This report presents recommendations to boost the participation of women in trade through free trade agreements. Policymakers and trade negotiators will find a new toolkit to gauge gender responsiveness in their agreements. These lessons are based on a research assessment of 73 selected free trade agreements in force among 25 Commonwealth countries, and top-line recommendations and model clauses for countries to adapt. The recommendations include embedding gender provisions in the preamble, leveraging corporate social responsibility, using reservations, waivers and general exceptions, and strengthening monitoring and dispute settlement mechanisms.

With a range of interdisciplinary contributions and national and regional case studies, this collection offers a systematic, up-to-date evaluation of the debate relating to international trade law, policy, and gender equality. It analyses recent trade negotiations and agreements through a gender lens. Available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Accompanying CD-ROM contains ... "case studies, activities, training suggestions and recommended readings."--Page 4 of cover.

Overview of the Multilateral Trading System (MTS) and the globalisation process (with a focus on the WTO); gender and governance in the Multilateral Trading System (MTS); gender and trade issues with a focus on the Agreement on Agriculture (AOA); General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS); Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMS) and Government procurement; Proposed action plan, including recommendations for actions on the key issues and identification of strategies that could be played by different stakeholders, governments, intergovernmental organisation and civil society.

Trade can dramatically improve women’s lives, creating new jobs, enhancing consumer choices, and increasing women’s bargaining power in society. It can also lead to job losses and a concentration of work in low-skilled employment. Given the complexity and specificity of the relationship between trade and gender, it is essential to assess the potential impact of trade policy on both women and men and to develop appropriate, evidence-based policies to ensure that trade helps to enhance opportunities for all. Research on gender equality and trade has been constrained by limited data and a lack of understanding of the connections among the economic roles that women play as workers, consumers, and decision makers. Building on new analyses and new sex-disaggregated data, Women and Trade: The Role of Trade in Promoting Gender Equality aims to advance the understanding of the relationship between trade and gender equality and to identify a series of opportunities through which trade can improve the lives of women.

Equal rights between men and women are enshrined as a fundamental human right in the UN Charter, and reflected in various internationally agreed instruments, such as the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Although there has been notable progress in some areas, in most nations women are still at a disadvantage in terms of their role and position in the economic and political arenas. This publication examines the gender dimension of trade and seeks to identify policy challenges and responses to promote gender equality in light of increasing globalisation. Issues discussed include: economics of gender equality, international trade and development; multilateral negotiations on agriculture in developing countries; gender-related issues in the textiles and clothing sectors; international trade in services; gender and the TRIPS Agreement; the impact of WTO rules on gender equality; human rights aspects; fair trade initiatives; the role of IT in promoting gender equality, the Gender Trade Impact Assessment and trade reform.

The social dimension of trade policy and trade liberalization is now a common topic in many official trade fora. This discussion is proceeding with little or no attention to the different needs, constraints and interests of women. This handbook provides an integrated framework for a sustainable, propoor and gendersensitive approach to trade policymaking. It is an information and training tool for policymakers and intergovernmental and civil society organisations interested in building and enhancing their knowledge of the important linkages between trade and investment policy and gender equality objectives and priorities. It also presents recommendations on the key issues as well as the identification of strategies that could be utilized by different stakeholders. Each section includes case studies from Commonwealth countries.