Gender Responsive Standards Guidance for ISO and IEC Committees

This document is a guidance report aimed at ISO and IEC technical committees regarding the development of gender responsive standards (GRS). It outlines the commitment made by ISO and IEC on 19 May 2019, when they signed the UNECE Declaration on Gender Responsive Standards, which emphasizes the need for standards to address gender disparities. The guidance provides a framework for standards developers to ensure that both women's and men's needs are considered in the standards development process. It discusses the importance of recognizing physical, physiological, and social differences between genders and how these differences can impact the effectiveness of standards. The document also highlights the role of standard developers in initiating discussions on gender considerations throughout the standards development stages. Additionally, it presents examples of how gender differences can affect safety and health outcomes, such as in the case of crash test dummies and cookstoves, and encourages the use of an assessment form to evaluate gender considerations in standards.