| Summary: | Public procurement processes often incorporate measures that aim to reduce the potential for different forms of corruption and are simultaneously intended to serve as policy tools that advance gender equality. When these dual intentions come together, synergies and frictions can emerge. This chapter first explains the arguments for promoting women’s economic empowerment through public procurement. Then, by drawing insights from the gender and corruption literature and running through gender-sensitive policies that apply at different stages of a procurement process, it suggests where these synergies and frictions may arise. This chapter discusses the role of gendered collusive networks in corruption and in creating barriers to women’s advancement. Further, different forms of transparency pertaining to procurement are distinguished. Some forms, typically in the early stages of the process, guide and support gender-equality provisions. Others, typically later in the process, may pose potential risks to gender-equality outcomes by sparking accountability that operates through a prism of traditional gender stereotypes.
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