UNCTAD has just released an innovative teaching manual on the relationship between trade and gender equality.
The teaching manual on trade and gender was developed to provide an up-to-date learning resource on trade and gender issues to all stakeholders - researchers, policy-makers and civil society representatives - involved in research, policy formulation and advocacy in this area.
The manual consists of two volumes, namely:
Volume I on unfolding the links, discusses the conceptual, theoretical and empirical links between trade and gender.
Volume II entitled empirical analysis of the trade and gender links, introduces different quantitative approaches and methodologies to analyze these links empirically. The second volume is accompanied by a CD with application files which the learners can use for hands-on practice.
The teaching manual was developed by the UNCTAD Virtual Institute and the Trade, Gender and Development Section.
Volume I, together with multimedia presentations and accompanying readings, already served as a basis for the online course on trade and gender, which is currently under way.
Economic development and social and cultural shifts have contributed to a decrease in gender-related inequalities across the world. However, these shifts are not an "automatic" outcome of development but rather the result of concerted policy action and resource allocation for gender equality.
Taking a gender perspective has helped to reveal a number of structural inequalities between men and women in social, economic and political spheres, and encouraged the implementation of measures to redress them.
Efforts to mainstream gender equality in trade policymaking play a critical role in this regard and it is therefore imperative for policymakers to anticipate how trade policies will redistribute wealth within the economy and take corrective actions.
