A report from the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) asserts that current public procurement spending represents “a missed opportunity.”
According to the EIGE’s new study, public procurement has the potential to leverage public spending in a way that results in a fairer allocation of economic resources between genders. Effectively implementing such a policy would, the report argues, improve living standards for both women and men.
Public procurement and gender equality
Public procurement in the European Union (EU) is a massive economic phenomenon. Authorities in the EU spend roughly 14% of the bloc’s GDP on public procurement. This amounts to approximately €2 trillion per year.
According to the EIGE, the sheer size of public procurement in the EU means the process is “of high economic importance.” New regulation could, the EIGE suggest, take advantage of public procurement’s status as a “powerful instrument for influencing market relations and competitiveness.”
Until now, however, regulators have largely seen and treated public procurement and gender equality as two distinct issues. This is especially true of industries where the public sector is the market’s principle buyer. These include energy, transport, waste management, defence, information technology, and health and education services.
The EIGE report notes, however, that links between the two issues are absent at almost every level, from national governments to the EU as a whole. They believe this represents a missed opportunity for the EU, as public procurement has the potential to be “an important transformative lever for social issues and in particular gender equality.” Not only this, but a lack of gender parity in public procurement is an economic pain point for the EU.
The case for gender-responsive public procurement
The EIGE argue that the extent to which businesses owned and operated by women are under-represented in tender competitions and contract awards means that public bodies are missing out on a large segment of the market that may offer value for money and innovation in public service delivery.
Gender-responsive public procurement (GRPP) is a gender mainstreaming tool advocated by the EIGE that promotes gender equality through public procurement. “GRPP is procurement that promotes gender equality through the goods, services or works being purchased,” explains the report.
Gender equality has strong, positive impacts on GDP per capita, which increase over time. Therefore, economists argue that gender equality is a relevant lever for catalysing economic growth. Increased gender equality, the EIGE estimates, could lead to an increase in EU GDP per capita of 6.1–9.6 % by 2050, amounting to EUR 1.95–3.15 trillion. GRPP could contribute a significant part of this, as it helps to tackle structural inequalities at both a national and pan-EU level.
