Event Title

Event Title E-Commerce Event Title

women and trade

Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

The Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender brings together WTO members and observers seeking to intensify efforts to increase women's participation in global trade. It was established in September 2020 as a follow-up to the Joint Declaration on Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment launched at the 2017 Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires.

The Group aims to share best practice on removing barriers to women's participation in world trade, to exchange views on how to apply a “gender lens” to the work of the WTO, to review gender-related reports produced by the WTO Secretariat, and to discuss how women may benefit from the Aid for Trade initiative.

Participation in this Informal Working Group is open to all WTO members. The initiative is chaired by Cabo Verde, El Salvador and the United Kingdom.

News

Current work

As of May 2023, there were 128 WTO members and seven observers participating in the Informal Working Group.

The Working Group’s Work Plan is based on four pillars:

  • sharing best practices and exchanging views on removing trade-related barriers to women's participation in trade
  • considering the scope for a “gender lens” to be applied to the work of the WTO
  • reviewing analytical work undertaken by the WTO Secretariat
  • contributing to the Aid for Trade work programme as a means of increasing women's participation in trade.

In February 2021, the Working Group adopted a Work Plan to help advance its activities and to focus its work towards the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), with a focus on developing a better understanding of trade and gender issues and how gender is integrated into members’ trade policies. A progress report on this work is available here: INF/TGE/R/1.

At MC12 in June 2022, ministers recognized multilaterally the links between women's economic empowerment and economic growth, noting the work of the WTO on this issue. In addition, the three co-chairs of the Informal Working Group issued a statement highlighting the achievements of WTO members’ joint work and reaffirming their commitment to advancing gender equality in trade.

After MC12, members' work accelerated, with dedicated discussions, a workshop on gender equality and the private sector organized by the three co-chairs and a workshop on data collection broken down by gender organized by Canada. In addition, the European Union and International Trade Centre organized four workshops on “Developing a gender lens framework for the WTO,” focusing on government procurement, e-commerce, trade facilitation and investment facilitation. The workshops were organized in collaboration with Ecuador, Chile and the United States.

Background

In the margins of the WTO's 11th Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires in 2017, 118 WTO members and observers endorsed the Buenos Aires Declaration on Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment. This initiative seeks to foster women’s economic empowerment through their participation in international trade, focussing on the sharing of experiences and best practices and workshop discussions. A total of 120 WTO members and seven observer governments support the Buenos Aires Declaration.

On 23 September 2020, the Buenos Aires participants created the Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender (WT/L/1095/Rev.1) in the WTO.

Meetings

Forthcoming meetings

Draft schedule of meetings 2024 (INF/TGE/W/8)

Previous meetings

Draft schedule of meetings 2023 (INF/TGE/W/5/Rev.2)

Schedule of meetings 2022 (INF/TGE/W/4/Rev.3 )

Schedule of meetings 2021 (INF/TGE/W/2/Rev.3)

Date

Topic

Organizer

Documents

23 January 2024

Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

Cabo Verde, El Salvador and United Kingdom

16 November 2023

Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

Cabo Verde, El Salvador and United Kingdom

22 September 2023

Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

Cabo Verde, El Salvador and United Kingdom

20 June 2023

Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

Iceland and El Salvador

21 April 2023

Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

Iceland, Botswana and El Salvador

14 February 2023

Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

Iceland, Botswana and El Salvador

12 December 2022

Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

Iceland, Botswana and El Salvador

22 September 2022

Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

Iceland, Botswana and El Salvador

21 June 2022

Botswana, El Salvador and Iceland

Statement on inclusive trade and gender equality from the co-chairs of the Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

12 June 2022

Iceland, Botswana and El Salvador

Statement on inclusive trade and gender equality from the co-chairs of the Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

2 June 2022

Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

Iceland, Botswana and El Salvador

22 February 2022

Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

Iceland, Botswana and El Salvador

9 November 2021

Botswana, El Salvador and Iceland

Progress Report on WTO Members and observers technical work on women's economic empowerment

28 October 2021

Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

Iceland, Botswana and El Salvador

23 September 2021

Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

Iceland, Botswana and El Salvador

16 July 2021

Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

Iceland, Botswana and El Salvador

23 June 2021

Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

Iceland, Botswana and El Salvador

28 Apr 2021

Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

Iceland, Botswana and El Salvador

26 Feb 2021

Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

Iceland and Botswana

10 Dec 2020

Launch of the report: Delivering on the Buenos Aires Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment.

Other items will be discussed during this meeting.

Iceland and Botswana

Workshops

21 march 2023

Organizing Member

Australia

Title

Technical Workshop on Gender Perspectives in Development Programming in the Pacific

Documents and Resources

Presentation by WTO

Presentation by Australia

Presentation by TradeWorthy

Presentation by Tonga

2 November 2022

Organizing Member

Canada

Title

Workshop on Gender-Disaggregated Data Collection

Documents and Resources

Presentation by OECD

Presentation by ITC

Presentation by UNCTAD


5 October 2022

Title

Workshop on Gender Equality and Private Sector: The Business Case of Trade and Gender

Documents and Resources

Latest documents