Abstract:

An important role that municipalities can play in procurement is for the local sphere to offer opportunities to realise economic equity for enterprises owned by women and other previously disadvantaged groups. Municipal procurement can be used to address equity concerns by opening up economic prospects for particular categories of people. Gender mainstreaming may be achieved by the conspicuous inclusion of enterprises that are owned and operated by women, which often operate on the periphery of procurement. Integrating gender into municipal procurement enables women-owned businesses to participate, benefit, and in turn enhance gendered participation in Johannesburg’s local economic development (LED). This article expands the conclusions from an earlier study that was concerned with e-procurement. The article uses a qualitative analytic approach to assess how gendered procurement for the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality (CJMM) has not been conducted to benefit women-owned businesses. These are compared against the municipality’s procurement policies, procedures, and reports to highlight the gender gap in municipal procurement. The article deduces that a gender gap persists in the CJMM’s municipal procurement processes, which excludes women-headed businesses from benefiting from larger contracts. The article offers suggestions for improvement. The article recommends that future research is needed that will use gender-disaggregated data to analyse municipal sector procurement for LED. The article concludes with key recommendations to enhance gender equity in municipal procurement.

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