What has gender got to do with competition policy? The OECD raised this question with the goal of determining if certain approaches in competition law and policy could help reduce gender inequalities. Exploring the intersection between competition and gender is part of a trend questioning whether competition policy should play a role in promoting broader policy objectives and reducing inequalities in society. This trend has led to pressure on competition authorities who are asked increasingly to consider a wider range of issues that affect their work and inversely, that their work may affect.
In 2018, the OECD began to explore whether a gender lens might in fact help deliver a more effective competition policy by identifying additional relevant features of the market, and of the behaviour of consumers and firms, as well as whether a more effective competition policy can help address gender inequality. For that, the OECD partnered with Canadian Government and in particular the Canadian Competition Bureau to develop guidance for competition agencies in this area giving birth to the Toolkit and the OECD Gender Inclusive Competition Policy project, https://oe.cd/gicp.
The Toolkit is designed to help competition authorities apply gender-inclusive considerations to their work. It provides a practical approach that competition officials can incorporate in their daily operations. It does not aim to change drastically the work of competition authorities but rather to enhance their effectiveness. The Toolkit and the broader project draw inspiration from and build on gender research and mainstreaming efforts in related policy areas, such as, corporate governance and anticorruption. The approaches in this Toolkit help authorities to gain a better understanding of market dynamics and their differential impact on men and women. Where disparities exist, these distinctions can be factored into outcomes, to mitigate, rather than exacerbate, gender inequalities.
This Toolkit is timely as the COVID‑19 pandemic has aggravated inequalities in society, and governments are looking at ways to build back better and address economic downturns. Competition is an important tool for economic recovery, and governments can choose to boost competition and gender equality at the same time.
Competition authorities are the primary audience for the Toolkit. It provides authorities with practical tips and guidance on how to include gender considerations in their work. Aspects addressed in the Toolkit include how to apply a gender lens to competition analysis, investigations, compliance work and broader institutional approaches like prioritisation.
The research related to gender-inclusive competition policy is relatively new and there is much more still to learn. Ideally, the Toolkit will be a catalyst for further research that generates additional practical approaches. These could then feed back into further iterations of the Toolkit. While this Toolkit focusses on gender, authorities could consider its application in a broader diversity and inclusion context.
This Toolkit is a result of work conducted primarily under the OECD Gender Inclusive Competition Policy project funded by the Government of Canada. The insights and evidence reported in this Toolkit are based on the seven research papers, along with OECD research, detailed in Chapter 1.