The International Trade Procedures Domain of the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) is pleased to invite you to a half-day event about Women in Trade Facilitation in the context of the 28th UN/CEFACT Forum that will be held from 26 to 30 September in Bangkok, Thailand. This Mini Conference about women in trade facilitation will be held in the afternoon (13:30 – 17:00) on Monday, 26 September 2016 to bring knowledge and open the dialogue about the steps that are needed in order to reduce and eliminate gender inequalities in trade facilitation.
Background
Gender equity is considered as one of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations. Gender disparities reduce the gains that can be achieved in terms of international trade opportunities and countries’ competitiveness and economic growth. In this regard, this project aims to shed some light on the fact that gender equality matters as an instrument for economic development through international trade activities.
Gender discrimination in trade facilitation has multiple dimensions. The synergies of those inequalities affect the integration of women in international trade. In terms of legal framework, discrimination appears in access to assets (inheritance laws, access to credit and loans, etc.). The inequities affect women as workers because there are limitations to accessing the top levels of work, salary inequalities, higher security protection requirements in cross-border activities, and women may have difficulties to access professional training. Inequalities affect the core of international business such as unequal tariffs in items classified by gender.
All these facts reduce the number of women that participate in activities related to trade facilitation such as trading, cross border management, transportation, logistics chain management, infrastructures, information and communication technology (ICT), advisory services, etc.
Women in Trade Facilitation Project
The scope of this project is limited to women in trade facilitation. This project also underscores case examples and the importance of ex-ante and ex-post analysis about gender equality in trade reforms, which involve quantitative and qualitative analysis about female participation in sectors related to international trade facilitation globally.
New metrics must be created to measure the dimension of women in trade facilitation to address the disadvantages that women suffer for participating in the informal sector when trading abroad. This project has the aim to produce a White Paper to address the lack of concepts and statistical tools that help to get information about trade facilitation for women.
About this Mini Conference
The objective of the Mini Conference is to inform about gender inequalities in trade that will allow us to facilitate trade for women. Furthermore, a community for the project on women in trade facilitation will be established for exchanging best practices and experiences on implementing equal conditions for men and women in trade facilitation.
Downloads
- Draft agenda
- Presentation: Main Inequalities for Women, Paloma Bernal Turnes
Participation and registration
To attend the Mini Conference, registration is compulsory. You are kindly invited to register through the 28th UN/CEFACT Forum online registration by 15 September 2016 at the latest.