Seventy-seven researchers, government officials and civil society representatives, including 47 women, from 44 countries, successfully completed the second edition of the UNCTAD online course on trade and gender, held from 4 January to 21 February 2016.
Delivered jointly by UNCTAD's Virtual Institute and the Trade, Gender and Development Work Programme, the course was part of a capacity-building project on trade and gender funded by the government of Finland.
Based on UNCTAD teaching manual on trade and gender, Volume 1: Unfolding the links, the course used a combination of reading material, multimedia lectures, and tutor support to introduce the concepts and analytical frameworks related to trade and gender.
 I feel this course is an excellent introduction to the prevalent economic conditions faced by women. It begins with the basic issues as to why women may not have similar access as men to employment opportunities. As international trade is an important factor of economic growth, this course does well to explain why women may not benefit from expansion of international trading activities.  Aadil Nakhoda Institute of Business Administration in Pakistan. |
The ultimate objective of the course was to provide participants with the knowledge needed to analyse the two-way relationship between trade and gender and, ultimately, produce gender-aware policy recommendations.
As Tsitsi Effie Mutambara, of Rhodes University South Africa put it: "The course brought out gender-related issues that I had never thought about. I was able to see trade theory and policy from a very different point of view."
| Thanks for this amazing course and I must say it has been extremely helpful in my work in mainstreaming gender in our services. I now have a better understanding of issues affecting women in the developing countries and all the challenges they face with respect to regional and international trade. It has step up my discourse when discussing gender and trade issues and developing programs to help women to unlock their potential towards economic empowerment. Clarencia Christie TFO Canada (An agency that aims to promoting sustainable economic development through trade with Canada) |
Overall, participants said the course met or exceeded their expectations, and that they left the course not only with better knowledge of the two-way relationship between trade and gender, but also very motivated to apply it in their work.
Plans to undertake trade and gender-related research abound among the participants, with many ideas to use the course knowledge in this area.
"I am going to develop a paper on the relationship of trade and gender with the current climate challenges facing Southern Africa", proposed Diana Kawenda, of the North-West University in South Africa.
"I will continue researching about inequalities in regional trade agreements, including gender inequalities, for my doctoral thesis," added Pamela Torres from Ecuador, currently a PhD candidate at the Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle University in France.
At times, the plans go beyond one single course. For instance, Thokozani Ngwira, of Tanzania's Trade Policy Training Centre in Africa, reports that "our institution will soon embark on reviewing its curriculum and I will play a leading role in reviewing the extent to which gender is mainstreamed in our courses."
Finally, many ideas were suggested by the participants in relation to policy formulation. Adam Willie, of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Zimbabwe, plans to "do an evaluation of how gender sensitive is our national trade policy. Data analysis will be done to provide empirical evidence to justify mainstreaming gender in trade policy."
His fellow course participant, Olu Ikulajolu, of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, maintains that: "Women should be encouraged and their voice must be heard on the constraints they encounter in trading activities. My personal efforts will be deployed to assisting women trade to grow."
Thanks to the participation of Beatrice Hamusonde, Director of COMESA Gender and Social Affairs Division, plans for institutional partnerships are emerging from the course. UNCTAD and the COMESA Division on Gender and Social Affairs are now planning to develop a course module specifically tailored to the circumstances, issues and challenges faced by the countries of eastern and southern Africa.
