Realizing Gender-Responsive ID Systems: A Proposed Framework for Policymakers

Drawing upon the available evidence, this note questions the gender neutrality of the design, implementation, and use of identification systems. It asserts that ID systems often interact with legal, economic, and social gender-specific constraints in ways that risk excluding women and girls from equal benefits of possessing an ID. Fortunately, ID systems can be designed and implemented to mitigate this risk and inclusively benefit people regardless of gender. The article proposes a simple decision framework for policymakers who seek to institute gender-responsive ID systems. It highlights key questions that should be asked from the outset of system design, drawing upon examples of promising approaches that can be scaled in existing contexts or considered for replication in comparable contexts.