Making trade work for gender equality

Trade has the potential to advance gender equality and realise women’s rights by expanding decent work opportunities for women and contributing to sustainable and equitable economic development. However, in many cases this potential has not been fulfilled; trade, and the agreements that establish its rules, have impacted negatively on the lives of many women. 

In this briefing, GADN discusses these concerns and presents recommendations to governments on how to develop trade agreements that promote gender equality.

Recommendations

Governments should:

1. Build capacity on gender equality and trade within governments.
2. Ensure trade agreements are consistent with and promote international human rights agreements and obligations as well as Agenda 2030.
3. Conduct gende r and human rights impact assessments and take the findings of those assessments into account.
4. Make trade negotiations transparent and participatory.

Read the full Briefing paper (PDF)

This briefing is part of GADN's Gender Equality and Macroeconomics Project.