Reimagining Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence: A Capability Approach Informed by Women’s Experiences in Wartime Ukraine

This article examines the limitations of existing Business and Human Rights (BHR) frameworks on the matter of addressing the complex ways war undermines women’s capabilities. The war in Ukraine serves as a stark illustration of how peacetime-oriented human rights due diligence processes are not able to grasp the multiple responsibility burdens placed on women comprehensively. This conceptual article addresses such deficiency by proposing to reinterpret BHR frameworks through the lens of the capability approach, conceptualizing war as a form of radical social change. By re-articulating the World Benchmarking Alliance Gender Benchmark through a capability lens, we develop a set of practical assessment points that shift the focus from merely avoiding harm to proactively enhancing women’s rights. Our primary contribution is a replicable methodology that can potentially equip businesses to conduct more meaningful, gender-responsive due diligence, ensuring that women’s rights and empowerment are central to corporate conduct during conflict and recovery.