Integrating gender equality in public procurement: The spanish case
| Date | 01 March 2010 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JOPP-10-04-2010-B003 |
| Published date | 01 March 2010 |
| Pages | 541-563 |
| Author | Teresa Medina-Arnáiz |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management,Government,Economics,Public Finance/economics,Texation/public revenue |
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT, VOLUME 10, ISSUE 4, 541-563 WINTER 2010
INTEGRATING GENDER EQUALITY IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT:
THE SPANISH CASE
Teresa Medina-Arnáiz*
ABSTRACT. Public procurement, as well as constituting a means of providing
goods and services, also represents a powerful legal instrument available to
contracting authorities to ensure compliance with secondary or non-
commercial goals. Among these secondary objectives, equality between
women and men may be highlighted. The possibility of integrating social
concerns into public procurement is envisaged in the Community Directives
on public procurement and has also been incorporated in the legal systems
of various Member States. This paper studies the inclusion of social clauses
on gender equality that appear in the different phases of a procurement
procedure in the Spanish Public Procurement Law (Law 30/2007, 30th
October, on Public Sector Contracts).
INTRODUCTION
Equality between women and men is a fundamental right and a
common principle of the European Union (EU). Furthermo re, gender
equality is essential for growth and poverty reduction, and is
recognized as a necessary condition for the achievement of the EU
objectives of growth, full employment and social cohesion. The EU
has made a major contribution to the advancement of women and
the improvement of women’s and men’s lives through a substantial
body of equal treatment legislation and the explicit integration of the
gender dimension into EU policies and activities.
In Spain - one of the 27 Member States of the EU - article 14 of
the Constitution states that all Spanish citizens are equal before the
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* Teresa Medina Arnáiz, Ph.D., is a Lecturer in Law, Faculty of Law,
University of Burgos (Spain). Her research interests are in the field of public
procurement.
Copyright © 2010 by PrAcademics Press
542 MEDINA-ARNÁIZ
law and may not in any way be discriminated against on the grounds
of gender, among other reasons. Similarly, article 9.2 declares that it
is the responsibility of the public authorities to promote conditions to
ensure that the freedom and equality of individuals and the groups to
which they belong are real and effective, to remove the obstacles
preventing or hindering their full enjoyment, and to facilitat e the
participation of all citizens in political, economic, cultural and social
life.
Taking this formal recognition of the principle of equality and no n-
discrimination on the grounds of a person’s gender as a starting
point, the Public Administration has established and undertaken all
manner of measures aimed at ensuring equal opportunities for both
sexes. Nevertheless, whilst it is true that in recent years there has
been a significant increase in the number of women in the
employment market as well as important legal advances in the fight
for gender equality, experience demonstrates the difficulties that
women face, in both a Spanish and a European context, in ensuring
real and effective parity in the various facets of life and, especially, in
the employment market where the discrepancy between male and
female income levels remains wide.
The causes of this inequality are both historical and cultural, as
sexist stereotypes have traditionally marked the roles of women and
men in society and have an influence on the gender distribution of
paid and unpaid work. The persistence of these gender gaps between
men and women confirm the importance of eliminating barriers to the
full participation of women in the labour market and of promoting
policies on the part of public authorities that stimulate the
participation of women in the employment market. A number of these
measures are linked to public procurement.
The reasons why public procurement may be a factor in
advancing the goal of equality would appear to be evident: first
because it is not coherent to seek gender equality in working
relations through Corporate Social Responsibility and not all public
authorities may be said to lead by example (McCrudden, 2007b).
Second, although no less importantly, the sector represents a
considerable percentage of a country’s Gross Domestic Product
(GDP). This percentage, which fluctuates at a global level between
10% and 30% between countries, stands at a mean value of 14.9% in
the case of Spain.
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