An expert meeting on Trade as a Tool for the Economic Empowerment of Women was held by the Trade, Gender and Development Unit on 23 and 24 May 2016 to promote a better understanding of the links between trade and gender.

At the meeting, experts discussed how to ensure coherence between trade and the economic empowerment of women, and cast light on ways to design and implement the “transformative actions” for gender equality and women’s economic empowerment expected under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development.

The four sessions of the meeting pointed to the fact that the links between trade and gender are very complex. There are no “quick fixes” to the shortcomings and difficulties that women encounter in their lives.

Many participants agreed that addressing the systemic problems women face would need a radical change in the ways the economy and societies were organized. But consensus was reached that some instruments and policies, and their coherence, could prove instrumental to women’s economic empowerment and gender equality.

Participants agreed that it was important to develop both international political will and policies at the country level to help women. For instance, rethinking international tax rules would strengthen domestic resources in developing countries. At the same time, a strong link has to be established between public spending and gender equality at the national level.

It clearly emerged through the presentations and the debate that trade liberalization does not have clear-cut positive or negative effects on women. Cheap food imports resulting from trade liberalization benefit women as consumers. At the same time they erode rural women’s earnings as producers. There is a positive correlation between a country’s share of exports and the female share of employment in labor-intensive industries. Yet, work conditions may be harsh, opportunities for advancement and skills development are limited and salaries are low. Some countries have used and still use the gender wage gap to improve their international competitiveness.

The debate pointed to the difficulty of fully grasping the different roles that women and men play in the economy and in the household, and there was a call to avoid over-simplification of the issues. For example, in agriculture women and men are often involved in the production of the same crop; what changes is the scale of the operation, control over commercial proceeds, size of markets, and the specialization of activities.

More than 60% of all working women are at present employed in the services sector. Several presentations highlighted that gender inequalities in access to education and skills development, capital, finance, technology, market information and business networks have clear negative repercussions on the ability of women to get employment in high-skilled services, including in tourism.

Participants agreed that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is ambitious – and that the high level of its ambition must be kept up during its implementation. By establishing a close link between economic growth, environmental sustainability and social justice, Agenda 2030 provides the opportunity to address gender issues in a multidisciplinary manner, linking economic, social and environmental aspects.

The experts also noted that Agenda 2030 does not include an enforcement mechanism therefore all stakeholders should contribute to ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are fully implemented, including those that are particularly “transformative” – for example, SGD 5 on gender equality and women’s empowerment – will require special efforts for implementation.

The expert meeting saw presentations by 13 experts, and was addressed by the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva Michael Moeller and UNCTAD Deputy Secretary-General Joakim Reiter.