Case Study: Western Australia Government Gender Equality Procurement

As part of the?Western Australian Government’s Stronger Together 10 Year Women’s Strategy?to drive gender equality, and in conjunction with the WA Government’s introduction of their?Social Procurement Framework?(Procurement Act 2020), the?Department of Communities?engaged?Femeconomy?to assist with a pilot project to explore development of whole-of-sector gender equality data disclosure in procurement.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The WA Government declared a commitment that women would be central to the State’s COVID recovery. They recognised that putting gender and diversity criteria on the tender as a consideration for assessing bidders for government contracts will contribute to improving outcomes for community members who experience barriers to employment opportunities and to those who are disproportionately vulnerable to the economic and social impacts of COVID.

The project objectives included:

• Increased awareness in the benefits of gender equality procurement practices among public service officers procuring goods and services.
• Increased gender equality in the workforce of organisations that supply goods and services to State Government.
• Women’s participation in the workforce is supported and expanded.

From previous discussions with?Femeconomy?on the?Gender Equality Procurement Toolkit, it was agreed that educational/ information resources would be developed to support awareness and understanding of the benefits of introducing gender equality and diversity into organisations, and using procurement as a lever to achieve this.

A series of educational resource checklists were created for use by suppliers and Government buyers, customised for the size of organisation and relevant gender equality considerations and aligned to?Workplace Gender Equality Agency?reporting criteria.

OUTCOME

The WA Government have commenced a 12 month procurement pilot across 15 Government Departments to raise awareness of the benefits of gender equality in the workplace.

The Media Release?says that:

• As part of the pilot, larger suppliers with 100 or more employees will be required to provide a copy of their compliance letter demonstrating that they meet gender equality reporting requirements under the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012.
• Suppliers with fewer than 100 employees will be required to answer questions that focus on whether certain policies or initiatives are in place to support a gender equal workplace.
• WA Government’s?Gender Equality in Procurement website?provides a range of resources to assist suppliers to build their gender equality capability.

Femeconomy?worked with the WA Department of Communities to?develop resources?to assist with the procurement pilot.