Gender equality is a driver of inclusive growth, sustainable development and peaceful societies. It is enshrined in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 and underpins all 17 SDGs. Increasingly, gender equality is recognized not only as a standalone social topic within the ESG framework but also as a cross-cutting driver for all three ESG dimensions.

Advancing gender-responsive ESG practices requires both drawing on international experience and fully considering the country’s financial market structure, policy priorities and stage of development, to explore practical approaches that are suitable for the local context. Within China’s financial ecosystem, commercial banks play a central role in connecting macro policy priorities with people’s livelihoods through core financial functions such as fiscal coordination, payment and settlement systems, credit allocation and resource mobilization. As such, they are important drivers of inclusive growth and gender equality. At the same time, women participate in the financial system in multiple capacities — as employees, managers, financial service users and business owners — while facing differing opportunities and constraints, including in rural revitalization, small and microenterprise development, pension security and digital finance.

The policy direction on financial support for women’s employment and development has strengthened the business rationale for commercial banks, making the localization of gender-responsive ESG practices a more immediate operational priority. Localization requires a shift from disclosure-oriented approaches towards management-oriented action; from standalone indicators towards business integration; and from generic frameworks towards context-specific applications aligned with the five major areas of finance: technology, green, inclusive, pension and digital finance.

Building on the previous research report, Gender in ESG Disclosure among Commercial Banks in China: Evidence from 32 A-Share Listed Commercial Banks, this toolkit further draws on the locally grounded sustainability disclosure practices of commercial banks in China, the policy direction of the five major areas of finance and the recent policy on financial support for women’s employment and development. This seeks to support the systematic embedding of a gender lens into banks’ internal governance, risk management, and products and services. Co-developed by UN Women China and the International Institute of Green Finance, this toolkit also offers a gender-responsive ESG action framework intended to simplify and streamline sustainability requirements under multiple policy objectives, and to strengthen the financial sector’s long-term and structural contributions to both high-quality development and social inclusion.

The toolkit encourages commercial banks to adopt differentiated strategies and phased approaches based on their institutional positioning. Different types of commercial banks could leverage their respective strengths in branch networks, customer reach and connectivity with SMEs and retail customers to unlock women’s economic potential and advance gender equality through financial services.

中国商业银行性别响应型ESG行动指南

性别平等是实现包容性增长、可持续发展与和平社会的关键驱动力。其不仅体现为被作为可持续发展目标（SDG）第 5项，更是所有17项可持续发展目标（SDG）的基石。性别平等已超越ESG框架中单一的“社会（S）”维度，成为贯穿环境（E）、社会（S）与治理（G）三个维度的可持续发展战略杠杆。

推动性别响应型ESG机制建设，既需要借鉴国际经验，也需要充分结合中国金融体系的结构特征、政策环境与发展阶段，探索具有本土适用性的实践路径。在中国金融生态体系中，商业银行围绕其独特的市场与社会功能，贯通财政协同、支付结算、信贷配置与资源引导中的核心金融职能，连接宏观政策与民生需求，是促进包容性增长与推动社会性别平等的重要枢纽。同时，女性在金融体系中兼具员工、管理者、金融服务使用者与经营主体等多重角色，并在乡村振兴、小微经营、养老保障及数字金融等不同场景中体现出差异化的需求与发展条件。

随着金融支持妇女就业政策趋势对商业银行业务驱动的导向增强，性别响应ESG的本土化实践落实在即，需要从“披露导向”转向“管理导向”，从“单一指标”转向“业务嵌入”，并从“通用框架”转向结合女性全面参与社会和经济发展的金融“五篇大文章”（科技、绿色、普惠、养老和数字金融）场景化应用。

在《中国商业银行ESG 信息披露中纳入性别相关指标的现状分析——基于 32 家 A 股上市商业银行的实证研究》基础上，本工具包进一步结合中国商业银行可持续发展信息披露的本土实践、金融支持妇女就业的政策导向，以及金融“五篇大文章”的发展要求，旨在推动将性别视角系统性嵌入商业银行内部治理、风险管理与产品服务体系之中。本工具包由联合国妇女署中国办公室与中央财经大学绿色金融国际研究院联合编制，通过构建性别响应型ESG行动框架为商业银行减负多目标驱动下可持续发展要求理解，促进金融体系在支持高质量发展与增强社会公平性方面发挥更具结构性和长期性的作用。

本工具包鼓励商业银行需结合不同机构类型的差异化定位，分类施策、分层推进。国有银行、股份制银行、城市商业银行、农村商业银行及互联网银行可依据自身定位，充分发挥在网点广覆盖、客户触达、与中小微企业及个人链接反面的优势，在释放女性经济潜力的同时，成为推动社会性别平等的关键力量。