A group of WTO members established an informal Working Group on Trade and Gender to increase women's participation in trade. online meeting, held at the invitation of Iceland and Botswana, launched the working group on 23 September 2020.
The establishment of the task force marks the next phase of a 2017 initiative to remove barriers to women's participation in trade. The initiative emerged from the Buenos Aires Declaration on Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment, which was supported by 118 WTO members and observers at the XI Ministerial Conference. and now has 127 signatories.
Introducing the proposal to establish the Informal Working Group, Icelandic Ambassador Harald Aspelund, Co-Chair of the International Gender Champions (IGC) Trade Impact Group, said it “arose from consultations with WTO members who expressed support for following up on the commitments contained in the Buenos Aires Declaration.”
The working group will focus on: continue to share best practices among WTO members to increase women's participation in trade; clarify the meaning of a “gender perspective” in the context of international trade and review how it might apply to the work of the WTO; review and discuss the WTO Secretariat's gender-related analytical products; and explore ways to support the implementation of the WTO Aid for Trade work programme.
Addressing participants at the meeting, WTO Deputy Director-General Yonov Frederick Agah (Nigeria) described Women's empowerment as "at the heart of building economies that are more economically prosperous and socially inclusive". She highlighted the WTO’s ongoing efforts stemming from the Buenos Aires Declaration, noting that the launch of the working group “marks an important new phase in advancing this work on a continuous, transparent, collaborative and open basis.” Agah acknowledged the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19-related trade disruptions on women due to women’s overrepresentation in services and sectors that have seen the steepest declines in demand, concluding that “we cannot build back better without women.”
Botswana Ambassador Athaliah Molokomme, co-chair of the IGC Trade Impact Group, acknowledged the “strong support for the formation of an informal working group” and identified the need for “specific activities and deadlines”.
The working group will convene its first meeting in the second half of 2020 to establish a schedule of activities and discussion topics ahead of the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), currently expected to take place in June 2021.
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