The Deputy Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Central American Anabel González, highlighted the determining role of women in economic and social activities, as well as in the agenda of the Organization, during a seminar.
Anabel González referred to the topic when participating on August 3, 2021 in a virtual event that launched the research project entitled “Gender and Trade in the Americas”, organized by institutions participating in the WTO Chairs Program in Barbados, Chile and Mexico.
Citing the role of trade in fostering women's empowerment and advancing gender equality, the Deputy Director-General said gender-sensitive trade policies are important to remove barriers, create new jobs and reduce wage gaps affecting women. She said: “The more women are involved, the more economies grow".
After pointing out the work of the WTO in the area, he said that the The 2017 Buenos Aires Declaration on Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment was a milestone which led to a broader commitment of the Organization on gender equality. She also said that it was a boost for the Establishment of the Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender at the WTO in September 2020.
El Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender Plan It is structured around four pillars:
- Share best practices to remove trade-related barriers and increase women's participation in trade;
- understand what a “gender lens” is and how it could be applied to the work of the WTO;
- review gender-related research conducted by the WTO Secretariat and others on women's economic empowerment;
- contribute to the WTO Aid for Trade Work Programme.
In this context, Anabel González said that the Informal Working Group is preparing a Concrete package to be adopted at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference which will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, at the end of 2021, and which will impact the lives of women and help them reap the benefits of international trade.
The specialist emphasized the WTO's commitment to the gender issue. In this regard, she commented that "the Organization is committed to developing a series of tools to help members to empower women, including establishing a training program to strengthen members in trade and gender.”
She also highlighted that “the COVID-19 pandemic has set women back economically and socially. Only 9% of all pandemic-related relief measures (taken globally) were targeted at mitigating women's problems, according to COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker”. This shows us that still there is a long way to go for gender equality. “The WTO is committed to contributing to this,” said the high-level official.
The fact that WTO members (currently 127), the Secretariat and others are proactively engaging with gender issues is a positive development. However, looking ahead, the debate will need to broaden its perspective to realize the benefits of women's inclusion in trade.
Anabel González was joined by the Ambassador of Barbados, Chad Blackman, the Ambassador of Chile, Mathias Francke Schnarbach, and the Ambassador of Mexico, Ángel Villalobos, who expressed their support for the event in the Americas.WTO Press Release) (Speech: “Gender in international economic negotiations”)
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