1. Procurement is a key lever for Gender Mainstreaming
Cities across Europe are seeking to ensure that consideration of Gender Equality is embedded in everything that they do, whether that be about political representation, pay structures, or in the design and delivery of policy and strategy. We have realised through GenProcure that Public Procurement is one such lever that can be utilised to enable Gender Mainstreaming. We can think about how Gender Inequality can be addressed in the design of services, in the identification of suitable businesses to bid for opportunities, in the criteria utilised as part of a Procurement procedure, and in how we monitor the impact of Procurement decisions. Gender can be mainstreamed across Procurement and links to wider Sustainable Development Strategies.
2. The scope to realise Gender Responsive Public Procurement is different in different countries
Each of our GenProcure Partners are coming from different starting points when it comes to the twin topics of Gender Equality and Public Procurement. We have some Partners that have being undertaking work around Gender Equality for over 40 years, with it mainstreamed in policy-making; and others for whom Gender Equality is a challenging concept because of national policy and practice. We have some Partners that have been seeking to be strategic in Public Procurement for over 10 years; and others who have only just started to realise that Procurement goes much beyond a bureaucratic and transactional focus. The scope to realise the objectives of the APN will therefore differ across the countries involved.
3. Integrated cultural change is needed within Municipalities
The topics of Gender Equality and Public Procurement have historically been quite isolated within Municipalities, with Gender Equality being the domain of Social Policy Departments and Public Procurement the domain of Finance Departments. Through GenProcure, we are however learning that Gender Responsive Public Procurement cannot be siloed within a specific Department within a Municipality; instead, it needs to be the business of every Department. Whether it be Economic Development or Health Services or Transport or Waste Collection, Public Procurement is fundamental to realising efficient and effective services, with Gender Equality as a key cross-cutting theme.
4. Gender Responsive Public Procurement cannot be top down
Undertaking Public Procurement effectively requires the involvement of a number of stakeholders. It needs the people responsible for designing the product, service or work, it needs the people with knowledge of businesses that may want to bid for the opportunity, it needs the people from NGOs and with knowledge of socio-economic challenges, it needs an engaged market of potential suppliers, and it needs the people that will monitor the success of the delivery of the service. This therefore means that Gender Responsive Public Procurement cannot be just about the Municipality or other Anchor Institution that is looking to buy something and undertaken in a top-down way – instead, it requires collaboration across multiple stakeholders and collective action.
5. Testing is key
From the outset of GenProcure, we have discussed with Partners what a novel and unique Network this is, with very few cities across Europe actively practicing Gender Responsive Public Procurement. We have therefore placed a lot of emphasis upon learning from forerunner cities both within the Network and from outside it to identify exactly what Partners need to do to embed Gender considerations in Procurement. This learning has been crucial to the testing of ideas and actions such as: the analysis of the propensity of women owned enterprises in the existing supply chain of their Municipality and wider Anchor Institutions; the inclusion of a Gender Clause in a Procurement around parks and landscaping; and the development of an Equality Committee that will form part of Procurement design and decision-making. All of these tests are crucial to embedding Gender Equality in Public Procurement.
6. A range of Actions are needed
The core output for our Partners from the GenProcure APN will be an Integrated Action Plan which details what they will do in the future to deliver actions associated with Gender Responsive Public Procurement. Each of our Partners are well advanced in the development of IAPs, and we have come to realise that in order to deliver cultural change around Gender Equality and Public Procurement a range of actions are needed and that relate to: the governance of the Municipality; the way in which spending data is gathered and analysed; the strategies, policies and processes associated with Procurement; the way in which the market is engaged in the process; and the way in which impact is measured. Our Partners are therefore developing a range of actions that sit across the themes of Gender Mainstreaming, and the Cycle of Procurement.
7. Practice, Practice, Practice
Delivering Gender Responsive Public Procurement is not an easy task – indeed there are multiple cultural, institutional, procedural, and policy-related barriers that our Partners will face. There is a reason why Gender Responsive Public Procurement is a unique topic for cities, and that is because it is difficult to realise. We are therefore encouraging our Partners to be realistic in how they approach the inclusion of Gender Criteria in Procurement and to not adopt a blanket approach across every good, service or work that they buy – but to instead practice, practice and practice again the inclusion of Gender considerations at different stages of the Procurement process and for different types of goods, services, and works. At one of our Meetings, we explored logically through a series of tasks where Gender Equality can be considered at different stages of the Cycle of Procurement and are encouraging Partners to use this logic across their Procurements.
8. We need more examples
Given that few Cities actively practice Gender Responsive Public Procurement, we have come to realise that there are currently few examples of how Gender Equality links to Public Procurement and in particular the types of Gender Clauses that can be included. As part of this Network, and for our Final Network Product, we have therefore decided to develop a ‘Catalogue of Gender Clauses’ – this will include a series of examples that can be utilised by both our Partners and others at different stages of the Cycle of Procurement and to ensure Gender Equality is considered across the purchasing of different types of goods, services and works.
9. This all takes time
The realisation of Gender Responsive Public Procurement is not going to happen overnight. Indeed, our Partners have recognised that the delivery of their Integrated Action Plans will be long-term given the cultural change required to realise their strategic objectives. We have constantly said in our activities so far that if Gender considerations are included in a handful of Public Procurements in each Municipality in the coming three years then that would constitute success. This whole process of Gender Mainstreaming and Gender Responsive Public Procurement takes time.
10. This is a big opportunity
Given URBACT’s wider work around the topics of Gender Equal Cities and Strategic Procurement, the GenProcure Network presents a big opportunity to further enhance learning and knowledge around Gender Responsive Public Procurement and embeds its principles across URBACT cities and across wider Public Policy-Makers across Europe. Our second Final Network Product will therefore be an implementation guide for any city that wants to include Gender considerations across the Cycle of Procurement.
These 10 lessons will shape the activities of the GenProcure Network over the next year and as we move towards disseminating our core findings at our Final Conference in Zagreb on Wednesday 29th October 2025. Please join us there to learn more!
Matthew Baqueriza-Jackson is the Lead Expert for the GenProcure Action Planning Network.
