Does gender equality matter? Gender responsive corporate procurement efforts of inter-governmental organizations

Abstract

Public sector organizations, particularly intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), are expected to integrate gender-responsive practices into their operations to promote gender mainstreaming and diversity. Such initiatives can also be incorporated into these IGOs' corporate procurement endeavors since they have more control over their corporate spending, and it can directly affect the socioeconomic development of the stakeholders involved. In the following research, the gender-responsive procurement (GRP) practices of four major development-focused IGOs - the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), UN Women, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the World Bank Group (WBG)—are assessed. Utilizing in-depth key-informant interviews and interpretive document analysis, case studies are developed to log the goals, efforts, policies, etc. of the selected IGOs towards gender-responsive corporate procurement. Lastly, this study also demonstrates a summary of various actionable tools and approaches utilized by these organizations, thereby expanding the research area on GRP to encompass the efforts of IGOs.