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Gender, Trade Policy and Export Promotion

4 August 2005

Ann Keeling, Director of the Social Transformation Programmes Division
"Women play a role not only as consumers but also as producers of goods and services." - Ann Keeling
A Commonwealth workshop on 'Capacity-Building for Gender, Trade Policy and Export Promotion in the East African Region' was held in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, from 25 to 29 July 2005.

The workshop was aimed at capacity-building to integrate gender analysis in trade policy formulation and implementation, and to analyse the impacts of trade policy on women's employment and entrepreneurship. It also sought to enhance the capacity of public and private institutions to enable women to respond to changes in trade policy. The workshop was designed to focus on region-specific issues, trends and impacts.

Ann Keeling, Director of the Social Transformation Programmes Division (STPD) of the Commonwealth Secretariat, said: "Women play a role not only as consumers but also as producers of goods and services. They should, therefore, be enabled to take advantage of globalisation and trade liberalisation. When women have access to global markets, they will use the opportunity to work their way out of the poverty that women suffer from in greater numbers than men. To make this happen, the Secretariat is working to integrate gender issues into trade policy and practice in relevant regional and national institutions in the Commonwealth. The aim is to enable stakeholders to view trade policy through a gender lens."

Sarojini Ganju Thakur, Gender Adviser in the STPD, stated: "There are often assumptions regarding the 'gender neutral' character of the process of globalisation and trade liberalisation. However, the different roles and responsibilities of men and women, as well as their differential access to resources -- material, financial, technological and social aspects -- often result in gender-differentiated impacts of trade policy."

Ms Thakur stressed the importance of helping women to thrive economically by enabling them to participate in trade on a level playing field. "Import and export policies and market access create opportunities and challenges for women through the nature and location of jobs and skills. Tariff structures and export promotion can impact on domestic agriculture, food security and the nature of government services. There are different implications of trade on men and women." 

Some 40 representatives from trade ministries, ministries of women's affairs, export promotion councils and civil society organisations in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda  attended the workshop, together with delegates from organisations such as the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the UN International Trade Centre, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the UK Department for International Development and women's networks.

 

CNIS - Commonwealth News and Information Service Issue 246, 3 August 2005

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