FINANCING THE GENDER IMPERATIVE FOR PROCUREMENT IN THE CITY OF JOHANNESBURG METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY
FINANCING THE GENDER IMPERATIVE FOR PROCUREMENT IN THE CITY OF JOHANNESBURG METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY
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.