Cashew Industry Guide: Women's Empowerment and Transversal ESG Reporting Frameworks

Key Takeaways: Women’s Empowerment and ESG Reporting in the Cashew Industry

• FAO research finds that equalising women's access to productive resources in agriculture could reduce the number of people facing hunger by up to 150 million globally
• SDG 5, SDG 8, GRI reporting standards and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises together form the primary ESG framework for gender and labour accountability in cashew supply chains
• The World Bank Group Gender Strategy 2024–2030 documents that gender gaps in access to agricultural inputs and labour can cost countries up to $105 million annually
• IFAD's evidence base for gender-responsive value chain interventions shows that cooperative participation, rural finance access and land rights reform generate measurable household and community outcomes
• Credible gender measurement requires both quantitative indicators — such as ILO Decent Work metrics — and analysis of structural barriers that indicators alone cannot capture

Jump to: Gender Equity · Transversal ESG Frameworks · Socio-Economic Indicators · Interventions for Inclusive Growth · Interconnected Themes · Next Steps

Gender Equity in Agricultural Value Chains

Women's participation in agrifood systems is extensive, but frequently undervalued.

Across cashew-producing regions, women are heavily represented in labour-intensive processing and harvesting tasks, yet tend to have less control over income, fewer land rights and more limited access to the services and inputs that would allow them to improve their productivity.

• FAO's research on the status of women in agrifood systems documents the scale of gender productivity gaps across agriculture globally and the economic case for closing them, finding that equalising access to productive resources between women and men could reduce the number of people facing hunger by up to 150 million
• UN Women's work on women's economic empowerment complements this with evidence on the relationship between women's income control and household investment in health, education and nutrition

Our module on gender equity in agricultural supply chains examines how these dynamics play out specifically within cashew value chains across producing regions.

Transversal ESG Frameworks and Global Standards

Measuring and reporting on gender and social equity in cashew supply chains requires frameworks that are consistent, comparable and credible to buyers, investors and regulators.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals provide the most widely used overarching reference point, with SDG 5 (gender equality) and SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) directly relevant to cashew sector performance.

• GRI reporting standards offer a practical mechanism for translating these commitments into disclosed, auditable performance data at company and supply chain level
• TheOECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct set out expectations for companies operating across borders on:

• Due diligence
• Labour rights
• Gender-responsive practice

The module on cross-cutting ESG frameworks examines how these standards are being applied and integrated across the cashew sector.

Socio-Economic Indicators and Rural Impact

TheWorld Bank Group Gender Strategy 2024–2030 provides evidence on the scale of gender productivity gaps in agriculture — finding that differences in access to inputs, farm labour, and markets can cost countries up to $105 million annually — and sets out the policy and investment framework for closing them.

ILO Decent Work indicators offer a complementary framework for monitoring labour rights and equitable economic participation in agricultural processing — covering areas such as:

• Freedom of association
• Non-discrimination
• Safe working conditions
• Fair wages

Together these frameworks provide the measurement infrastructure for tracking women's socio-economic progress within cashew supply chains over time.

The module on gender metrics and impact evaluation examines how they are applied in practice, and the module on intersectional challenges and opportunities explores the structural barriers that indicators alone can’t resolve.

Interventions for Inclusive Growth

IFAD's work on rural women documents the evidence base for gender-responsive value chain interventions, including:

• Training
• Cooperative participation
• Access to rural finance
• The removal of barriers to land ownership and contract participation
• And their measurable outcomes for households and communities

Cooperative models have demonstrated particular potential, giving women collective bargaining power, shared access to certification and market information, and a recognised role in supply chain governance.

The module on women's leadership and cooperative success stories documents examples from producing regions where these approaches have generated measurable outcomes.

And the module on policy and education for inclusion examines the enabling conditions — at regulatory, institutional and community level — that make these interventions sustainable rather than isolated.

Interconnected Themes in the Cashew Sector

Gender equity and transversal ESG performance don’t sit in a separate silo. They’re shaped by and reflected in the same supply chain systems, environmental conditions and data infrastructure that run through this entire guide.

Section 2:Sustainability and Regenerative Practices examines how environmental stewardship and social equity increasingly share measurement frameworks in ESG reporting.

Section 4:Socio-Economic Impact and Research covers the broader living income and community resilience evidence base within which gender indicators sit.

Section 1:Supply Chain Transparency and Traceability examines how supply chain data systems can be designed to capture and surface social performance alongside food safety compliance.

And Section 3:Industry Innovation and Data Science covers the digital tools increasingly used to collect and report gender and ESG data at scale.

Next Steps and Contact

To examine the themes introduced here in more depth, move through Sections 5.1–5.6 in sequence, beginning with 5.1: Gender Equity in Agricultural Supply Chains.

Other parts of the Cashew Industry Guide build on the same social and environmental foundations addressed here.

For enquiries about contributing data or case studies on women's empowerment and transversal ESG reporting, or to request expert comment, please get in touch.

Evidence and methodology: You can learn about our source vetting standards, data attribution policy, editorial independence and amendment policy here.