Gender Wage Equity (OI1855)

This metric is intended to estimate gender wage equity at an organization. If women and men are paid the same average wage for the same position, the ratio would be 1.

This ratio can be calculated based on salaried employees with fixed wages or on employees with variable salaries (such as hourly, daily, weekly, other specified time cycle, or other specified parameter).

Organizations should footnote the specific position used in calculating this ratio, including whether the position is a managerial or non-managerial role. Organizations reporting this metric for multiple positions are encouraged to report these various data points for gender wage equity and to specify the position to which each data point corresponds.

While this metric helps organizations begin to understand gender wage equity in their operations, organizations are cautioned that other factors may affect the data collected. For example, the average wages reported for this metric may only be meaningful if multiple individuals of both genders have a similar position within the organization. Employee education, experience, and tenure at the organization, among other factors, may also influence wage disparities.

In specific contexts, and based on evidence, this metric may serve as a proxy indicator of whether the outcome being sought by an investor or organization is occurring (the WHAT dimension of impact). For more on the alignment of IRIS metrics to the five dimensions of impact, see IRIS+ and the Five Dimensions of Impact (https://iris.thegiin.org/document/iris-and-the-five-dimensions/). No single metric is sufficient to understand an impact; rather, metrics are selected as a set across all dimensions of impact. When possible, the selection of metrics to measure and describe the five dimensions should be based on best practice and evidence.