International Women's Day is a milestone event in the WTO as it provides an opportunity for reflection and action, DG Okonjo-Iweala said at the launch event. It is also a time to celebrate all women that work in the organization, the Director-General said.

"Achieving gender balance and inclusiveness both internally and externally are two sides of the same coin. Both are part of the WTO's efforts to become gender-responsive," the Director-General said. "We are looking forward to the results that will come out of this, which we will then factor into a gender policy once we know the parameters of what we have to deal with."

EDGE, a leading gender equality agency, has been  asked, following a tender exercise, to perform a quantitative and qualitative analysis and make recommendations for specific gender-responsive programmes and actions for the Secretariat. In line with this year's International Women's Day campaign theme, "Break the Bias," the WTO Secretariat seeks to understand where the current gender inequalities are and what the organizational challenges could be.

 The assessment will look into the share of men and women across different levels of the Secretariat, equity and compensation, the effectiveness and implementation of existing policies and practices, and the inclusiveness of the work culture. The process will also be consultative, with the engagement of the Secretariat's views and experiences.