A new briefing paper from Women in Development Europe (WIDE) features useful gender and trade indicators for policymakers, NGOs, and trade unions in mainstreaming gender equality goals in trade agreements. Find out how you can access this publication.

“Gender Indicators for Monitoring Trade Agreements” is now available online.

In this briefing paper produced by Women in Development Europe (WIDE), Irene van Staveren developed a tool in mainstreaming gender equality goals in trade agreements. In particular, the paper  illustrates the use of the gender and trade indicators in relation to the bilateral trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur, a regional trade agreement which aims to promote free trade in the four Southern American countries—Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

This paper is primarily intended for policymakers, NGOs, trade unions, and other stakeholders who may use the gender and trade indicators at various stages of a trade agreement. This tool, integrated into a wider set of tools such as a broader trade impact analysis, can be useful for the following:
- trade negotiations and evaluations;
- agenda setting for World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meetings; and
- civil society discussions about the actual and desirable relationships between trade and social issues.

As van Staveren reiterates, “trade impacts on gender relations in a variety of ways—gender impacts may be positive or negative, depending on the pattern of trade, the values of imports and exports, the sectoral distribution of exports and import competition, the skill level of male and female employment, labour market policies and institutions, laws and the enforcement of anti-discrimination laws, the gender division of labour in households, and the cultural pattern of male and female roles in the economy at large, including the unpaid economy.”

Download this paper at <http://www.wide-network.org/index.jsp?id=231>.

WIDE is a European feminist network which monitors and influences international economic and development policy and practice from a feminist perspective. For more information, visit WIDE website at <http://www.wide-network.org/>.