Crosman, Katherine M.Allison, Edward H.Ota, YoshitakaCisneros-Montemayor, Andrés M.Singh, Gerald G.Swartz, WilfBailey, MeganBarclay, Kate M.Blume, GrantColléter, MathieuFabinyi, MichaelFaustman, Elaine M.Fielding, RussellGriffin, P. JoshuaHanich, QuentinHarden-Davies, HarrietKelly, Ryan P.Kenny, Tiff-AnnieKlinger, TerrieKittinger, John N.Nakamura, KatrinaPauwelussen, Annet P.Pictou, SherryRothschild, ChrisSeto, Katherine L.Spalding, Ana K.2023-11-272023-11-272731-426Xhttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/307438Calls to address social equity in ocean governance are expanding. Yet ‘equity’ is seldom clearly defined. Here we present a framework to support contextually-informed assessment of equity in ocean governance. Guiding questions include: (1) Where and (2) Why is equity being examined? (3) Equity for or amongst Whom? (4) What is being distributed? (5) When is equity considered? And (6) How do governance structures impact equity? The framework supports consistent operationalization of equity, challenges oversimplification, and allows evaluation of progress. It is a step toward securing the equitable ocean governance already reflected in national and international commitments.This research was funded by the Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center at EarthLab, University of Washington. The authors thank Katharine Shelledy for research assistance; Heather Hill, Ines Jurcevic, and Karin Martin for workshopping an early version of this framework; Richard Caddell and Chris McOwen for their feedback on later versions; and Valerie Brodnikova for graphic design. E.H.A. would like to thank all funders who supported this research through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund.application/pdfen-AU© The Author(s) 2022https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/2022-08-1010.1038/s44183-022-00001-72022-08-14Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License