Gender equality and

women's empowerment
in trade policy:
the EU, Canada and Chile
perspectives
/// Women in Trade breakfast
Hosted by Alessia Mosca and Inmaculada Rodriguez-Piero
with the support of the Women in Trade Network

Inmaculada Rodriguez-Piero

Maria Asenius, Head of Cabinet of the EU Trade Commissioner Malm-

strm, European Commission

Ral Fernndez Daza, Ambassador, Mission of Chile to the EU

Stphane Lambert, Counsellor and Head of the Section Trade, Investment

and Science & Technology, Mission of Canada to the EU

Ulla Engelmann, Head of the Unit for Clusters, Social Economy and Entre-
preneurship, European Commission (DG GROW)

Alessia Mosca, MEP


Inmaculada
Rodriguez-Piero
Member of the European Parliament
Good morning ladies and gentlemen,
Yes, gentlemen are particularly welcome,
because this breakfast is not intended for
women only: It is about the benefits that
gender equality brings to our communities,
to all of us.
My colleague Alessia Mosca and I, together
with the Women in Trade network, would
like to thank you all for your participation.
I encourage you to take active part in this
dialogue. Because your contributions can
add-up to those of our honourable speakers
and can make a difference!
Until very recently, almost everybody thought
that trade policy was gender neutral!
Far for being the case, we need to raise
awareness on the fact that:
1. trade agreements may have a very
different impact in the lives of women
and men and
2. trade-policy can be an important tool
to foster gender equality and women
empowerment.
Very soon the Parliament will adopt a Report
with concrete proposals.
As Rapporteur for Gender Equality in the
Committee of Trade, and S&D shadow for
this Report, I have introduced some 56
Amendments, co-signed by Alessia. We can
discuss them at any time.
Indeed, this is a very necessary discussion.
More than 20 years have passed since the
adoption of the Beijing Declaration. And
the Sustainable Development Goals set
gender equality as a key objective for 2030.
However, poverty still wears a womans face.
More than 70% of the billion poorest people
in the world are women. Women earn
between 60% and 75% of a mens salary!
And this is so, while empirical evidence
shows gender equality make societies more
prosperous and inclusive...
A recent McKinsey Global Institute report
finds that, by advancing womens equality,
12 trillion $ could be added to global GDP
by 2025.
We need a firm political will to change this.
As Ambassador Fernndez and Ms Asenius
will for sure reflect, I am fighting for the EU-
Chile modernised agreement to include, for
the first time in the EU, a Chapter on Gender
and Trade, which I hope will include LEGAL
commitments in this sense.
For this and all future agreements:
we need to ensure that experts on
gender equality are involved at all levels
of negotiations, from conception to
monitoring and evaluation.
We need both ex-ante and post
analysis for each agreement, based
on disaggregated data, by gender and
sector, with clear and MEASURABLE
indicators.
Lifting tariffs is not enough. Regulatory
and cultural constraints need to be
addressed.
We need to ask ourselves WHY
women do not engage in formal
economy as much as men do.
And then, we need to put in place
all possible active measures to
empower women and to promote
their participation!
A recent survey carried out by
Quartz shows that, surprisingly,
in North America, South Asia
and Western Europe, women are
more often the ones who think a
womans place is in the home. In
Western Europe, 13% of women
think them should stay at home,
while 12% of men think their
couples should stay at home.
 These measures should go from
awareness raising campaigns, to
the development of national and
international legal, social and tax
frameworks allowing for work-life
balance and joint-responsibility...
All unnecessary administrative
and regulatory barriers need to
be lifted and governments should
promote participation enabling
an improved access of women to
finance and to public procurement,
to mention only some examples.
We need BINDING and ENFORCEABLE
commitments on social, labour and
environmental provisions pertaining
women.
Measures by sectors:
textile,
agriculture and fisheries,
SMEs this is crucial.
We need to promote due diligence
regulations such as the EU conflict
minerals regulation, ensuring
traceability and the accountability
of businesses.
Intellectual Property, to ensure the
right to health, but also to promote
industries which can benefit from
Geographical Indications, both
agricultural and non-agricultural.
Lets think, for example, of
handcrafts!
Gender equality needs to be
mainstreamed at WTO level.
All available resources need to be
used, under Aid for Trade and Trade
Facilitation Agreement.
Projects such as the ITC She Trades
initiative are good examples to support.
A lot more needs to be done, because
equality is not only a question of human
rights. It is also one of economic efficiency
and it is essential for stability, peace and
future prosperity.
I call you all to engage: women and men, the
public and the private sectors.
Maria senius
Head of Cabinet of the EU Trade
Commissioner Malmstrm
Thank you very much for organising this
event. I welcome this exchange of views, to
see jointly how we can do more.
There is so much to gain both for women
and for society at large.
Women hold up half the sky, but we are
still not allowed to use our full potential in
the economy. Yet, a strong participation
by women in the economy is essential for
growth.
Studies show that empowering women
could add a quarter to the worlds GDP.
So, the question is: can we afford not to
empower women?
***
Trade is one way to empower women.
So, lets have a look at how trade policy
already today contributes to gender equality,
and then see what more can we do?
To start with, the gender dimension is
already systematically included when
the EU assesses the effectiveness of its
trade agreements at various stages: IAs,
Sustainability IAs and ex post evaluations.
All of the EUs recent trade agreements
contain commitments related to the
implementation of fundamental ILO
conventions targeting non-discrimination in
employment, in a specific TSD chapter.
This means binding provisions on gender
equality (in employment): notably the
ratification and implementation of ILO
Conventions 100 and 111 on equal
remuneration and non-discrimination.
Another aspect of possible interest is that
we, in FTAs, have also started to include
SME-chapters. I expect this to continue
and to be of special relevance to women,
as SMEs are more likely to be owned and
operated by, and employ, women.
So far, female participation in trading
sectors of the economy is relatively low, and
should be encouraged.
Another trade policy instrument is the
GSP+-scheme, where beneficiaries take
commitments related to the implementation
of relevant UN human rights and ILO
conventions. The EU monitors how the
GSP+ beneficiaries respect and effectively
implement those commitments.
To note especially among the 27 treaties to
be ratified and implemented for GSP+ there
is the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women.
In addition, the Commission works often,
in collaboration with the OECD and the
International Trade Centre in Geneva, on
Responsible Business Conduct and Ethical
trade that include specific gender-related
considerations.
Now, besides continuing our current
engagement on gender issues,
Commissioner Malmstrm has looked into
how our engagement could be reinforced,
rooted in our values agenda.
In this spirit, she organized together with
ITC last June - the Women and Trade
event, to gather input/ideas from the main
actors to develop better trade policy. I
believe many of you were there.
Personally, I found it enormously inspiring to
hear personal testimonies from impressive
women, and a few knowledgeable men. And
real life stories from female entrepreneurs
who tried to trade and ran into all kinds of
obstacles, f ex because women in some
countries are not allowed to own property
and therefore cannot ask for a bank loan,
or were not taken seriously by finance
institutions just because they are women.
We need to document these obstacles
better; legal and financial as well as cultural
obstacles. We need more data. Without
empirical evidence and it is difficult to
formulate solutions.
For example, current data do not show
who is trading. Firm level data can help, as
they can tell us if a company is owned or
managed by a woman.
The Commission has recently done a study
on women participation in exports in the
EU. We will follow-up with a study collecting
firm level data on women entrepreneurship
and female employment in exporting and
importing firms in selected EUMS (as
suggested by the EP).
Also, the Commission is cooperating with
other international organisations (WTO,
UNCTAD, ITC, OECD, ICTSD) on gathering
evidence and data on impact of trade policy
instruments on women.
We also hope to work soon with Chile on
gender-specific provisions in the context
of the forthcoming modernisation of our
Association Agreement. I will listen carefully
the Chilean Ambassador Raul Fernandez
Daza to learn from his experience, as Chile
has already a gender chapter with Uruguay
and Canada.
In the Commissions recent review of the
strategy on Aid for Trade we emphasise the
importance of support to gender equality,
as this is essential in achieving sustainable
development, including sustainable
economic growth.
Finally, we are promoting gender equality
internationally, including in the context
of the upcoming WTO Ministerial in
December, where well be happy to endorse
a Declaration on Trade and Womens
Economic Empowerment provided we get
a green light from Council, but I am happy to
note it is on track.

Ral Fernndez
Ambassador - Mission of Chile to
the EU
As you certainly know, Latin American
women face a far worse situation than men in
terms of their participation in the workforce,
quality of employment and wage conditions.
To address this situation, the Government of
President Bachelet, since its inauguration,
4 years ago, has put the empowerment of
women and gender equality at the center of
its policies, including our trade policy.
Convinced that women have a key role to
play in fostering more inclusive growth and
sustainable development, we have achieved
significant progress in increasing womens
participation in our society and economy,
encouraging their political involvement,
facilitating their entry to the labour market
and promoting their entrepreneurship.
As you are aware, for several decades,
Chile has been a prominent advocate of
free trade. My country has today one of the
largest networks in the world of free trade
agreements (FTAs), for we have liberalised
our commerce with more than 50 countries
that amount to 85% of global GDP.
To reach increasing levels of women
inclusiveness in our societies, trade
policy has become a tool more significant
than ever. We strongly believe that by
eliminating barriers to women participation
in international markets, we will make our
economies grow more and more fairly, all
over the world.
In 2016, we successfully agreed with
Uruguay the first chapter on Trade and
Gender ever to be included in an FTA. Those
new provisions foster policies and practices
on gender equality, boosting both countries
potential for women empowerment, as well
as acknowledging the importance of gender
perspective for securing more inclusive
growth and truly sustainable and social
development.
Based on our recent experience with
Uruguay, Chile and Canada updated, last
June, their own FTA, 20 years after its
signature. This opportunity was seized to
include a chapter on Gender and Trade,
along with other additions and updates on
public procurements, financial services,
technical barriers to trade and sanitary
and phytosanitary measures. This was the
first time that a G20 country introduced
provisions on gender in an FTA. We were
particularly honoured to be the initiators of
such a breakthrough.
These new additions raised again the
importance of gender perspective in the
field of trade policy, making sure that the
benefits of economic growth be shared more
fairly. Very similar to the one introduced
in the Chile-Uruguay FTA, the new chapter
in our updated treaty with Canada created
a Committee on Cooperation on Gender
and Trade, that will assess and promote
the continuous progress for women
empowerment.
In this new section, both Parties reaffirmed
their commitment to:
reaching SDG 5 of the 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development (achieve
gender equality and empower all women
and girls);
fully integrate the gender perspective
into the promotion of an inclusive
economic growth;
acknowledge the importance of
advancing in terms of gender equity,
women and men equality, and the
elimination of all forms of discrimination
against women;
the Chile-Canada Agreement on Labour
Cooperation and the commitments
arising from the Guidelines for
Multinational Enterprises of the
Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD);
recognise the importance of international
 trade for economic development and the GDP grows an additional rate of 0,65%.
essential part that women contribute
for achieving the latter, especially But beyond economic performance and
with regard to their participation in the free trade, we are convinced that having a
workforce. larger number of empowered women, fully
taking part in the essential activities of
Let me add that Chile has also been a leader our societies, is the road we are bound to
in proposing gender issues to be included in travel, if we want to build more stable, more
the Pacific Alliance cooperation frameworks, inclusive and fairer societies.
where we have created a Gender Technical
Group that Chile still coordinates , and
that has been very helpful in promoting
women participation in our four member
countries. In such a way, we have succeeded
in placing a crosscutting gender perspective
at the core of our regional trade integration.

As an example of the latter, we recently

created a web platform called Business
Women Community of the Pacific Alliance.
This has been designed as a virtual space
which allows women entrepreneurs to get
directly in touch with each other and search
for business opportunities, exchange
information and get first-hand access to
digital solutions.

Still lies ahead the challenge for Chile

to continue adding Gender chapters to
the trade instruments we are currently
negotiating. This is all truer, regarding the
modernisation process of the EU-Chile
Association Agreement, which was officially
launched exactly one week ago. Since Chile
and the EU are like-minded partners on most
essential issues, but particularly on the one
we are discussing today, we trust that a
Gender and Trade chapter will be included
in our future modernised agreement,
to become one of the most significant
landmarks of this updating process.

Beyond political correctness, figures show

that fostering economic growth and reaching
the Sustainable Development Objectives
will depend on making our societies more
inclusive to women. Last year, the Chilean
Ministry of Economy published a study
showing that for each hundred additional
women entering the workforce, my countrys
 by 2018.
Stphane Lambert A recent study predicted that a 10%
Counsellor and Head of the Section increase in the number of female
Trade, Investment and Science majority-owned firms over the next
& Technology, at the Mission of 10 years would lead to a $150 billion
injection into the Canadian economy.
CanadaU
And according to a McKinsey report
last year, advancing gender equality
Thanks to the hosts for including Canada
could add $12 trillion to global GDP
for this event.
by 2025.The question is how we get
We note the important work the European
there, empower women and realize this
Parliament is doing on the topic of women
economic potential. And there are a
and trade, in particular in the joint sessions
whole suite of domestic initiatives and
of INTA and FEMM, and hope to contribute to
programs that are being developed or
the ongoing discussion by sharing Canadas
considered to try to address this. But
experience in promoting women and trade.
I want to talk about the importance of
trade.
Empowering women - right thing to do and
Canada is a small, open economy
good policy
in which trade plays a pivotal role in
helping SMEs achieve scale, become
Gender equality, the empowerment of
more innovative and sustainable, and
all women and girls, and the realization
in turns have a bigger impact on the
of their human rights are key Canadian
economy and job creation. Few women
priorities, both at home and abroad. This
entrepreneurs are involved in trade and
approach is reflected in our international
this is a concern.
development, diplomatic, and trade
For instance, in Canada only about
policy, advocacy, and programming
11-12% of exporting SMEs is led
initiatives. We believe that advancing
by a female entrepreneur. Through
gender equality and the empowerment
our consults with women, many
of all women and girls is the most
have told us that they have not and
effective way to eliminate poverty, create
do not see the economic benefits
lasting peace, and achieve sustainable
from trade.
development.
Many studies show that women
face constraints that prevent
Equality and entrepreneurship not
them from benefiting from
only empower women, they are also
trade fully. Women-owned
key to driving economic growth and
firms disproportionately face
job creation in Canada and globally. In
difficulties with access to capital
Canada, women entrepreneurs have a
and trade finance; they can also
significant footprint on the economy and
face exclusion from distribution
job creation. They currently represent
networks. Research being
about 16% of all SMEs and are the
conducted internationally is
fastest-growing segment in Canadas
showing that discriminatory laws
small-business sector. Women-owned
and systemic business cultures
businesses contribute about $200 billion
exist which prevent women from
to the Canadian economy and employ
fully participating in the benefits
more than 1.5 million people in Canada,
of general trade liberalization.
and its estimated that they will create
some 50% of new small business jobs
 While there are certainly many data gaps
in the current analysis, research now
being undertaken by the World Bank,
UNCTAD and others is pointing to the
conclusion that these issues require
attention. Now is the chance to change
that.
So, Canadas approach is to include
gender elements in FTAs, include
gender based analysis in policies and
programming, roll-out a Progressive
Trade Agenda that is focused on
addressing womens concerns and the
needs of women entrepreneurs.
Trade Agreements and Gender
In past trade negotiations, Canada
has pursued gender equality and the
avoidance of discrimination based on
gender notably via language regarding
the elimination of employment
discrimination in our Labour chapters.
More recently, we have sought to include
more gender considerations in our
FTAs. One of the most recent examples
is the inclusion of a Trade and Gender
chapter in the modernized Canada-Chile
Free Trade Agreement. The chapter
acknowledges the importance of
incorporating a gender perspective into
economic and trade issues to ensure
that economic growth can benefit
everyone. It also provides a framework
for Canada and Chile to undertake
cooperation activities on issues related
to gender and trade; and, it establishes
a bilateral committee under the Canada-
Chile FTA that would oversee these
cooperation activities. We intend to
continue an emphasis on incorporating
gender provisions in future FTAs.
Gender-Based Analysis+
Canada knows that trade policies are not
gender neutral and is acknowledging the
importance of incorporating a gender
perspective into economic and trade
issues to encourage inclusive economic
growth. Our Governments objective is to
ensure that all trade policies, programs
and initiatives are informed by Gender
Based Analysis (GBA). Understanding the
gender dimension of trade agreements
better will therefore contribute to better
policy making and to ensuring that
both sexes can take advantage of the
benefits of trade liberalisation. The lack
of gender-disaggregated data, and the
lack of methodology to conduct such
assessments has posed a challenge. So,
officials are looking to develop the tools
required to conduct GBA, and are also
looking to work with other countries who
are similarly examining ways to conduct
such analysis. In fact, exchanging
information on collecting gender
disaggregated data and conducting GBA
are two of the cooperation activities that
were specifically sought by Canada, and
now identified in the new Canada-Chile
Trade and Gender chapter.
Another way of making sure that we
factor a gender perspective in decision-
making is through transparency and
an ongoing dialogue with women and
women-owned enterprises so that we
can better assist them to engage in trade
and globalization. Minister Champagne
holds roundtables with women
entrepreneurs everywhere he goes,
domestically but also internationally. A
key purpose is to listen to the experience
and concerns of women in business and
learn through having this dialogue.
Progressive Trade Agenda
These are key elements of the
Progressive Trade Agenda we are
developing and advancing. More
fundamentally, a Progressive Trade
Agenda means helping more women
 entrepreneurs reach their full potential women-owned businessesa
and working hard to improve the access key resource containing
women have to international trade. searchable information of
This is done through the execution of thousands of WE, accessed
dedicated program designed to help over 5 million times annually
connect women to markets. by global procurement
professionals.

Business Women in International Trade We are committed to continue providing

(BWIT) Program
Canada is delivering targeted support to
women in business through international
partnerships. For example, under our
MOU with Mexico (2016) we have sent
a Canadian delegation to the Womens
Forum in Mexico City earlier this month.
We are also working with private-sector
initiatives. And we work with national
and international business women
organizations that offer resources, tools
and networking opportunities to women
entrepreneurs, notably supplier diversity
certification bodies.
support to business women in trade. And
we want to work with our international
partners to ensure an inclusive approach to
international trade that will benefit women
and girls around the world. We thank
you and the organizers for your interest
in hearing about Canadas approach to
empowering women through improved
access to international trade.

We are proud to say that Canadas

Business Women in International Trade
(BWIT) program is celebrating its 20th
anniversary this year. It offers products
and services to help export-ready and
export-active Canadian woman-owned
businesses succeed in international
markets.

The BWIT program:

organizes women-focused trade
missions;
connects Canadian business
women with opportunities from
major international corporations
interested in sourcing products
and services from certified
women-owned businesses
links up the community though
various platforms including:
-- dedicated webpages
-- an annual and monthly
newsletter
-- a LinkedIn group, and a
specialized directory for
Ulla Engelmann
Head of the Unit for Clusters, Social
Economy and Entrepreneurship, at
the European Commission
Head of the Unit for Clusters, Social
Economy and Entrepreneurship, at the
European Commission.
We welcome and congratulate the efforts
made by DG Trade, as well Chilean and
Canadian authorities to encourage
the commitment to gender equality in
International trade agreements. I would
also stress the importance to mobilize
business actors, in particular SMES, to
exploit the potential of these provisions in
trade agreements.
DG GROW designed and implemented a
number of initiatives to better reach out
SMEs in promoting this gender equality
agenda including the Enterprise Europe
Network, the European gateway to women
entrepreneurs WeGate, as well as
European cluster networks through the
European Cluster Collaboration Platform.
Clusters plays a pivotal role in Europe
in fostering growth and economic
developments, in particular for SMEs, though
innovation and industrial cooperation, and
gender diversity is certainly a strong driver
for promoting creativity and innovation.
A LinkedIn Group called ClusterWene
(Cluster Women European Network) has
been created on a voluntary basis to raise
womens profile in clusters in Europe and
new actions could be envisaged to further
valorize such initiatives across Europe and
internationally.
Alessia Mosca
Member of the European Parliament
It is not so long ago that international
institutions reflect about the impact of
trade on gender equality and on womens
empowerment: the first reference to this
topic at a broader level was probably in
2015, during the Ministerial Conference of
the World Trade Organization, in Nairobi,
when Arancha Gonzlez presented the One
billion women entrepreneurs initiative and
launched the SheTrades application. The
European Commission is analysing the
difference between a gender-neutral trade
policy - as it has always been considered -
and a gender-blind one since a few years,
I would say when Cecilia Malmstrom
was nominated as Commissioner for
International Trade.
Nevertheless, I think that in this little time
we accomplished great results and we
are proceeding at an incredible fast pace.
What Chile and Canada already realized
is a source of great inspiration: it shows
everyone that important things can be done
and that theres no more room for excuses.
We had an important event in Milan, a few
days ago, where Arancha Gonzlez was the
main speaker. She said something that I
totally agree with: we find the way to insert
the environment in trade policy, we even find
the way to insert animal welfare, but when
it comes to women everyone says its too
complicated. Its not true we just have to
convey the political will needed to do so.
We are here, today, discussing the
implementation of actions and policies
that we suggested and demanded exactly
a year ago, at the same event: its not
something usual in politics and I do believe
its something we should be really proud
of. With Inmaculada, we proposed a pilot
project about the collection of gender
disaggregated data about EU firms that
trade internationally: we know that, without
data, its impossible to design effective
policies, so I think this is a great step.

I am optimistic: things have started to

change, the gendered dimension of policies
is gaining a lot of space and attention and
I am confident that, from here, we can only
go ahead. We have to.

So, I hope that this breakfast will become an

annual appointment and that next year we
will present new projects and successes.
And I hope to see you all, as passionate and
determined as today.
 The speeches were recorded during the
Gender equality and womens empowerment in trade policy:
the EU, Canada and Chile perspectives
held on November 23rd, 2017, in Brussels

The present document was completed in December 2017