Topic outline



  • The International Workshop Agreement (IWA) on the Definition of a ‘Woman‐Owned Business’ and Guidance on its Use 


    Welcome to the virtual workshop page for the International Workshop Agreement (IWA)

    With support from the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swedish Standards Institute (SIS) and the International Trade Centre (ITC)’s SheTrades Initiative are partnering to develop an International Organization of Standards (ISO) International Workshop Agreement (IWA) on the definition of a “Women-Owned Business” and guidance on its use.


    By developing a commonly agreed upon definition of a woman‐owned business, the IWA proposal aims to lower entry barriers for women business owners to public and private procurement opportunities, and increase their access to capacity‐building programmes, incentives schemes, and certification programmes.
    In the long term, the development of an IWA on a woman‐owned business may spur a broader discussion and additional efforts towards further standardisation work on gender equality and related topics. Over time, a standard definition will facilitate the collection of internationally comparable data on women’s entrepreneurship and the impact on local and national economies.


    • Timeline

      • The IWA will be developed in a completely digital process. 

        Before the first workshop, a couple of preparatory web meetings will be held to give information regarding the process. Also, an initial analysis will be performed and circulated to registered participants by August. We will use the summer to collect initial input, which will help us prepare for the first workshop and in developing a first draft text. 

        Between the 1st and 2nd workshops, there will be commenting via correspondence, complemented by one or more web meeting(s). 

        The first IWA workshop is scheduled for 14-16 October, and the second workshop is scheduled for 14-16 December 2020. 

        After the final workshop, the text will be edited and published. The published IWA can then be purchased via national standards bodies.

        1. Initial analysis available on 31st August 2020

        2. Opportunity to provide initial input online – until 11th September 2020

        3. Preparatory web meetings held between August and September 2020

        4. All material for the first workshop, including the first draft, circulated September 25th at the latest

        5. Registration deadline first workshop September 30th 2020

        6. First workshop 14th-16th October 2020 (online)

        7. Updating of the draft by ITC and SIS based on the discussions at the workshop October 30th

        8. Commenting by participants on updated draft October 30th-November 22nd

        9.   Compiled comments circulated November 24th

        10.  Proposals from leadership how to handle comments + detailed agenda second workshop December 4th

        11. Second workshop 14th-16th December 2020 (online)

        12. IWA published February/March 2021


    • The ISO IWA Process

      An IWA is an ISO document produced through a workshop meeting rather than through the full ISO technical committee process. Market players and other stakeholders directly participate in developing an IWA and do not have to go through a national delegation. This means that it is a quick way to obtain a recognized ISO document (the process should not take more than 12 months in total). The process is designed to be flexible and is largely decided by the proposing organization. For more information on ISO and the IWA process, please watch the presentation delivered by Maria Gustafsson from the Swedish Institute for Standards (SIS) and refer to the invitation letter below.

      Video 1. - Presentation on ISO and the ISO IWA Process by Maria Gustafsson

      In this presentation, you will learn more about the ISO IWA process and the roles played by various stakeholders.



    • Background Information for Definitions of a “Woman-Owned Business”

      Video 1: Background Information on Definitions for a "Woman-Owned Business" by Virginia Littlejohn.


    • Preparation for the IWA Workshops

      • First workshop October 14th-16th 2020 (online)

        Below you can find the documents for the first workshop of ISO/IWA 34, which will take place October 14th-16th 2020, each day at 11.00-16.00 UTC. (There will be short breaks during the meeting but no “lunch break”.) A Zoom-link for the meetings will be shared shortly. Please prepare for the workshop by reading the three numbered documents carefully as well as review the material from ISO on how to write standards (an IWA is written in the same way as a standard). If you have not already reviewed the material regarding ISO above, we encourage you to do so as well.
        • ISO_IWA 34 N003 First working draft_for discussion at the first workshop Oct 14_16 2020 File 261.8KB PDF document

          This is a first draft document that will be the basis for discussion at the workshop. Please review it and think of adjustments/additions/deletions you would like to propose during the workshop. Also, please look at the reading instructions on the first page.


        • How to write standards File 1.5MB PDF document

          This brochure contains all you need to know about how to write standards within ISO. The most important parts for this workshop are: Writing plain language, Verbal forms, Terms and definitions, Clauses and subclauses as well as Notes and examples. Otherwise, the brochure is good to have at hand to check things as we develop the IWA.


        • Drafting standards - ISO language Clarifying

          In this 5 minute video, you will get more information on the basics of how to draft standards and other documents within ISO



          Drafting standards – Terms and definitions

          In this 5 minute video, you will learn how terms and definitions are written in ISO documents


        • ISO/IWA 34 N004 Minutes File 168.4KB PDF document
          These are the minutes from the first workshop, held October 14th-16th 2020. We have chosen to write the minutes quite overarching as the outcome of the discussions is also reflected in the updated draft. The attendance list as well as the presentations held can be found below. 
        • ISO/IWA 34 N005 Attendance list File 81.5KB PDF document

          This is the attendance list from the first workshop, held October 14th-16th 2020. Everyone who participated in parts of the workshop are listed, we have chosen to not give details on who participated when as this would make the file very complex.

        • ISO/IWA 34 N006 Presentations File 6MB PDF document

          This document contains all the presentations held at the first workshop, which took place October 14th-16th 2020. We have deleted some slides mainly used for background, but all slides with content are collected here.

      • Commenting on draft proposal October 30th-November 22nd

        • Below is the updated draft, working draft 2 of our IWA (N007). We have updated the text according to the outcome of the discussions and also edited it for consistency. We would like to draw your attention to that only written comments from registered experts submitted before the deadline will be discussed at the second workshop (December 14th-16th). So please provide all your comments in the commenting template below, you only need to comment on the parts of the documents you want to change in any way (in ISO silence/no comment equals agreement with the text as it stands.


        • ISO commenting template File 48.5KB Word document

          This is the template to use to provide comments on the draft in document N007. We have made a tutorial on how to use the template which you can find below and that we recommend you to watch, but here are the most important things to consider:

          • Please send in the comments via this link, using the template in .doc (i.e. do not make it into a pdf or a .docx – then the automatic compilation of all comments does not work)
          • Please fill in your details in the header (you can edit the header by double-clicking it)
          • The most important columns are:
              • Initials (so we know who the comment is from)
              • Line number
              • Clause number (this is what the automatic compilation tool sorts the comments by)
              • Comment (why you want to change something)
              • Proposed change (concrete text proposals are needed to evaluate a comment, otherwise there is a large risk that your comment will simply be noted.)
          • Please do not put any text in the column “Observations by secretariat” – this is where we will write the conclusions regarding the comments




        • This tutorial shows how to use the ISO commenting template for providing your comments. If you have further questions on this, please do not hesitate to contact Maria Gustafsson or Ase Lyngstad.

      • Second workshop December 14th-16th 2020 (online)