Gender inequalities undermine people´s well-being, diminish prospects for economic growth and make economies less efficient.   Gender equality is a legitimate goal in itself, as better opportunities for women lead to improvements in human development.

Millennium Development Goal No 3:
Promote gender quality and empower women

The importance of gender equality for social and economic development is highlighted in the 3rd Millennium Development Goal.

It is essential to reduce discrimination against women and girls in order to reduce poverty and reach the MDGs.

Women contribute to the economy, better governance, communities and households. Discrimination reduces women´s contribution, making societies worse off.

Trade has gender-related effects

Trade policy is interrelated with gender equality as trade policies are strongly redistributive and often generate complex and contradictory effects on women´s access to employment, livelihood and income.

Often societies where women are economically or socially discriminated against do not fully benefit from the effects of globalization and trade integration. Because of this, reducing the gender bias is especially important for developing countries where inequalities between men and women are often larger.

Trade can be a catalyst for gender equality; however the effects of trade liberalization and globalization on women so far have been mixed.

The impact of trade on gender equality - are women winners or losers?

In a large number of cases trade has been an opportunity for women´s empowerment and improvement in livelihood. In these cases trade liberalization has been often associated with rising employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for women.

In some other cases the benefits for women have been marginal, relatively lower than those for men, and often temporary.

Finally, in some other cases trade liberalization has also exacerbated existing gender inequalities and worsened women´s economic and social status. One of the reasons behind these negative effects is that trade policies are often designed and implemented without consideration of gender issues.

Gender assessments

To soften any negative effect on women and maximize the beneficial effect of trade openness on the society, it is important to include gender assessment when designing trade policies.

Gender assessments will first help governments to better design complementary policies aimed to reduce any negative effect of trade policies on women and will also guide policymakers in designing policies aimed to help women to better benefit from trade liberalization.

Current economic crisis

The subject of trade and gender is now of particular relevance because of the current economic crisis. As female labor has been fueling a large share of the recent increase in trade, women are possibly the first to suffer from the world economic downturn.