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| Trade and Gender: Opportunities and Challenges for Developing Countries |
作者： 发布时间：2007-11-26 15:20:47 来源： 点击数：19
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Few causes have been as persistently advocated in the history of the United Nations as that of gender equality. Equal rights
between men and women are enshrined as a fundamental human right in the UN Charter, and many international conferences have
been held to further that goal. The outcomes of these conferences have been reflected in various internationally agreed
instruments, the most important of which are the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women and the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
Notable progress has been achieved in some areas. Women’s participation in the labour force has increased in most regions of
the world; women’s education, at the primary, secondary and university levels, has also improved significantly; and there
are signs of a narrowing of the wage gap between men and women in many countries (most of them industrialized). However, in
most nations women are still at a disadvantage in terms of their role and position in the economic and political arenas.
Against this background, the forces of globalization, of which international trade is one of the most important channels, may
bring additional challenges and opportunities. Questions arise as to how the costs and benefits of trade can be evenly
distributed by gender, and whether trade rules and policies deepen, or, on the contrary, reduce existing gender inequalities.
There is therefore a need to assess the impact of trade on gender equality in order to assist countries in designing
appropriate strategies and policies to support the objective of gender equality in the context of an open multilateral
trading system.
It was with the dual objectives of deepening the understanding of the gender dimension of trade and identifying policy
challenges and responses to meet the goal of gender equality that, in February 2003, the UN Inter-Agency Network on Women and
Gender Equality created a task force on gender and trade, of which UNCTAD was designated task manager. The Task Force
comprises UN agencies and regional commissions, the World Bank, WTO, OECD and the Commonwealth secretariat.
Various members of the Task Force have been studying the interconnections between trade and gender from different
perspectives. Some of the findings of the analyses undertaken by UNCTAD, FAO, UNIDO, OHCHR, ITC and UNIFEM are published in
this book. As the subject is novel and complex, a variety of views are expressed, which are not necessarily those of the Task
Force or of the United Nations. Rather, the objective is to identify and review some complex technical issues with a view to
sensitizing policy-makers on the importance of these issues, fostering discussion among experts and providing a good basis
for consensus-building. The eleventh session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XI) in June
2004 is an important forum for debating the policy implications of the trade and gender nexus. It is hoped that this
publication will help policy-makers reinforce the role of trade as an instrument for truly inclusive development, and in the
process ensure the equal rights of men and women to earn a decent living.
Geneva and New York, 14 April 2004
Rubens Ricupero
Secretary-General of UNCTAD Angela E.V. King
Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General
on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women
Table of contents
Chapter 1. The economics of gender equality, trade and development
Chapter 2. The "engendering" of trade for development: An overview of the main issues
Chapter 3. Agriculture, trade and gender
Chapter 4. Multilateral negotiations on agriculture and possible effects on women in developing countries
Chapter 5 Gender-related issues in the textiles and clothing sector
Chapter 6. A gender-based analysis of international trade in services: The experience of developing countries
Chapter 7. Trade in services, gender and development: A tale of two modes
Chapter 8 Gender and the TRIPS Agreement: Exploring some interlinkages
Chapter 9. The impact of WTO rules on the pursuit of gender equality
Chapter 10. Human rights, gender and trade: A legal framework
Chapter 11. Trade and Gender: Why competition policies matter
Chapter 12. Trading off inequalities: Gender Trade Impact Assessments as a tool for trade reform
Chapter 13. Supply chain codes of conduct and fair trade initiatives: Winning new markets while promoting gender equality
Chapter 14. The role of information technology in the promotion of gender equality
Chapter 15. Gender-specific capacity building for trade and enterprise development: Experiences in the UN system
原 作 者:
文章来源: http://www.unctad.org/ |
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