“We mean business: protecting women’s rights in global supply chains”, March 2020

Multinational[s]…often…avoid any consequences for…human rights violations and environmental impacts linked to their activities. For women this can be [especially problematic],…[particularly in]…the Global South. When water sources are polluted women have to travel farther…, when children fall ill…, women’s…domestic work increases. [W]omen are over-represented in export- orientated manufacturing and the agri-food sector…[and] are also more vulnerable to land grabbing...

[I]mpacts of corporate activities are by no means gender neutral. Business activities can lead to gender-specific harms and discrimination, exacerbate existing inequitable gender roles and structures within a community, and create further discrimination based on intersecting identities…, women [additionally] fac[ing]…barriers to justice…

[S]tates have increasingly…consider[ed]…[m]andatory human rights due diligence…to identify, prevent and mitigate adverse [business] impacts. Legislation also needs to provide meaningful liability, with access to remedy for rights violations throughout companies’ supply chains and operations. [G]endered impacts...on women nee[d] to be embedded in...emerging due diligence legislation.

[ActionAid’s]...explains why such an approach is needed, and how states and companies can integrate gender- responsive human rights due diligence into existing and emerging efforts…