About the Series
Women represent half of the world’s population but are substantially under-represented in the global trading system. Significant barriers to women’s economic empowerment and participation in trade — as entrepreneurs, workers and professionals — still exist in developed and developing economies. The 2017 Buenos Aires Joint Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment emphasized the key relationship between trade policy and gender, and World Trade Organization members are beginning to take steps to improve transparency, share best practices, gather data and include gender considerations in trade negotiations. But there is much more to be done. In this essay series, experts consider the challenges ahead for mainstreaming gender in trade agreements and the benefits of doing so through a whole agreement approach.