Social equity & sustainable business
Gender-Responsive Procurement
The selection of goods, services, and works with deliberate regard to gender-equality impacts — buying from women-owned businesses and gender-responsive suppliers at every tier of the supply chain.
Definition
Gender-responsive procurement is the sustainable selection of services, goods, and works that considers impacts on gender equality beyond cost management — leveraging purchasing and sourcing to promote gender equality through gender-responsive measures at all stages and tiers of procurement and the supply chain. It includes due diligence on risks to women's rights and non-discrimination, and preferring gender-responsive suppliers and women-owned businesses (at least 51% owned, managed, or controlled by women).
References
Overview
What it means
Public and corporate procurement is an enormous market, yet women win an estimated one per cent of large corporations' procurement spend despite owning one in three businesses. GRP closes that gap through supplier-diversity targets, gender criteria in tenders, and capacity building for women entrepreneurs.
How it is used
UN Women operates a model policy framework and a UN task force on GRP; companies align practice with the Women's Empowerment Principles; and governments use GRP as a lever for SDG 5 and SDG 12 outcomes.
Why it matters
Purchasing power is one of the fastest ways to shift economic opportunity toward women, and supply chains are where gender-equality commitments meet commercial reality.
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