The Human Rights Council called on states in 2014 to develop national action plans on business and human rights (NAPs) to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), outlining their commitments to protecting human rights against adverse impacts from business operations. Ten years later, 34 countries have produced a national action plan on business and human rights and at least 33 of those have provisions on gender or women’s rights. The urgent need to address adverse and disproportionate impacts of business operations on women is also a central aim of emerging legislations.
Whereas women are important players in the energy value chain, environmental management, and business supply chains in various industries, they often face unique challenges in the workplace, such as the gender pay gap, violence, limited access to resources and exclusion from opportunities. Other human security issues such as pollution, land grabbing, and violence against human rights defenders also disproportionately affect women. The challenges are even more complex in Africa, where decades of pre-existing gender-based exclusions, regulatory gaps, inequitable distribution of opportunities in the energy sector, and capacity gaps amongst others continue to replicate gender-based exclusions, and persist in the ongoing energy transition.
This piece reflects on how emerging NAPs across Africa address the gender impacts of business activities, the emerging good practices and recommendations for ensuring that no one is left behind. The human rights framework, and standards against the discrimination of women offer pathways for prioritising women’s protection and access to climate and environmental justice as part of the corporate due diligence process. It is imperative for NAPs on business and human rights standards to adopt a nuanced understanding of the multi-faceted intersections between women, climate change and human rights, beyond the vulnerabilities’ narrative.
