Back National Consultant to Develop a Guide for Business Leaders on Prevention of Unconscious Gender Bias

Background/Context

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to implement these standards. It stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on five priority areas: increasing women’s leadership and participation; ending violence against women; engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; and making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality.

Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) is one of the key development areas for UN Women. From 2019 to 2023 (May), UN Women with the generous support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway (from 2024 taken over by Norwegian Agency for Cooperation Development - Norad) implemented the first phase of the Good Governance for Gender Equality in Georgia (GG4GEG) project. To accelerate the achievement of the project’s ambitious goals and objectives and for the sustainability of the results, UN Women has started the implementation of the second phase of the GG4GEG project in July 2023 for the next thirty months, until December 2025. Project acknowledges the women as the key drivers of entrepreneurship and innovation growth and jobs and the importance of the private sector in ensuring that women can participate and contribute to the economy. One of the mian objectives of the project is that businesses have increased understanding and capacities to implement the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs). Since launching WEPs in 2014 to engage Georgia’s private sector in promoting gender equality, UN Women has mobilized over 300 companies—reaching more than 120,000 employees—to advance women’s rights and support gender equality policies across the workplace, marketplace, and community.

In Georgia, persistent gender stereotypes continue to shape societal expectations and workplace dynamics, significantly impacting women’s economic participation. Women are still widely perceived as primary caregivers, with societal norms reinforcing the idea that their primary role lies within household. As a result, women in Georgia spend five times more time on unpaid care work compared to men. These entrenched gender roles further influence hiring and promotion decisions in the private sector. Employers often hesitate to recruit or advance women due to assumptions related to maternity leave, childcare responsibilities, or other caregiving duties. Such unconscious gender biases automatic, existential beliefs shaped by social norms undermine women’s career opportunities and hinder the development of inclusive, productive workplaces. Despite growing awareness, many companies lack the tools and knowledge to identify and address these biases effectively.

To prevent unconscious gender biases within workplace in private sector, UN Women Georgia seeks to contract a national consultant to develop a practical and user-friendly guide \"Leading Without Bias: A Practical Guide for Business Leaders\" tailored to the needs of private sector companies in Georgia, with a specific focus on gender bias. The guide aims to raise awareness among business leaders in Georgia about unconscious and gender bias in the workplace and equip them with practical tools to recognize and address it. It seeks to promote inclusive leadership by offering concrete strategies for mitigating bias in human resources, decision-making, and broader organizational practices, aligned with the WEPs and other relevant UN Women resources.

Key responsibilities include drafting syllabus, facilitating stakeholder consultations, developing the guide in Georgian, reviewing its English translation, designing and delivering a one-day presentation for UN Women team members, and conducting a one-day training for the private sector representatives. The consultant will also submit a final report summarizing key insights, participant feedback, and recommendations for scaling-up bias-reduction efforts in the workplace; this feedback will be used to refine and finalize the guide.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

The national consultant will work under the direct supervision of the UN Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme Analyst and Project Analyst and the Project Assistant from the same portfolio who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues. The national consultant will be responsible for the following tasks: 

Deliverables:

A comprehensive Syllabus: A comprehensive syllabus outlining the structure, key themes, learning objectives, and proposed content flow of the practical guide \"Leading Without Bias: A Practical Guide for Business Leaders\". 

Stakeholder Consultation Summary Report: Summary of insights gathered through at least 5 targeted interviews with business leaders, HR professionals, and gender equality experts; Analysis of stakeholder needs, challenges, and good practices related to unconscious bias in the Georgian private sector - 10 working days by 3 October 2025

Unconscious Bias Practical Guide in Georgian: User-friendly guide tailored for business leaders; Includes definitions, strategies for addressing unconscious bias, organizational recommendations, case studies, and resources; Revised version incorporating UN Women and stakeholder feedback. 

Reviewed English Translation of the Guide: Edited and finalized English version of the guide, ensuring alignment with the Georgian version in terms of content, clarity, and tone – 28 working days by 25 November 2025

Presentation to UN Women Team: One-day in-person presentation to UN Women Georgia staff on unconscious gender bias.

Delivery of a Gender Bias Training Session: Design and facilitation of a one-day in-person training session for private sector representatives, focused on reducing unconscious gender bias in the workplace, using content from the guide. 

Final Report: Detailed report summarizing all activities, key findings from consultations and training, lessons learned, and recommendations for integration of the guide into internal company policies and procedures – 5 working days by 10 December 2025

Payment will be based upon submission of the deliverables.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy, no travel is required outside Tbilisi.

Competencies :

Core Values:

Core Competencies:

Functional Competencies:

Required Qualifications:

Education and Certification:

Experience:

Languages:

Proficiency in English and Georgian.

How to Apply:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.  

 If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.  

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)