Gender equality is covered by the 7 cooperative principles as established by the International Cooperative Alliance. More specifically, the principle of voluntary and open membership requires that anyone can use the services of a cooperative, without any sexual, social, racial, political or religious discrimination, as long as they are prepared to accept the responsibilities of membership. Democratic governance provides for one vote per person, regardless of gender (or number of shares). Cooperatives also focus on education, training and the provision of empowering information. All actions of cooperatives are driven by the concert for the community.

All cooperatives wish to contribute to building inclusive economies and societies and, to fully accomplish this, they seek to embody inclusion in their very structure and operation.

This document outlines the gender equality plan of REScoop.eu, the European federation of citizen energy cooperatives.