What Gender At Work does

Gender at Work is a global feminist knowledge and action network founded in 2003 and headquartered at Impact Hub Ottawa in Canada. It operates as a virtual organization with a small core administrative team and a global community of 50+ associates distributed across 16 countries. The organization has supported more than 100 organizations across civil society, international development, education, and feminist movements through workshops, trainings, transformational leadership programs, and complex organizational change processes.

The company's core intellectual asset is the Gender at Work Framework, a proprietary analytical framework drawing on Wilbur's Integral Model (2000) that maps the interrelationships between gender equality, organizational change, and power dynamics across four quadrants (individual consciousness/capabilities, individual conditions/resources, informal norms/deep structures, and formal rules/policies). This framework underpins a portfolio of programs including the Feminist School (co-created with UNGEI), the Power Up! consortium supporting womxn's rights organizations, the G@W Institute's transformative leadership courses, the Power of Storytelling initiative in Nepal, the Male Allyship for Gender Equality collaboration with Equimundo, and a long-running strategic partnership with Oxfam. Supporting methodologies include Gender Action-Learning processes and feminist Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (M.E.A.L.) approaches. Distribution channels span a global associate network, institutional partnerships, and self-serve digital content via website, podcast, and Substack.

Gender at Work is a private non-profit funded primarily through grants and donor partnerships with institutional actors including IDRC, Oak Foundation, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Global Fund for Women. Revenue figures are not publicly disclosed. The Executive Director is madeleine kennedy-macfoy, who joined in November 2022 after a decade leading gender equality work at Education International. The organization is governed by an international board of directors and has no parent company, venture capital, or private equity ownership.

Name

Gender At Work

Legal name

Gender at Work

Website

https://genderatwork.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Gender at Work is a global feminist knowledge and action network, founded in 2003, that uses its proprietary Gender at Work Framework to guide organizational change, leadership development, and feminist MEL for 100+ civil society, UN, and education organizations across 25+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Gender Equality Consulting and Organizational Development Services

NAICS

Human Rights Organizations (813311), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720), Human Resources Consulting Services (541612)

akta.pro primary industry

Gender Equality & Women’s Rights Advocacy (BPAGAFAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Gender Equality & Women’s Rights (BPADAGAF), Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment (BPAGABAF)

Keywords

• Gender equality consulting
• Feminist organizational development
• Gender mainstreaming services
• Organizational change management
• Social norms transformation

Headquarters

HQ city

Toronto

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding and Donor Partnerships: As a feminist knowledge and action network, Gender at Work operates primarily through grant funding and partnerships with institutional donors and foundations including IDRC, Oak Foundation, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and others. Revenue supports program delivery, organizational development initiatives, and knowledge creation activities.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Gender at Work is a global feminist knowledge and action network that supports civil society organizations, UN agencies, teachers' unions, and feminist movements to challenge deep structures of inequality and transform discriminatory social norms. It delivers this through the proprietary Gender at Work Framework, Gender Action-Learning processes, feminist M.E.A.L. approaches, and named programs such as the Feminist School, Power Up!, the G@W Institute, the Power of Storytelling, and gender integration in development research with IDRC.

Product overview

Gender at Work is a global feminist knowledge and action network that operates as a collective force for systemic change, offering multiple interconnected programs and frameworks rather than a single unified product. The core offering is the Gender at Work Framework, which provides analytical tools for uncovering barriers to gender equality and guiding organizational change strategies. This framework underpins various programs including the Feminist School (co-created with UNGEI) for leadership development, the Power Up! consortium supporting womxn-led organizations, the G@W Institute offering transformative leadership courses, and thematic programs addressing male allyship, poverty and inequality through gender lenses, and gender integration in development research (with IDRC). The organization also produces the Gender at Work Podcast as a content platform for sharing feminist perspectives. Additional initiatives include The Power of Storytelling project in Nepal and past projects on school-related gender-based violence, civil society empowerment in India, and partnerships with organizations like Oxfam and Equimendo.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Feminist School: A dynamic and immersive learning experience co-created with UNGEI, challenging, disrupting and dismantling global power inequalities such as patriarchy.
• Power Up!
• The Power of Storytelling
• The G@W Institute

Products and services

• Gender at Work Framework Proprietary analytical framework, drawn on Wilbur's Integral Model, that organizations and practitioners use to understand and address gender equality, organizational change, and the deep structures and power dynamics that sustain inequality.
• Feminist School Dynamic and immersive feminist learning experience co-created by Gender at Work and UNGEI, designed to challenge, disrupt, and dismantle global power inequalities such as patriarchy through feminist pedagogical methodologies.
• Power Up! Consortium program that catalyses the leadership and voice of womxn in all their diversity, actively supporting womxn-led collectives, movements, and organisations to challenge and dismantle oppressive structures of power.
• The Power of Storytelling: Understanding Social Norm Change in Nepal Five-year initiative using storytelling as an entry point to inform research, programming and action, with the goal of understanding pathways and factors that lead to changes in social norms towards gender equality and social inclusion in Nepal.
• G@W Institute Transformative leadership courses drawing on feminist pedagogical methodologies, engaging participants from various sectors in peer learning, reflection on power dynamics, and exploration of transformative leadership for gender equality.
• Male Allyship for Gender Equality Collaboration with Equimundo - Center for Masculinities and Social Justice that explores potential norms and standards for male allyship programmes and documents approaches to male allyship and women's leadership through case studies.
• Partnering Up to Advance Gender Equality in Development Research Multi-year collaboration with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to enhance gender integration within development research institutions, now also addressing power dynamics in the use of AI in development research.
• Addressing Poverty and Inequality Through a Gender Lens Strategic partnership with Oxfam globally integrating a gender perspective into Oxfam's mission of combating inequality and addressing poverty and injustice, sustained for over a decade.
• Gender at Work Podcast Podcast series featuring informal conversations discussing emerging ideas, trends and issues in feminist thinking and practice, exploring themes of feminist transformational strategies, love as a basis for organizing, and social justice leadership.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100+ organizations have undertaken complex organisational and programming change processes with Gender at Work's support
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• United Nations Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-created Feminist School with UNGEI - a dynamic and immersive learning experience challenging, disrupting and dismantling global power inequalities such as patriarchy. The partnership aims to build leadership skills coupled with experiential learning about gender justice and education.
• OxfamcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-term strategic ally to Oxfam globally for more than a decade, integrating gender perspective into Oxfam's mission of combating inequality and addressing poverty and injustice. Collaboration includes gender mainstreaming across programs and organizational capacity.
• International Development Research Centre (IDRC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSince 2016, partnership to enhance gender integration within development research institutions. Current phase addresses core research issues and power dynamics within the use of AI in development research. Project titled 'Partnering Up to Advance Gender Equality in Development Research'.
• Global Fund for WomencoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Global Fund for Women supporting organizational development and gender action learning processes with women's rights organizations globally.
• Labour Research Service (South Africa)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing partnership with Labour Research Service in South Africa on Letsema program to end gender-based violence through community-wide dialogues and collective impact initiatives.
• Equimundo - Center for Masculinities and Social JusticeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on Male Allyship for Gender Equality project, exploring the potential for developing norms and standards for male allyship programmes and documenting a range of approaches to male allyship and women's leadership.
• CREAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-developed podcast series on feminists rethinking politics and resistance, reimagining change and transformation and rebooting struggles and movements. Series recorded at CREA's Re-conference in Nepal.
• Education InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Education International (global federation of teachers' trade unions) on gender equality in education unions, advocacy to end school-related gender-based violence globally.
• Impact Hub OttawaminorOthersHosting partner providing the mailing address for Gender at Work at Impact Hub Ottawa, 123 Slater Street, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
• Just Associates (JASS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal organization working to support women's human rights defenders. Gender at Work Senior Associate Joanne Sandler serves as co-chair of JASS Board of Directors.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Global Fund for Women: Global feminist foundation funding women's rights organizations worldwide. Comparable as a Gender at Work partner supporting organizational development of women's rights groups; operates at larger scale and overlapping constituency.
• Oxfam International: Large global INGO addressing inequality and poverty. Comparable as a long-standing Gender at Work strategic partner integrating gender perspectives across programs; while much larger, it operates in the same ecosystem as both a peer and a partner.

Direct peers

• International Center for Research on Women (ICRW): Global research organization focused on advancing gender equality through evidence-based research. Comparable as a gender-focused nonprofit with grant funding, international research programs, and institutional partnerships with major donors and multilaterals.
• FRIDA - The Young Feminist Fund: Global fund supporting young feminist organizing across the Global South. Comparable as a small, networked feminist organization with grant-funded model and global reach focused on resourcing feminist movements.
• Equimundo (formerly Promundo): Center for Masculinities and Social Justice working on engaging men and boys for gender equality. Directly comparable as a gender equality-focused organization with similar grant-funded model and a confirmed strategic partnership with Gender at Work on Male Allyship programming.
• Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights: Global feminist fund providing rapid response grants to women's rights organizations under threat. Comparable in mission, feminist methodology, and global grant-funded model serving overlapping constituency of women's rights movements.
• CREA: Global feminist organization based in South Asia advancing sexual and reproductive rights and feminist movement building. Directly comparable as a feminist knowledge-and-action network; co-developed Gender at Work's podcast series recorded at CREA's Re-conference in Nepal.
• AWID (Association for Women's Rights in Development): Global feminist membership organization supporting women's rights movements worldwide. Comparable in scope, methodology, and constituency; both organizations convene major feminist events and knowledge networks across movements and institutions.
• Just Associates (JASS): Global feminist organization supporting women's rights defenders and movements. JASS is directly comparable to Gender at Work in mission, methodology (participatory organizational development), and constituency, and is explicitly linked through shared leadership on JASS's board.

Regional players

• Nobel Women's Initiative: Organization of female Nobel Peace laureates advocating for women's rights and peace. Comparable in feminist advocacy and movement-supporting mission; operates at smaller scale and with a different organizational anchor (laureates rather than practitioner network).

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/watch?v=asGKqrPM7AM
• Facebookfacebook.com/gwork
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/gender-at-work
• Instagraminstagram.com/genderatwork
• Xx.com/GenderatWork

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Gender At Work