Gender Impact Assessments: Breaking the pattern of inaction

The report details a stakeholder event focused on overcoming the 'pattern of inaction' regarding gender impact assessments (GIAs) in mining. It identifies systemic barriers to GIA adoption, such as gender bias and a focus on permitting over community mitigation, while highlighting successful models from Canada, Mongolia, and Uganda. The event emphasizes the need for collaborative, experiential guidance and the institutionalization of gender considerations to prevent 'genderwashing' and ensure sustainable progress.

• A 2022 global review by the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) indicated that stakeholders generally fail to perform comprehensive or systemic gender analyses during the mining project cycle, with very few successful examples of integrating gender equality into impact assessments.
• Several factors contribute to the lack of GIAs, including internalized gender bias within the mining industry, a lack of women participating in early-stage negotiations, and a tendency for companies to treat impact assessments merely as a means to obtain permits rather than a tool for community mitigation.
• Specific regional examples of gender-responsive frameworks include Canada's use of Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) within its Impact Assessment Act, Mongolia's 2017 sector-wide GIA and gender audit to address a lack of disaggregated data, and the adoption of civil society toolkit priorities by the Uganda government for artisanal and small-scale mining.
• Participants warned against 'genderwashing,' where companies use gender initiatives to hide negative environmental and social impacts, and suggested using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework to ensure holistic evaluation and accountability.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (2023). Gender Impact Assessments: Breaking the pattern of inaction. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-04/gender-impact-assessments-meeting-report.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. Gender Impact Assessments: Breaking the pattern of inaction. 2023. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-04/gender-impact-assessments-meeting-report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=Gender Impact Assessments: Breaking the pattern of inaction |date=April 2023 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-04/gender-impact-assessments-meeting-report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopment2023gender, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{Gender Impact Assessments: Breaking the pattern of inaction}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2023}, month = apr, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-04/gender-impact-assessments-meeting-report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }