The WEPs Tool is a self-assessment for businesses to identify strengths, opportunities, and areas for improvement in existing gender equality policies, programmes and initiatives. The voluntary tool will help companies of all sectors and sizes to implement the Women’s Empowerment Principles and identify areas where further action can be taken. The tool is based on self-reporting and meant to be a learning platform. The data is not third party validated and thus does not serve as a reporting mechanism, auditing tool, or certification.

Development of the WEPs Tool involved 12 regional consultations with over 285 participants representing more than 170 companies. The regional corporate consultations were accompanied by a series of expert interviews and consultations with more than 40 gender equality and corporate sustainability experts. 20 companies from around the world piloted the tool before its public launch in 2017.

We recognize every company structure is different, so we leave it to your company to decide how best to utilize the WEPs Tool with your country subsidiaries. However, we do note that gender equality is contextual, thus you might find it beneficial for subsidiaries to take at the country level so they can accurately reflect their current country context.

Yes we encourage all companies of all sizes to take the assessment. While we recognize SMEs may have fewer resources and/or capacity to immediately address all the areas in which they can have maximum impacts, the assessment can help identify a plan of action and priority areas.

No company is required to take the assessment; however, we hope that all companies, especially those that commit to the WEPs, find the tool useful in measuring implementation of the 7 Principles.

The WEPs Tool was developed for the business community, as the main objective is to help companies close the gender gap in their workplaces, marketplaces, and communities. Only companies will be able to register and complete the assessment. However, other stakeholders including civil society, international organizations, and governments are invited to promote the tool to the companies in their networks.

The tool includes questions about your company’s policies and practices on gender equality across business functions. You many want to consult the following departments: Procurement; Human Resources; Diversity and Inclusion; Corporate Social Responsibility; Marketing; Product and Research Development; and Community or Government Relations. Pilot companies reported an average of 2-3 hours to complete the assessment.

We encourage companies to take the assessment on an annual basis to measure progress over time. In order to keep aggregate data trends consistent, we ask companies to refrain from submitting multiple assessments within one year, unless there have been major developments in gender equality policies or programmes.

The WEPs Gender Gap Analysis Tool is comprised of 18 multiple choice questions spread across 4 themes: Leadership, Workplace, Marketplace, and Community. Each question assesses a key approach to women’s empowerment within those 4 themes, such as non-discriminatory recruitment in the Workplace and responsible marketing in the Marketplace. During consultations conducted throughout the creation of this Tool, experts and companies identified more questions and practices related to the Workplace, and thus Workplace approaches account for over half of the 18 questions.

The questions have multiple responses and a user is asked to "select all that apply" to their company. The multiple choice options indicate specific practices across 4 management stages: Commitment, Implementation, Measurement, and Accountability. The number of practices varies by question.

Additional weight is given to practices enshrined in international conventions, such as ILO core conventions, that are considered minimum obligations to respect women’s rights.

Each question is weighted equally and the score is given in a percentage. This question score is calculated based on weights assigned to the four management stages as follows:



Your overall score, is an average of the 18 questions. If you answer 'not applicable', the points assigned to that question are not included in the overall score. The highest possible overall score is 100%.

The methodology for the WEPs Gender Gap Analysis Tool will continue to evolve as the Tool is regularly reviewed and as learnings on effective approaches to women’s empowerment emerge.