Special efforts to ensure gender equality in co-operatives have been made at local, regional, national, and international levels in the last three decades, but the tangible progress has been very slow. For example, in consumer co-operatives, women often constitute a majority of members because of their traditional role in families while most executives and managers in many co-operatives are men. In producer co-operatives, women are often excluded from membership mainly due to lack of property rights, although a large part of farming work is borne by women. Co-operatives should ensure that women participate equally in education and leadership development programmes.

In some countries and cultures where women are still perceived as subservient to men, women may set up women's co-operatives to overcome discrimination and gain a voice and a place for women that is not accessible to them because of religious or cultural gender discrimination. They operate credit and banking services, consumer shops, agriculture, handicrafts and small industries. Such co-operatives, where membership is only open to women, do not breach the 1st Principle where they are established to overcome gender discrimination and disadvantage. They can help create opportunities for women in training on co-operative business and management, the building of capital, and help overcome lack of gender equality in cultures where women are traditionally excluded from entrepreneurial and/or leadership positions and activities. In these circumstances, women only co-operatives enable women to gain the skills and experience necessary to participate in larger co-operatives. Where restricting membership is a direct response to wider gender discrimination and disadvantage women face in society, restricting membership to women only does not breach this 1st Principle.

In this 21st century the binary concept of sex and gender as singularly male or female is no longer sufficient to reflect the gender realities of all people. Gender is not just about men and women. It is about how people identify themselves and includes people who are transgender or have chosen gender re-assignment. The 1st Principle of non discrimination on grounds of gender extends to all persons.