8 March 2024
This International Women’s Day we are joining the United Nations and celebrating their theme of ‘Invest in women: Accelerate progress’. If trends continue and women are not supported then more than 342 million women and girls could be living extreme poverty by 2030.
Our team get huge satisfaction from working on projects that create solutions that make a difference to people’s lives. Our colleague Lauren Beard was fortunate to work on such project. She supported the United Nations Global Compact to apply a gender lens to the Decent Work Toolkit on Sustainable Procurement.
We think it is worth resharing today as it’s an enabler.
- It is a practical step-by-step guide for companies on how to play a positive role in advancing gender equality and promoting non-discrimination through procurement decisions.
- It demonstrates that by including a gender lens in buying decisions and sourcing from women-owned or gender-responsive businesses, companies can expand markets, diversify supply chains, enhance reputation, unlock innovation, adaptability, agility and opportunity as well as grow the economy.
- It shows that it is possible to mainstream gender as part of your procurement strategy without compromising quality, efficiency, cost savings and value for money.
By applying it to your responsible procurement strategy you will enable women to work in conditions of freedom, equity, security, and human dignity.
Photo credit: UN Women/Ryan Brown