IFC and Global Reporting Initiative Launch Guide on Gender and Sustainability Reporting

In Washington, D.C.: 
Katia Theriault, IFC 
Phone:  (202) 458 9704 
E-mail:  ktheriault@ifc.org 

In Amsterdam: 
Scott McAusland, GRI 
Phone:  +31 20 531 0000 
E-mail:  mcausland@GlobalReporting.org 




Kuala Lumpur, October 27, 2009—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the 
Global Reporting Initiative today launched a practitioner’s guide to help 
organizations worldwide create opportunities for women, adopt best practices in 
sustainability reporting, and improve companies’ bottom lines.  

Unveiled at the CSR Asia Summit 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Embedding 
Gender in Sustainability Reporting demonstrates the value of creating business 
opportunities for women, provides guidance on improving gender management 
through sustainability reporting, and helps improve the quality and scope of 
gender reporting.   

Greg Radford, IFC Director for Environment and Social Development, said “At IFC 
we are committed to better integrating gender issues in our work and as this 
guide shows.  Rewards from measuring gender practices and taking action 
accordingly can come in all shapes, from better staff morale to increased 
productivity. It can result in greater recognition in the marketplace, more 
support from local communities, increase in sales, better access to export 
markets, and attraction of new investments.”  

The publication complements the GRI’s innovative Sustainability Reporting 
Framework, the most widely used and recognized global framework for 
nonfinancial reporting. The GRI framework links elements of effective 
sustainability management systems with indicators that can drive continuous 
improvement of company performance.

Ernst R. Ligteringen, GRI’s Chief Executive, said, “We are delighted to be able 
to provide companies with practical, hands-on guidance on how to measure and 
disclose their performance on gender, enabling them to embed gender issues 
within their reporting on corporate economic, environmental, and social 
performance.”   

A range of stakeholders were involved in the production of this report, many of 
whom read and prepare sustainability reports. Their feedback was collected 
during a series of international consultation workshops with business, civil 
society, investors, and labor representatives.  A diverse, high-level advisory 
group also was established to support the development of this publication, with 
the governments of Germany, Iceland, and Switzerland acting as lead sponsors.   

To learn more about IFC’s gender program, visit http://www.ifc.org/gender. 

About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape 
poverty and improve their lives. We foster sustainable economic growth in 
developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing 
private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to 
businesses and governments. Our new investments totaled $14.5 billion in fiscal 
2009, helping channel capital into developing countries during the financial 
crisis. For more information, visit www.ifc.org. 

About the Global Reporting Initiative
The Global Reporting Initiative has pioneered the development of the world’s 
most widely used sustainability reporting framework and is committed to its 
continuous improvement and application worldwide. This framework sets out the 
principles and indicators that organizations can use to measure and report 
their economic, environmental, and social performance. For more information, 
visit www.globalreporting.org.