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 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.

International Finance Corporation

International Finance Corporation

The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, is the largest multilateral provider of financing for private enterprise in developing countries. IFC finances private sector investments, mobilizes capital in international financial markets, facilitates trade, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to businesses and governments. From its founding in 1956 through FY06, IFC has committed more than $56 billion of its own funds for private sector investments in the developing world and mobilized an additional $25 billion in syndications for 3,531 companies in 140 developing countries. With the support of funding from donors, it has also provided more than $1 billion in technical assistance and advisory services.

More from International Finance Corporation