By Emilie Kerstens, LLM at Georgetown Law, IIEL Fellow

The third panel of the conference was themed around “Gender and Trade” and moderated by CITD’s Co-Director, Professor Katrin Kuhlmann. There is an increasing focus on addressing the barriers and systemic inequalities that prevent women from fully participating and benefiting from international trade. This trend lines up with the shift away from the idea that trade is “gender neutral” towards a recognition of the uneven distributional impacts of trade between men and women. Women face significant barriers to participating in international trade, including discrimination, lack of access to land, finance and other resources, and limited opportunities to build the necessary knowledge or skills through training. They are also disproportionately affected by the negative effects of trade liberalization and lack representation in international trade policy bodies.

Professor Kuhlmann started off the discussion by pointing out that countries are finally moving beyond just talking about trade and gender, to actually addressing the challenges women face. However, there is significant variation between countries, regions, and instruments on how they approach the subject of gender and trade. This lack of consistency calls for a discussion on whether initiatives on gender and trade are delivering real results and if not, what needs to be done to make them more meaningful for women. Mona Haddad, the Global Director for Trade, Investment, and Competitiveness at the World Bank initiated the discussion by referring to the challenges and opportunities of women in global trade. Ms. Haddad pointed out that women businesses represent less than 2% of global export suppliers. She indicated that solutions often require thinking beyond trade and trade policy. Lack of access to finance or technology as well as land ownership are just two examples of factors that impact economic participation. She argued that trade policy should be aimed at keeping markets open and that its focus should be on retraining, transparency, and trade facilitation.

Florie Liser, President and CEO of the Corporate Council on Africa took the floor next, bringing in the development perspective. She raised the point that many women are involved in the informal sector and that there are insufficient studies, policies, and laws that focus on the informal sector. Additionally, she emphasized that turning the African Growth and Opportunity Act into reality will demand capacity building and technical assistance for women looking to sell their products in the U.S. In the context of this conversation, Professor Kuhlmann asked how the distances between the formal and informal sectors could be bridged. Professor Amrita Bahri of ITAM University responded by suggesting there is still much ground to cover in bridging this divide: “how do we make an impact, when we don’t have a single provision on informalization,” she noted.

Nadia Bourely, Minister-Counsellor for Economic and Trade Policy at the Embassy of Canada also weighed in by referring to Canada’s approach on gender and trade within the WTO as well as in relations to its regional trade agreements. Canada has focused on removing barriers to women in trade by having dedicated chapters on the issue and mainstreaming the topic across agreements. Professor Bahri similarly joined in with key observations arising from her work on Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs). She observed that countries are increasingly including gender in RTAs, but approaches are quite varied. The majority of commitments are best endeavors, and are lacking sufficient institutional, procedural, or financial arrangements to bring them into action. There is a deep disconnect between the aspirations informing these provisions and the barriers that women face in practice.

Ed Gresser, Vice President and Director for Trade and Global Markets at the Progressive Policy Institute was last to chime in with a few specific insights on gender and trade arising from his research at the granular level. Mr. Gresser pointed out that while policies may look neutral on their face, they may still have discriminatory impacts. Tariffs often affect women and low-income earners most.

There are at least four main takeaways from the panel’s discussion:

1. Identifying real-world barriers is key

Each of the speakers highlighted the importance of identifying the real-world barriers that women face and that stand in the way of inclusive trade. Professor Bahri emphasized the importance of connecting the dots by actively listening to women’s experiences. Ms. Liser and Ms. Bourely emphasized the value of meaningful engagement with women in trade through outreach and stakeholder consultations. Mr. Gresser and Ms. Haddad underscored the crucial role of gender disaggregated data in bridging the gap between policies and the actual barriers faced by women.

2. Trade is only part of the solution

Ms. Haddad said it best: it is hard to find one trade policy that works for everything and there are other ways to support women. While trade policies play a crucial role, addressing the barriers faced by women in trade also involves addressing issues like access to finance and technology and the right to transparency. Developing countries often lack the capacity and resources necessary to fully implement trade agreements and policies. Comprehensive approaches that encompass legal frameworks, capacity building, and support for women entrepreneurs are essential to empower women and promote their participation in global trade.

3. The gap between the formal and informal sectors must be bridged

The informal sector plays a significant role in women’s economic participation, yet there is a lack of studies, policies, and laws focusing on this sector. In developing countries, the informal sector is where a significant portion of women’s economic activities takes place. Bridging the gap between the formal and informal sectors in light of the unique challenges faced by women in the informal economy is essential for inclusive trade.

4. Improvements are needed in respect of domestic capacity and implementation

Strengthening the ways in which gender-related commitments are implemented is crucial for ensuring their effectiveness. While RTAs increasingly include provisions addressing gender issues, the approaches taken in these agreements are largely unbinding, vague, and lack precision. At the domestic level, obstacles including the limited capacity of developing countries and concerns over cultural imperialism by Western countries must be overcome such that gender provisions can translate into concrete and actionable policies.