Facilitating safe trade: Why does gender matter for SPS compliance?
Programme
13 July 2023, 14.00 (CET)
Meeting type: Hybrid
Where: WTO - Room S2
Watch the recording here.
Background
Understanding and addressing gender needs, challenges and opportunities to meet specific trade-related and phytosanitary requirements is key to ensuring that both women and men can fully participate in and benefit from safe trade facilitation. Evidence suggests that women experience more disadvantages than men in accessing the skills and productive resources needed to comply with SPS measures. For instance, female traders are likely to face longer delays and higher costs at border crossings, as well as greater procedural obstacles and harassment (Stensland et al, 2019). Compliance can be particularly challenging for women, given the relative scarcity of resources, the smaller size of their businesses and their precarious positions in value chains, a situation that has worsened with the Covid-19 pandemic.
This event focuses on the benefits and potential of gender mainstreaming in the context of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and capacity development. It is targeted at WTO Members with an interest in inclusive trade as a means to ensure that trade reaches more people and supports the Sustainable Development Goals.
The event will explore the following questions:
- Why does gender equality matter for SPS compliance and the facilitation of safe trade?
- What are gender-responsive standards and why are they relevant for the development and implementation of SPS measures?
- How is the STDF's global partnership mainstreaming gender to improve the results of SPS capacity development?
This side event is taking place on the margins of the WTO SPS Committee meeting.
| Agenda | Speaker |
|
Welcome |
Marlynne Hopper, Deputy Head and Lead on Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, STDF Secretariat |
|
Opening remarks: Why does gender equality matter for safe trade facilitation? |
Nicole Mensa,Special Assistant and Advisor on Gender, Director General's Office, WTO |
|
What are gender responsive standards and why are they relevant for the development and implementation of SPS measures? |
Lance Thompson, Secretary of the Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and Standardization Policies, UNECE |
| Ignacia Simonetti, STDF Gender Consultant | |
|
Discussant
|
H.E José Valencia, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of Ecuador to the WTO and other International Organizations in Geneva |
|
Q&A
|
Facilitated by Marlynne Hopper, STDF Secretariat |
|
Closing remarks
|
Anoush der Boghossian, Head of the WTO Gender Unit |