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Trade and Global Value Chains: how to address the gender dimension, Side Event at the 60th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women


17 March 2016
New York
, United States of America

 
Trade and Global Value Chains: how to address the gender dimension
 

This side event was jointly organized by UNCTAD and Finland on 17 March during the 60th session at the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

Global value chains (GVCs) can provide opportunities for the economic growth. However, to be beneficial, GVCs should lead, not only to economic but also to social upgrading. But this does not happen automatically.

Several countries have been able to integrate into GVCs - Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius and others - mainly in terms of the new job opportunities becoming available to both skilled relatively unskilled workers, including women. However, there are still serious challenges for women:

  • a so called "rush to the bottom", where firms tend to ignore basic workers' rights in order to be competitive within the GVCs.

  • employment at the lower nodes of the chain, with limited opportunities for skills development and lower wages.

  • technological upgrading can leave behind women since they often do not possess the skills needed.

Participants called for action to make GVCs a tool for economic and social upgrading, including by providing fairer employment opportunities to women and carry gender assessments to ensure that trade and investment agreements fully grasp their social implications.

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Co-organizer(s):
Government of Finland

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