Gender responsive procurement
Business Case
Brand reputation
Innovation and adaptability
Legal and regulatory compliance
Operational continuity
Productivity and quality
Stable sourcing communities and sustainable livelihoods
Strategy & Planning
Assessment
Analyze current supplier base to understand current share of spend with women owned business, women led businesses and/or recognized gender responsive businesses, demonstrating:
- comprehensive compliance with international labour standards of the ILO, including the Core Labour Standards
- actively embracing the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs)
- policy and actions showing genuine dedication to fostering an environment that promotes gender equality, respects human rights and encourages equal participation of women at all levels of the supplier's organization
Conduct market analysis to understand:
- market readiness for gender-responsive procurement, including availability of eligible women owned businesses, suppliers with gender policies, suppliers that create positive outcomes for women/gender equality or gender responsive suppliers
- where women-owned and women-led businesses are available by category and geography, including high-opportunity procurement categories where women-owned and women-led businesses are likely to participate
- procurement categories where women owned businesses or gender-responsive suppliers are underrepresented relative to market availability
- opportunities for structural interventions to increase participation such as contract unbundling
Conduct qualitative assessment with suppliers and relevant stakeholder organizations to understand.
- whether procurement processes are perceived as neutral, transparent and accessible
- procedural or informational barriers related to gender responsive practices
- alignment between stated procurement policies and lived supplier experience
Policy
Include the following:
- clear internal definition of gender impact categories, such as women-owned businesses, women-led businesses, gender-responsive suppliers, WEPs signatories and suppliers whose products/services benefit women. Align with the national definition if available or follow International Workshop Agreement (IWA) 34:2021 (ISO).
- determination if certification would be required under the definition of woman owned business and, if so, by which entities
- grievance policy and access to an effective non-judicial remedy for affected parties, so supplier have a formal, accessible and non-retaliatory channel to report barriers encountered in procurement processes.
Integrate gender-responsive procurement requirements into category strategies for relevant spend areas, including preference criteria for gender-responsive suppliers in supplier selection processes, ensuring compliance with applicable fair competition or procurement law.
Require suppliers to adopt their own gender-responsive procurement policies and apply them to their own sourcing decisions, ensuring compliance with local laws.
Targets
Set a baseline target for the percentage of spend with women owned businesses, women led businesses or gender-responsive suppliers across the procurement portfolio, in line with applicable procurement, competition, anti-corruption and non-discrimination regulations.
Set targets for closing participation gaps between gender-responsive suppliers or women owned/led businesses and market availability.
Set targets for the percentage of strategic suppliers with their own active gender-responsive procurement programs or women-owned business spend commitments within their supply chains.
Supplier Selection
Screening
In the RFP process, collect information from potential supplier on whether they qualify as women-owned/led businesses or hold recognized gender-responsive supplier status, including WEPs signatory status or equivalent recognition, in line with applicable procurement, competition, anti-corruption and non-discrimination regulations.
Request information on whether suppliers hold or are actively pursuing gender-responsive certification or programs.
Require suppliers to demonstrate active WEPs signatory status or equivalent gender-responsive certification as a condition of eligibility to respond to RFPs in categories where gender-responsive procurement targets apply.
Selection
Allocate points in selection criteria for demonstrating the below, while remaining aligned with corporate procurement rules, competition law, anti-corruption standards, due diligence requirements and non-discrimination regulations:
- women-owned or women-led business status
- wEPs signatory status
- existence of a formal gender equality policy aligned with the buyer's definition of a gender-responsive supplier
- focus on gender equality outcomes/impacts or products/services that improve outcomes for women
In alignment with applicable procurement, competition, anti-corruption and non-discrimination regulations., allocate points in selection criteria for demonstrating:
- certification against a recognized gender-responsive standard
- active participation in WEPs community or equivalent gender equality networks
In alignment with applicable procurement, competition, anti-corruption and non-discrimination regulations, allocate points in selection criteria for demonstrating:
- the supplier's own gender-responsive procurement practices applied to their supply chain
- engagement with women-led suppliers in their own supply chains, with tools, templates, capacity building and realistic timelines
- measurable increase in women-owned business participation in their own supply chain
Contracts
Include clauses requiring suppliers to maintain their gender-responsive supplier status and notify the buyer of any material changes to their qualifying criteria.
Include clauses requiring suppliers to report annually on their gender-responsive supplier status and submit improvement plans if they fall below the buyer's qualifying threshold.
Include contractual clauses requiring strategic suppliers to cascade gender-responsive procurement requirements to their own supply chains, with evidence of progress provided to the buyer on request.
Supplier Engagement
Goal Setting
Communicate the buyer's commitment to gender-responsive procurement to suppliers and set goals with suppliers to achieve WEPs signatory status or women-owned business certification as a first step toward qualifying as a gender-responsive supplier.
Establish joint gender-responsive procurement improvement plans with strategic suppliers, including targets for achieving gender-responsive supplier status and increasing spend with women-owned businesses or gender responsive suppliers in their own supply chains.
Co-develop multi-year gender responsive supplier or women owned business sourcing roadmaps with strategic suppliers, including measurable targets for growing spend with these businesses and expanding participation in their own supply chains.
Capacity Building
Provide suppliers with introductory training on gender-responsive procurement, covering what it means, why it matters and how to begin identifying and engaging women-owned businesses and gender-responsive suppliers in their own sourcing; or support gender-responsive suppliers with training on tender requirements, pricing, documentation, compliance, buyer expectations, onboarding, invoicing, contract management or feedback throughout the procurement process.
Provide deeper training to suppliers on implementing gender-responsive procurement practices, including how to identify and certify women-owned businesses, how to set supplier diversity targets, how to remove barriers to participation for smaller women-owned suppliers, spend tracking, supplier development and Tier 2/Tier 3 engagement.
Host gender-responsive procurement training for tier 2 and 3 suppliers, equipping them to identify, certify and prioritize women-owned/led businesses and gender-responsive suppliers in their own sourcing decisions.
Data
Request baseline information from existing suppliers on whether they qualify as women-owned businesses, hold any gender-responsive supplier recognition, including WEPs signatory status or equivalent certification, or create gender equality outcomes/impacts through their products/services.
Establish reporting from suppliers on their gender-responsive procurement practices, including spend with women-owned businesses and gender-responsive suppliers in their own supply chains, and expand data collection to tier 2 and 3 suppliers.
Require and support with obtaining verification of supplier gender-responsive procurement practices and women-owned business spend claims across supply chain tiers.
Certifications
Support suppliers in obtaining WEPs signatory status or equivalent local certification.
Support suppliers in achieving third-party gender equality certification or women-owned business recognition.
Support tier 2 and 3 suppliers in becoming WEPs signatories or obtaining gender equality or women-owned business certification through financial support and mentoring.
Advisory
Provide guidance to suppliers on the buyer's definition of a gender-responsive supplier and women-owned business and the steps required to updated their procurement policies to include these topics.
Provide technical guidance to suppliers on developing their own gender-responsive procurement policies, including supplier qualification criteria, spend tracking mechanisms and how to engage women-owned businesses in their sourcing categories.
Support strategic suppliers in embedding gender-responsive procurement into their own sourcing governance, including category strategies, supplier selection criteria and spend reporting on women-owned and gender-responsive suppliers.
Financial Support
Sponsor gender-responsive supplier certification costs or women-owned business recognition programs or offer small financial incentives for suppliers that achieve initial certification milestones.
Offer preferential payment terms or early payment options for suppliers demonstrating active progress on gender-responsive procurement commitments.
Link incentives such as contract extensions, volume increases, preferred supplier status, multi-year agreements, visibility or pricing adjustments to verified achievement of gender-responsive procurement targets and women-owned business spend commitments across the supply chain.
Audits
Support suppliers claiming women-owned/led or gender-responsive status to provide documentation of ownership structure, WEPs signatory status and any relevant certifications.
Support suppliers in obtaining third-party verification of claimed women-owned business status, using jurisdiction-specific certification systems where available.
Conduct worker voice surveys within women-led supplier organizations to verify that ownership and leadership claims reflect the actual decision-making structure and role of women within the organization.
Project Partnerships & Innovation
Create dedicated opportunities for women-owned businesses in the supplier base to propose sustainability project partnerships and innovative approaches to sustainable product development.
Ensure women-owned business inclusion in innovation challenges or pilot programs and create dedicated opportunities for women-owned businesses to participate in joint product or service development initiatives.
Partner with industry peers, women's business networks, international organizations or CSOs to advance gender-responsive procurement across shared supply chains.
Continuous Improvement
Metrics
Track percentage of suppliers that are in the below categories and compare to the market availability:
- are women-owned businesses
- have gender equality policies and practices in place
- are WEPs signatories
- improve outcomes for women or have a positive impact on gender equality through their products/services
Track progress against spend targets for gender-responsive suppliers and women-owned businesses by category and monitor whether participation rates are improving over time, including tracking across the full procurement funnel (suppliers registered, invited to bid, submitting bids, shortlisted, awarded contracts, onboarded, retained and re-contracted) and buyer specific actions (tenders reviewed for accessibility, women-led suppliers invited to bid, feedback provided to unsuccessful suppliers and average payment timelines). Use this funnel data to identify where gender responsive suppliers are falling out and adapt outreach, tender design, onboarding or supplier support accordingly.
Require all suppliers to provide metrics on gender responsive suppliers participation in supplier development programs and include in progress reporting.
Scorecards
Include progress toward gender-responsive supplier status or women-owned business certification as an indicator in supplier performance review.
Include the share of suppliers' own procurement spend with women-owned businesses and gender-responsive suppliers as an indicator in supplier performance reviews.
Weigh gender-responsive procurement performance in strategic supplier scorecards, with top performers receiving preferential weighting in tenders and bottom performers required to submit improvement plans.
Impact Verification
Gather feedback from suppliers on effectiveness of supplier engagement programs on gender responsive procurement, such as through supplier feedback surveys or interviews to assess whether women-owned and women-led suppliers perceive the procurement process as accessible, transparent and fair and whether engagement programs are enabling the intended impact.
Assess whether supplier engagement and capacity building initiatives are improving gender-responsive procurement practices among strategic suppliers and increasing women-owned business participation in their supply chains. Cross-check buyer-reported program effectiveness with at least one additional independent data source: worker/producer surveys, community consultations or independent third-party assessment.
Measure the economic impact of gender-responsive procurement spend on women-owned businesses, including business or revenue growth, employment, market expansion, innovation, contribution to ESG targets and income generation attributable to the buyer's procurement relationship.
Sources consulted
- https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/Procurements-strategic-valu…
- https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2017/3/the-power-of-pro…
- https://www.weps.org/resource/gender-responsive-procurement
- https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2024-07/gender-responsive-procureme…
- https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2022-11/Guidance-note-Building-gend…
- https://eca.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2026/03/trainers-toolki…
- https://eca.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2026/03/participant-han…
- https://eige.europa.eu/gender-mainstreaming/tools-methods/gender-responsive-pub…
- https://sustainableprocurement.unglobalcompact.org/gender-equality-at-work
- https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-eliminat…