Gender at Work Framework

The Gender at Work Framework highlights the relationships between gender equality, organisational change and the power dynamics within institutions and communities. The Framework can be used to uncover opportunities and barriers to gender equality, to map a strategy for change, and to guide evaluative efforts to mark progress.

The Gender at Work Framework draws on Wilbur’s Integral Model (2000).

The Gender at Work Framework can be used by change agents in both organisations and communities to uncover opportunities and barriers to gender equality, to map a strategy for change and to guide evaluative efforts to mark progress. It makes visible dimensions of gender equality and the extent to which there is a shift in gendered power relations.

The Aruna Rao and David Kelleher approach

Aruna Rao and David Kelleher’s approach offers an accessible process for identifying the entrenched social and cultural norms that impede efforts to advance gender equality in diverse contexts.

The top two quadrants are related to the individual.

  • On the top right are changes in noticeable individual conditions, e.g., increased resources, voice, freedom from violence, access to health and education.
  • On the top left are individual consciousness and capability, e.g., knowledge, skills, political consciousness, and commitment to change toward equality.

The bottom two clusters are related to the systemic.

  • The bottom right refers to formal rules, e.g., as laid down in constitutions, laws, and workplace policies.
  • The bottom left is the set of informal discriminatory norms and deep structures, including those that maintain inequality in everyday practices.

In this video, Aruna walks through her approach to the Framework.

The Kalyani Menon-Sen and Ray Gordezky approach

Creating lasting solutions to systemic problems such as inequality, exclusion and discrimination is an inherently messy process that requires both empathy and imagination. It also takes a commitment of time and patience to test new approaches and learn from them.

The approach from Kalyani Menon-Sen & Ray Gordezky establishes iterative and cyclical processes where learning drives action, and action drives learning.

This video walks you through Kalyani & Ray’s approach to the Framework, which is seen as a work in progress.

The starting point is to bring together a cross-section of “insiders” to build a holistic picture of their ecosystem from their own lived realities. Their framework brings a non-binary and intersectional feminist lens to making sense of this mosaic of perspectives and narratives. Building out from Wilber’s Integral Model, the framework is focused on surfacing the individual and collective expressions of the workings of power at different locations and levels within the system. The big picture that emerges from this process is not dictated by the framework, but by the identities, values, politics and priorities of those involved in the exercise.

Comments and questions are welcome – please write to Kalyani and Ray.

Transcript for the Kalyani and Ray approach (32.89 KB)

If you’re interested in exploring how we can apply the Gender at Work in your context, contact us!

The G@W Framework in the world

The Gender at Work Framework has been cited in academic work and used by a wide range of organisations, from large NGOs like Oxfam International, to women’s organisations and funds, such as the Global Fund for Women, and by women and community groups all over the world.

Here are just some examples of where you can find the G@W Framework at work:

Organisations and Governments

Courses & Trainings

Research

Articles