Multinational enterprises’ contribution to gender equality: an integrative framework

Abstract

Despite the progress made in recent years, inequalities between men and womenpersist. Gender equality (GE) is one of the United Nations Sustainable Devel-opment Goals (SDG5) that multinational enterprises (MNEs) can contributemost to. This is because SDG5 integrates directly into MNEs’ human resource practices, supply chain management and corporate social responsibility initia-tives, making it more actionable for MNEs. Despite their potential contribution,knowledge about how MNEs can impact SDG5 remains fragmented, inconsis-tent and scattered across disciplines such as management, economics and genderstudies. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of the literature is urgently needed.We address this gap through a systematic literature review relying on a taxon-omy of the mechanisms through which MNEs can impact SDG5: human resourcemanagement strategy, partnership, philanthropy, advocacy, and indirect mech-anisms. Drawing on the findings from 158 empirical articles, we developed anintegrative framework to help understand the potential contribution MNEs canmake towards GE. The framework underscores the need to simultaneously con-sider contextual factors at multiple levels (individual, organizational, meso andmacro) to discover why intended GE policies may fail to achieve their desiredoutcomes. Furthermore, in order to truly contribute to SDG5, MNEs must notonly engage with the various mechanisms they can activate to promote GE butshould also remain aware of the indirect mechanisms triggered by their invest-ments and business activities, which may produce either positive or negativeeffects for women in the countries where they operate.