Applying a Gender Lens to Sustainable Procurement

Gender-responsive procurement is about companies leveraging their purchasing policies and practices to promote gender equality and support social and economic progress through gender-responsive measures at all stages and tiers of procurement and supply chain.

Favouring gender-responsive enterprises through their procurement practices means that a business has fully integrated gender equality in its policies and practices, regardless of ownership, one important first step being the alignment with international standards and principles such as the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and International Labour Standards of the International Labour Organization. This can help to ensure respect for human rights and labour rights, advance decent working conditions for all workers, including women, and influence equal outcomes rather than just equal opportunities.

All businesses stand to benefit from gender equality and women’s empowerment. By including a gender lens in your buying decisions, you can expand your company’s markets, diversify its supply chains, enhance its reputation, unlock innovation, adaptability, agility and opportunity as well as grow the economy. Encouraging your suppliers to do the same can accelerate progress – and it is possible to mainstream gender as part of your procurement strategy without compromising quality, efficiency, cost savings and value for money.

UN Women highlights the evidence-based business case for gender-responsive procurement in its report, Procurement’s Strategic Value: Why gender-responsive procurement makes business sense, which outlines the following business benefits:

Increased revenue and reduced procurement spend

• There is more business development and growth as a result of companies creating a gateway for more women’s enterprises and gender-responsive enterprises to compete for sustainable business opportunities.
• As businesses thrive, their owners and workers earn income that may make them both cost-attractive suppliers and potential customers.
• Companies seeking local, diverse businesses could also see cost-savings through increased competition and reduction in shipping, freight, and other costs.

Greater supplier availability and resilience

• Companies can mitigate the risks caused by single source supply chains by expanding, localising, and diversifying their current supplier base, which may also increase resilience in the face of extreme weather events and other results of climate change.
• By gaining a deeper understanding of how suppliers operate, companies can identify and address potential vulnerabilities in the supply chain.

Enhanced brand reputation

• Enhanced brand reputation amongst customers, peers, investors, and employees supports business growth and brand loyalty.
• As consumers become more likely to buy from purpose-driven brands, companies must ensure they are catering to consumers in all their diversity, including gender-responsive suppliers.

Greater innovation and adaptability

• In the face of new risks such as COVID-19 and climate change, it’s increasingly important to allow companies to stay competitive and better respond to customer needs.
• According to UN Women, supplying from more diverse companies through gender-responsive procurement allows buyers to take advantage of a greater range of talent that otherwise would not have been tapped.
• Suppliers representing diverse backgrounds can help companies understand and address differing customer needs, providing a critical perspective on how to reach and market products to customers.

Improved service delivery and increased agility

• UN Women found that diverse suppliers, which are more likely to be SMEs, can be more eager for business and have a more specialised understanding of industry fluctuations and needs, leading to better customer service, a willingness to learn and adapt, and increased client satisfaction and longer-term relationships with suppliers.

Strengthened markets through economic development and inclusive growth

• Globally, 90% of businesses are SMEs and in developing countries 7 out of 10 jobs are created by SMEs.
• As diverse suppliers are often SMEs — one-third of SMEs are women-owned — investing in gender-responsive procurement contributes to the development of value chains and supports labour markets by increasing local income generation and decent employment opportunities.