Women are widely under-represented in developing the standards that affect so many areas of our lives, from the products we consume every day to the technologies needed to address a wide range of sustainability challenges. Many of these standards do not adequately address how women and men may be affected differently, for example ill-fitting personal protective equipment hampered the work of 57% of women, read more here.
You can influence standards by becoming a Consumers’ Federation of Australia representative on a Standards Australia technical committee as part of the CFA Standards Project. By getting involved you can ensure products and services meet your expectations and address everyday problems faced by women — lending your experience, insights, and perspectives into how a standard will affect you and the people around you.
The UNECE “Gender Responsive Standards Initiative” aims at providing a practical way forward for standards bodies wishing to take a step towards making the standards they develop and the standards development process they follow gender responsive. It aims to:
- strengthen the use of standards and technical regulations as powerful tools to attain UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Achieve Gender Equality and Empower all Women and Girls),
- integrate a gender lens in the development of both standards and technical regulations,
- elaborate gender indicators and criteria that could be used in standards development.
Read more here.
Register your interest in participating in the CFA Standards Project and/or contact standards@consumeraction.org.au.
Get involved! Practice your networking skills and raise concerns.
Visit: International Women’s Day 2021 March 8 “Choose to challenge”