The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is committed to helping raise awareness among its members and stakeholders of the value of gender diversity. The organization seeks to meet the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations–including SDG 5, which is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls—throughout its work.
In 2019, the IEC Board established a task force on diversity to assess the current situation, including gender in governance and IEC activities, and make recommendations for improvement. One of key outputs of the task force is the IEC diversity statement, which speaks about the need for diversity in the IEC.
The statement acknowledges that the representation of women in standards development is almost always below parity and that the outcomes for men and women are not explicitly addressed during the standards development process. It also recognizes that the content of standards and engaging in...