branch, which conducted an evaluation of the MCs, and the research team which tested the relationship. Gender diversity in standards development can contribute to more effective committees and better standards for everyone.

What progress have you seen on gender responsive standards?

I think it’s fair to say that when the gender declaration was launched in 2019, and this started to become more of a topic of conversation, not everyone could immediately see the connection between gender and standards. Certainly, I know from surveys that have been administered at ISO and IEC, that the connection is still not obvious for everyone. However, lately, I have seen more people and countries engaging on this topic. It’s important that we go beyond the “usual suspects” in terms of who is engaged.

At SCC, I have seen an increase in colleagues’ knowledge and awareness of this topic, and importantly, I have also seen colleagues take action to advance gender-responsiveness in their work. Internationally, I am also seeing diversity in terms of which countries are active on this topic. This past June, I was an expert presenter for ISO during a training session on developing gender action plans in Uzbekistan; several neighbouring countries and a few African countries also participated in the training. Many of them face numerous barriers to gender equality (there was a discussion on bride stealing that was an eye-opener). While this was a new topic to many in attendance, they have been actively applying what they learned in the training. Several participating National Standards Bodies have now completed gender action plans and a few have also signed the UNECE gender declaration. This is noteworthy because according to the UN, over 90% of the women and girls in the world live in countries “with low or middle women’s empowerment and low or middle performance in achieving gender parity.”

Gender-responsive standards can be an important tool to advance gender equality, and I’m very proud of the work that SCC is doing to address the gender gap in standards and contribute to improving gender equality worldwide.