Current Discussions about Women and Trade in WTO

In the history of the WTO, being influenced by the worldwide ‘Me Too’ movement, 118 members and observers endorsed a Declaration on women for the first time in December 2017. According to the Declaration, 118 members and observers agreed that they would report on progress towards implementation of the declaration. This Declaration is very meaningful because many countries will discuss gender equality regularly in the international and official place under WTO. As a post-Declaration action, the government procurement sector held a workshop on enhancing the participation of women entrepreneurs and traders in government procurement in June 2018. At the workshop, the WTO director general said that government procurement is one of the most effective tools that govern- ments have to support women led business. However, the government procurement sector has signigicant limitation on impacting all WTO members, because Agreement on Government Procurement is a Plurilateral Trade Agreement. The number of members joining the Agreement is limited now and moreover they are the countries who have already equal laws and systems between different genders. Since before the WTO endorsed the Buenos Aires Declaration, WTO members have been using their Trade Policy Reviews to highlight policy developments that contribute to gender equality. The EU and Iceland are representative members. Compared to the government procurement sector, the Trade Policy Reviews could be more useful if the Trade Policy Review is changed from a formal review to a substantive discussion. Through the Trade Policy Review, WTO members should be able to discuss and recommend each other’s trade policies. In the domestic regulation sector in service negotiation, a lively discussion about gender equality has taken place. The group led by Canada submitted a proposal to include gender equality provision to the service agreement. African countries and some Asian countries have been strongly opposed. It seems to be that they should change their unequal laws and systems totally after accepting this proposal. Now we have to try to persuade them to join the discussion. A slow and steady race to change is necessary.