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The views expressed are not necessarily those of UNCTAD or of the United Nations secretariat. Excellency Ambassador Whelan, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me first say how much I am honoured to be invited to speak at this prestigious forum. Let me also say that the topic chosen for this session is of increasing importance, not only because it concerns millions of active women in the world, but also because the gender impact of international trade is increasingly recognized as a subject to be considered in the international agenda. For example, the forthcoming UNCTAD XI Conference in Sao Paulo in June will include a special event to debate on the policy dimension of Trade and Gender. The United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality has created an Inter-Agency Task Force on Gender and Trade, with the objectives of deepening the understanding of the gender dimension and identifying policy challenges and responses to meet the goal of gender equality in an open multilateral trading system. Some members of the Task Force have been studying the interconnections between trade and gender from different perspectives and their analyses are published in a book entitled "Trade and Gender: Opportunities and Challenges for Developing Countries", to be launched at UNCTAD XI, on the 15th of June. Because of the novelty and complexity of the subject, the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations secretariat, or a shared view of all members of the Task Force. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning here some of the findings which are the most relevant for the topic of today's seminar. Let me begin by saying that the question of gender equality has multiple implications in the economic, social and cultural spheres because of women's roles both as economic agents and caretakers of families and communities. Gendered social norms derived from the sole consideration of the reproductive role of women have tended to limit their status in both the economic and political arenas, thus perpetuating gender inequality in society. Trade, while an essentially economic phenomenon, has, nevertheless, significant consequences for gender equality. For example, trade can positively influence the distribution of income between men and women, by creating new employment and business opportunities. Indeed, by expanding markets and increasing production, trade is a window of opportunities for women, as workers or as entrepreneurs. Generally speaking, trade can affect gender equality in different ways, through: A positive or negative impact on growth and employment opportunities; Competitive pressures, which may reduce or encourage gender discrimination, in particular wage differentials; Facilitating or raising barriers to access by women to resources and services; and Multilateral trading rules, which may facilitate or constrain governments in applying policies or regulations that address gender inequality. Women, in turn, have largely contributed, as workers or entrepreneurs, to enhancing the export capacity of their countries. It has been asserted, for example, that the industrialization of the newly industrialized countries is as much female-led as it is export-led. In the services sector, which is growing fast in many countries, developed as well as developing, a large number of service firms are very small or micro enterprises owned by women, and over half of them operate as a home-based business. Women-owned businesses also appear to be as likely, or even more likely than men-owned businesses, to export services. Although there has been significant growth in female participation in the labour market, owing to an increase in trade, gender inequality persists under other forms: precarious conditions of work, wage inequality, vertical and horizontal job mobility, and access to resources and services. Proactive government policies are needed to ensure equal employment conditions, and to provide special support to women workers and entrepreneurs. In this respect, flexibility in the implementation of multilateral trade rules is perhaps needed in order to allow governments to take affirmative action for the pursuit of the gender equality objective. In many low-income countries (particularly those with a predominant agricultural sector), trade liberalization can displace domestic production. While women may gain as consumers of cheaper imported goods, they may lose as displaced producers, in some cases threatening the food security of their househols. As women’s vulnerability to adverse shocks is exacerbated by existing inequalities, any negative impact of trade liberalization and attendant adjustment costs is likely to be felt more by women than men. Under these circumstances, there is perhaps a need for careful sequencing and pacing of trade liberalization, and for concurrent efforts to diversify areas of production and provide support to small producers the large majority of whom are women. In particular, women producers, who often play a critical role in the supply of food and in the diversification of agricultural exports should be given access to adequate resources. In addition, these countries would need a special and differential treatment within the multilateral trading system along with other preferential measures from trade partners. Participation of women entrepreneurs in international trade Women participate in international trade not only as workers, but also as entrepreneurs who make a valuable contribution to increasing the export capacity of their countries. Businesswomen from different countries and across a variety of sectors have much in common. Networking is seen as a major ingredient for success and new information technologies help businesswomen network more effectively and manage organizations more successfully. Building a skilled workforce is a major challenge as is access to credit, which every successful businesswoman needs to address. At present, many women entrepreneurs are isolated in micro-businesses. As such they do not belong to the larger networks, such as chambers of commerce. Nor do they have the same access as men to export support services and export training. In their isolation, they sometimes lose confidence in their ability to “go global” and succeed. Among other hurdles faced by women exporters are a lack of access to capital and credit. Women entrepreneurs are frequently perceived as high-risk, despite the fact that women entrepreneurs are generally risk-averse, and use financing to sustain rather than develop their businesses. Successful businesswomen also point to obstacles that they encounter simply because they are women. For example, in some countries there are laws that allow men to stop women’s activities if they are thought to disturb family life, and laws that forbid women from inheriting property. Further barriers to women entrepreneurs’ participation in international trade range from lack of business skills, to lack of knowledge of the rules governing international trade transactions and of technical regulations and standards to be respected in order to gain access to specific export markets. To make their case, women exporters need to engage in networking with government officials, national and international technical experts and others connected with the global market. And policy-makers need to be sensitized to the specific needs of women entrepreneurs (as well as women as workers and consumers) both at the domestic level and when participating in the design of international trade rules. Technical assistance and capacity-building activities play an important role in addressing these problems and barriers. Very important is also the sensitization of policy-makers, and trade officials to the needs and concerns of women and to the potentially different impacts of policies and rules on them. Potential impact of АФУХСљКЯВЪЙйЭјзЪСЯ rules on the pursuit of gender equality The assessment of the impact of trade law and policy is particularly difficult, as they are generally considered as gender-neutral. However, because international trade in goods and services has a differential impact on women and men, this underscores the need for well-targeted domestic and international policies and measures, aimed at addressing any negative impact that trade liberalization may have on gender equality. The better the impact of international trade liberalization on gender is studied and understood, the more the need for targeted policy interventions may be felt and, consequently, the more the potential constraints of current АФУХСљКЯВЪЙйЭјзЪСЯ rules can be appreciated. There are instances where formally “gender-neutral” rules could have, in effect, an impact on governments’ ability to address trade-related gender issues and adjustment costs. Let us take for instance the case of agriculture. The Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) does not specifically aim at ensuring food security and fostering self-sufficiency. АФУХСљКЯВЪЙйЭјзЪСЯ developing-country Members that intend to provide specific support for subsistence farmers need to make use of the “special and differential treatment” provisions contained in the Agreement, and, in particular, the “green box” exemptions from aggregate limits on domestic supports in such areas as extension services, stockholding for food security, domestic food aid and disaster relief. These are important areas where existing social and economic biases against women may call for specific public intervention. In the services sector, the flexibility of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) in allowing domestic regulations in this sector should be noted. Governments, in principle, retain their sovereignty over domestic regulations, and can decide on the pace and extent of liberalization in services. Commitments can be made subject to conditions that address domestic concerns, such as protection of domestic suppliers, technology transfer, local content, or local employment creation. Subsidies and government procurement are not, at present, subject to discipline under the GATS. However, some ambiguity persists: under GATS Article VI, countries have a specific obligation to regulate those services where they have filed a commitment, in a reasonable, objective and impartial manner, and domestic regulations should not constitute unnecessary trade barriers. The challenge is to balance the need for transparency in domestic regulations without sacrificing public policy concerns, in order to ensure the primacy of public objectives of equity and development. The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual property Rights (TRIPS) generally recognizes the importance of promoting and enforcing private rights of intellectual property “in a manner conducive to social and economic welfare”. The regime established by the TRIPS Agreement seeks to strike a balance between, on the one hand, the positive effects that private rights may bring to society through the provision of incentives for research and development and, on the other hand, the negative effects from giving inventors temporary rights to exclude competitors from the use of new technology. In this context, there are many critics that the protection of the public interest has been penalized. For example, developing countries should use the flexibility contained in the TRIPS Agreement as far as possible to avert high costs that can accompany patent protection in the future. Ladies and Gentlemen, The complexity of the interconnections between trade policy and trade rules on one hand, and gender equality, on the other hand, needs to be further understood, in order to make the objective of an open and rule-based multilateral trading system consistent with the objective of gender equality as a fundamentalhuman right. Markets alone cannot lead to social, and gender equity in particular. Government policies are needed to address market failures and support the objective of gender equality . In some instances, policy makers need to be aware of the implications that international trade as well as multilateral trade commitments or negotiations may have in this area. PAGE  PAGE 1 ўэ№Ќ Ў 55!5"5#5%5&5,5-5.5/50545њїњѕюыюыюыюуюы0JmHnHu0J j0JUH*CJ 5CJ \€šІЊЋмп§ўџэюя$%Cњ Д A§јјјјјјјјјјјјјѓѓѓѓѓјјѓѓѓѓѓѓѓ$a$$a$535ўўA’иF™'(˜vwГю>:#l$m$­$W&(З*х._2`2v25#5њђђђђњњњњњ№юњњњњ№њњњњњњњњх„ќџ„&`#$$ & Fa$$a$#5$5%50515253545§ћђ§ћћэ$a$„ќџ„&`#$,1hА‚. 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