WTO POLICY DIFFUSION MECHANISMS ON GENDER AND TRADE

Although for some decades the debate on women's economic empowerment has permeated discussions within the scope of several international governmental organizations, it was only in 2017 that these issues found space in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Despite the criticism around the use of the concept of economic empowerment by different international organizations, in general, it refers to the promotion of women's capabilities to form their own action and gain autonomy within the economic sphere. One of the main challenges of the WTO's Trade and Gender initiative has been to sensitize decision-makers and negotiators to the fact that trade policies have different effects for men and women, given the different positions they occupy in within the economy scope. In light of this fact, various mechanisms of political diffusion have been adopted in order to promote the application of the gender lens to trade policies.