1 Philip Martin Principal Gender Adviser, EBRDFair(er) Competition: Women, Procurement and the Inclusive Market Economy Philip Martin Principal Gender Adviser, EBRD

2 Today’s Talk Procurement Principles & Standards Transparency, Accountability, Free & Fair Competition But women aren’t showing up Less than 1% of vendors are women- owned business Free & Fair Competition? Let’s consider how gender and competition intersect to distort markets

3 How many languages do you need to know to communicate with the rest of the world?Tip In this example, we’re leading off with something unexpected. While the audience is trying to come up with a number, we’ll surprise them with the next slide.

4 Just one! Your own. (With a little help from your smart phone)

5 Strengthening women’s ability to compete for market opportunities is both to enhance women’s socioeconomic situations and enhance COMPETITIVENESS & EFFICIENCY of markets

6 Would the history suggest that markets work? And for whom?

7 Is competition gendered?Women are far less likely than men to behave in ways that correspond to the assumptions of our political and economic models. The predictions of these models will thus likely be incorrect for roughly half of the population.

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9 EBRD & Inclusive MarketsAn inclusive market economy ensures that anyone regardless of their gender, place of birth, family background, age or other circumstances, over which they have no control, has full and fair access to labour markets, finance and entrepreneurship and, more generally, economic opportunity. Beyond its contribution to efficient markets, fair and equitable access to economic opportunity is essential in fostering broad support for market reforms and, ultimately, sustainable market economies.

10 Fairer Competition relies on you...Explicitly require that pro- gender policies are reflected in the procurement strategy and documents Skills upgrading/ training opportunities for women bidders RFP, ITB and RFQ distributed through media consumed by women Ensuring prompt payment Facilitating finance for SMEs that need to secure capital to procure goods Unbundling procurement Ensure women-owned businesses are identified and included in E- procurement processes Enhance gender equality through appraisal criteria and weighting for selection, allocation and/or execution Add that ‘Women-owned businesses are encouraged to apply’ Training and non-formal education programmes targeting the specific needs of women and girls and provide them with practical skills that they can use Women on procurement (and distribution) teams Attention to gender sensitivity of safety equipment Meet women's pricing constraints/cost barriers Meet women's resource and education constraints Child care or family care provisions are in place to allow women and girls access to programmes, trainings and meetings Target percentages for female involvement in training