Interview: Empowering women through trade helps solve inequality

Governments need to implement structural reforms within their own society, rather than erecting protectionist trade walls to solve the world's inequality problems, a senior trade official told Xinhua.

Protectionist rhetoric against free trade agreements, claiming it would strengthen local economies and solve inequity is not a "fair way of looking at it" as the largest disruptor to today's society has been technology, Arancha Gonzales, executive director of the International Trade Center (ITC), a joint agency of the United Nations (UN) and World Trade Organization (WTO), told Xinhua.

"Part of the unemployment problems we have is the adjustment to technology and innovation," Gonzales said, citing the example of the loss of labor at Sydney's airport through its increasing use of automated systems.

"It's got nothing to do with trade, it's to do with technology."

Trade treaties don't create results, they create the opportunities for business to take advantage, thereby increasing trade and lifting people out of poverty.

"When you lower the barriers so that economic operators can take advantage of these opportunities.... companies, when they export, they become more competitive, they become more productive and they generate better and better paid jobs," Gonzalez said.

However and more importantly, governments need to be implementing structural reforms within their own societies, such as removing barriers to one of the most underutilized sectors of the workforce.

"Globally, only one in five exporting companies are women owned," Gonzalez said.

"Women are the most underutilized resource in our economies."

Ninety-percent of nation states have at least one legal restriction discriminating against the economic activity of women, while cultural restrictions, business capacity and access to finance also hinder.

While most issues can be resolved via political will and education, changing social cultural norms and habits is "the most difficult nut to crack".

"Role models and showing examples of people who have made it serve as a huge inspiration to those who could follow, but they're not... because they don't find a space in which to operate," Gonzalez said.

"The best way to change (social norms and habits) is the effect (of) demonstrating change in these communities."

The ITC has been working with women in Papua New Guinea (PNG)'s highlands to transition from the grey to formal economy to service the tourism industry with their traditional weaving via the establishment of an association that can produce high quantities of quality products.

"A lot of the women we're working with are in very remote areas, in areas where the level of violence of women (is very high)," Gonzalez said.

"(But) the moment the women earn an income, the level of respect they get from the man increases because they are no longer seen as a burden, they are seen as an economic agent (and) someone that can also contribute to the household."

"It's changing social cultural habits and norm by empowering women. "

"It's a long term change, but we're seeing some positive results of this work already."

Though growth in the Pacific has slowed in proportion with the global economy, agriculture and value added goods such as the PNG women's weaving servicing the biggest sector of international trade - tourism, is a bright spot to help pull the region out of poverty and achieve its sustainability goals.

"The barriers to participate in international trade are lower because of technology, and the fragmentation of production helps now even in small products, for small economies", Gonzalez said.

"There is no question trade has been a great tool to lift people out of poverty." Endit