The GWD is informed by a feminist political economy approach, which conceives of gender as a set of social relations rather than an attribute of individuals.

The database is composed of thematic modules, a library, which is a searchable bibliography, a thesaurus and statistical tables. There are currently six integrated and interactive modules - healthcare, migration, precarious employment, technology, unions and unpaid work - which represent different entry points into the study of gender and work.

The GWD is an initiative from the School of Social Sciences, Atkinson Faculty, York University.