7 TIPS AND STRATEGIES TO GET THE “GOLD GENDER SEAL” FOR YOUR OFFICE

7 TIPS AND STRATEGIES TO GET
THE “GOLD GENDER SEAL”
FOR YOUR OFFICE
Unless you’ve been living under a rock– disconnected from UNDP realm and the corporate
world -- chances are you already knew a thing or two about UNDP’s Gender Equality Seal.
UNDP’s Gender Seal provides a structured journey in tackling inequalities faced by women
at companies and public administrations. The Seal was developed in collaboration with the
private sector and governments, to create certification incentives when actions towards
gender equality at workforce are met.
The Seal certificate is divided into three tiers; bronze, silver and gold. Getting the gold
may not be an easy feat, nonetheless with careful planning and execution, the gold
certificate should be a realistic goal for all of UNDP Country Offices.
Our UNDP Indonesia colleagues have shared some tips to obtain the not so elusive
Gold Gender Seal.
01 BUILD GENDER EQUALITY DNA ACROSS THE BOARD
The key to building a gender equality DNA across the board at your office is to have
continuous agenda of learning for all to raise the awareness on gender equality. There
is no end to mastering the key aspects of gender equality, so make sure your annual
learning agenda for staff is jammed with gender focused activities
02 INCLUDE A GENDER SEAL REMINDER IN ALL ACTIVITIES
Once the Gender Seal DNA is bolstered throughout the Office, it’d be easier to include
gender seal reminder in all of our activities. Whether it’s the Office retreat or internal
celebration of National Days, always bring up the Gender Seal in the agenda. Always ask
a question, how does this contribute to the ongoing seal process? Are our activities in
line with the Seal principles?
03 APPOINT GENDER CHAMPIONS
Appoint someone at your office as the ‘Gender Champion’ of gender equality. We’re not
talking about the official Gender Officer of the Country. They should be the non-specialist
people who have expert knowledge on Gender Seal certificate. They should be the ‘go to’
persons for our staff in case they need immediate clarification and aspects of the Seal.
04 AND APPOINT GENDER CHAMPIONS IN YOUR PROJECTS
Everybody loves good inspiring stories. So, why not create a monthly calendar of Gender
Champion stories for your website? Not only it’s a great way to raise the visibility of our
work, it can also inspire other projects to put our beneficiaries in non-traditional role.
It’s also a good reminder for ourselves to avoid gender stereotypes in our thinking.
05 CREATE A WATCHDOG SYSTEM
Having a small group of ‘gender police’ who act as the watch dog is a great way to keep
key aspects of our Office and visibility and outreach, in line with the Seal. For example,
our communication team is the gender police of ‘men’s spanel’. Whenever we see UNDP
events or UNDP-affiliated events featuring all male panels, we’d be sure to stop them
from happening.
06 HAVE A SET OF GENDER DATA READY FOR YOUR OUTREACH.
UNDP is home to a wealth of rich data on human development and environment.
Create a simple table of gender-related data, ranging from your country’s gender
inequality indexes to women’s in politics. They could serve as a great starting point to
imbue your visibility/ outreach products with gender equality messages in speeches
and press releases.
07 STRONG LEADERSHIP
They say a ship can’t navigate well without a good captain. Our last point is a tribute
to the solid leadership within our Country Office that was instrumental in navigating our
journey to the Gold. While our staff was constantly reminded of our goal to grab the gold,
our senior management lent their support and guidance and motivated us continuously.
Key to the success was also the strong guidance and input from the Regional Bureau Asia
Pacific, particularly from the regional gender advisor