Gender equality in global supply chains

Everything is connected: this year’s Climate Change Conference (COP 30) in Belém, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025, saw global supply chains take centre stage alongside climate issues. Timed to coincide with the conference, UN Women and the German Agency for Business and Economic Development (AWE) have now launched the Global Supply Chain Coalition (GSCC). Its goal is ambitious: to advance gender equality along the entire global supply chain.

The GSCC is committed to firmly establishing equality and fair working conditions not just in individual companies, but along the entire value chain. To achieve this, it prioritises empowering women, encouraging their active participation and increasing the number of women in leadership roles. This will ultimately benefit the global economy as a whole – through more resilience, sustainability and social justice.

Principles of equality

The initiative builds on the 2010 Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), which offer business practical guidance on advancing gender equality. The WEPs are informed by international labour and human rights standards and contribute to furthering the goals of the 2030 Agenda globally. They are a key component of UN Women’s private sector portfolio and have proven to be an effective tool for promoting equality in the private sector.  

Almost 12,000 companies worldwide have committed to the WEPs. These include 202 German companies such as Adidas, ALDI, Allianz, Behn Meyer Group, Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Börse, Deutsche Telekom, FRoSTA, Henkel, Hugo Boss, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, Lidl, Mercedes-Benz, Nordex, Puma, Randstad, RWE, SAP and Wilo Group. Many of them have already implemented some of the principles, the main focus thus far having been on establishing an inclusive corporate culture, eradicating bias and discrimination in the workplace, and increasing the number of women in leadership positions.

The GSCC is now working to promote gender equality along the entire global supply chain. To better understand the challenges in this context, UN Women has engaged in a number of discussions, consultations, surveys and pilot initiatives, the results of which are summarised in the 2025 WEPs Global Survey Report 2025. These insights will now inform the work of the GSCC and are expected to further strengthen the impact of the WEPs.

Engaging companies effectively

These ambitious goals show that broad support from companies is needed to achieve equality worldwide. A secretariat established by the UN is set to serve as an important point of contact in future, providing tailored advice to interested companies. Awareness-raising events at important summit meetings and conferences, like the recent COP, will be used to present measures and their impact to a wide audience. In ‘Solution Labs’, the GSCC plans to explore solutions to individual gender-specific inequalities, biases and stereotypes in supply chains.

UN Women is currently holding initial discussions with potential member companies with a view to forming a core working group. This will play an important role in the strategic and substantive development of the GSCC. This core group will initially consist of 10 large companies, with this number expected to grow to 50 in the medium term. In phase 3 of the establishment process, the GSCC is expected to be able to offer at least 200 suppliers training on capacity building.

When companies integrate gender equality into their supply chains and accountability structures, this creates a dynamic that extends far beyond their own boundaries. This ripple effect, triggered by one committed company that has signed the Women’s Empowerment Principles, can reach hundreds of suppliers. It powerfully demonstrates how transparency and responsible procurement can accelerate progress across entire sectors. Imagine what would be possible if many companies were to join forces to drive forward gender equality together.

Volkswagen Brazil harnesses the benefits of diversity

Gender equality in business is not a goal in itself; it has been shown to make companies more resilient and competitive.  A fact not lost on Volkswagen do Brasil, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group that employs over 12,000 staff in two locations in the host nation of this year’s COP conference, Brazil. Since signing the WEPs on 29 May 2020, the company has leveraged its commitment for strategic and financial gain and made gender equality a key business priority. It has already achieved around 80 per cent of its gender equality goals and has implemented the following measures in the process:

•  Gender equality is embedded in HR procurement, career development and remuneration policy
• Launch of Women Accelerate, a new platform that promotes dialogue on gender equality – with a strong focus on people-centred narratives and the inclusion of men in discussions.
•  Increased representation in leadership positions: 25 per cent of leadership positions are now held by women. As part of a targeted gender equality strategy, 40 per cent of administrative functions and 32 per cent of customer-facing roles have also been filled specifically by women. 
•  Inclusive workplace guidelines: the company has introduced breastfeeding rooms, company childcare facilities and progressive parental leave arrangements that take account of different family structures. These include 120 days of parental leave for second caregivers, single parents and adoptive parents.
• Comprehensive harassment prevention training: Volkswagen do Brasil has achieved a 100-percent completion rate in its annual harassment prevention training programme.