The current changing global landscape and shifts in trade dynamics may severely affect women’s employment. A significant share of women work in sectors impacted by high tariffs and new trade barriers. Women are thus at risk of facing job losses and wage insecurity.
These changing dynamics highlight how trade policies that overlook women can inadvertently deepen inequalities. Without deliberate action, ongoing trade shifts could erode the progress made in women’s economic empowerment and broader development goals. Thus, ensuring that women are central to trade policy is important.
Over the last decade, a growing trend concerning the inclusion of provisions related to women in trade agreements reflects a shift towards more inclusive and equitable trade frameworks. Progress, however, remains uneven.
This event will discuss the intersection of trade policy and gender equality and what can be learned from provisions related to women in trade agreements when dealing with trade dynamics.
Programme
Opening remarks: Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
High-level panel and interactive discussion
Questions
- How can current trade dynamics affect women differently, particularly in low-income, export-dependent economies?
- To what extent have provisions related to women in trade agreements been effective in practice, and what are the main barriers to their implementation?
- What lessons can be drawn from countries that have successfully integrated considerations related to women into trade policy? What has worked, and what challenges remain?
- What concrete steps can Governments and institutions such as UNCTAD take to ensure that trade policy becomes a more effective tool for advancing women’s participation?
Speakers
- Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, European Commission
- Mokhethi Shelile, Minister of Trade, Industry, and Business Development, Kingdom of Lesotho
- Tekreth Kamrang, Secretary of State, Ministry of Commerce, Kingdom of Cambodia
- Maria Amparo López Senovilla, Secretary of State for Trade, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business, Spain
- Sofia Boza Martinez, Ambassador, Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Chile to the World Trade Organization
- Trudi Hartzenberg, Executive Director, Trade Law Centre
Moderator: Patricia Benedetti, Ambassador, Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of El Salvador to the World Trade Organization
In September 2021, Rebeca Grynspan was appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), becoming the first woman to lead the organization in its 60-year history.
Rebeca Grynspan, an economist and former Vice President of Costa Rica, is an experienced leader of international institutions with a substantive track record in government, UN diplomacy, economic policy and multilateral cooperation at the global level.
Prior to joining the United Nations, she was Vice President of Costa Rica and held cabinet positions as Minister of Housing, Minister Coordinator of Economic and Social Affairs and Deputy Finance Minister.
Previously, she served as Secretary-General of the Ibero-American Conference (2014–2021), chairing regional summits of Heads of State and Government; United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); and UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. She was a member of the UN Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti, representing the UN Secretary-General.
At UNCTAD, Grynspan has been at the centre of critical negotiations to address global trade and development challenges. She played a decisive role in the successful Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered between the UN, Türkiye, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, which enabled the safe export of over 32 million tons of grain, lowered global food prices by 22% and prevented millions from falling into food insecurity. She also leads the UN Global Crisis Response Group on food, energy and finance, and has represented the UN in G20 summits.
Her leadership has been recognized widely. In 2024, she received the Doha Negotiator of the Year Award for spearheading UN efforts to restore Black Sea trade routes. In 2025, Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation awarded her the inaugural Isabel Oyarzábal Women in Multilateralism International Prize for her contribution to multilateralism.
Ms. Grynspan holds degrees in economics from the University of Costa Rica and the University of Sussex, and honorary doctorates from several European universities.
Teresa Ribera is the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition.
She previously served as Vice President of the Government of Spain and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge as well as Member of Spanish Parliament.
Prior to that, she was Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) from 2014 to 2018, enabling the Institute to play a key role in the negotiation of the Paris Climate Agreement.
From 2008 to 2011, she served as the Spanish Secretary of State for Climate Change and Biodiversity. A public official from the Senior Corps of State Civil Administrators, she has also taught public law at the Autonomous University of Madrid. She is member of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium since 2021.
Mr. Mokhethi Shelile was appointed as the Minister of Trade, Industry and Business Development on 30th October 2022. He is committed to leveraging his 20 years of experience in the trade fraternity, along with his leadership and management skills, to steer the Ministry toward achieving its mandate.
He is a Member of Parliament representing the Revolution for Prosperity (RFP), Lithabaneng Constituency (40). He is also a founding member of the Revolution for Prosperity Party (RFP) and the member of the Executive Committee as the Public Relations Officer of the party.
Before assuming ministerial role, he was the Investment Promotion Officer at Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC) and was later appointed as the Head, Investment Promotion within the LNDC. He has earned few accolades during his tenure at LNDC; UNCTAD Investment Promotion agency of the year 2016 winner. He has led International Investment Promotion and had successful promotion missions in SACU region, Kenya, Tanzania, Libya, Egypt, United Kingdom, and Germany, among others.
He studied BA Economics at the National University of Lesotho and graduated in 1995.
Ms. Tekreth Kamrang currently serves as the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Commerce, Royal Government of Cambodia.
During the past 17 years, she has been involved in and managed the organization in the areas of international cooperation, Aid for Trade Programs, trade policy formulation, and trade finance. In this capacity, she has played important roles in enhancing Cambodia’s trade development and integration into the global market.
She has actively engaged in strengthening and diversifying Cambodia’s trade relations with other countries. She has recently engaged in trade negotiation with the United Arab Emirates for the Establishment of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, under her role as Chief Negotiator. She has been the Co-Chair of various Joint Economic Committees to strengthen trade and economic development with other countries.
She received her Medical Doctor degree from the University of Health Science, Cambodia in 1996. She received a Master Degree in Public Health Policy from the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center, United States in 2004. She also holds her PhD in Economics in Cambodia, received in 2025.
Maria Amparo López Senovilla has been Secretary of State for Trade at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business of Spain since May 2024, and President of ICEX España Exportación e Inversiones, a public business entity integrated into the structure of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business, under the Secretary of State for Trade.
Before that, she held the following appointments:
- Undersecretary of Economy, Trade and Business from December 2023 until May 2024.
- Undersecretary of Economy and Business from June 2018 until January 2020.
- Undersecretary of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation from January 2020 until December 2023.
- Member of the Board of Directors of SEPI, member of the Governing Committee of the FROB and member of the Consortium of the City of Toledo since June 2018.
- Legal advisor to the Ministry of Justice for the Working Group for the reform of the European Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings from 2012 until 2013.
- Head of the Spanish Delegation of UNCITRAL Group V, Insolvency Law from April 2014 until June 2018 and rapporteur of the 53rd session.
- Legal advisor to the Working Group for the Proposal for a Directive on Restructuring and Second Chance since January 2017.
- State Lawyer coordinating the legal assistance agreements with Consorcio Ciberesp, Portel Servicios Telemáticos S.A., Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) and with the Sociedad Estatal de Infraestructuras del Transporte Terrestre (SEITTSA).
- Head of the Insolvency Department in the Subdirectorate General of the Contentious Services of the State Attorney's Office, from September 2013 until June 2018.
- Deputy Chief State Attorney, Coordinator of Insolvency Matters, Legal Service of the State Tax Administration Agency, Central Services, from November 2010 until July 2013.
- State Attorney before the Central Contentious-Administrative Courts between January and November 2010.
- State Attorney at the Barcelona State Attorney's Office before the High Court of Justice of Cataluña, between November 2005 and January 2010, where she worked as coordinator of the Contentious-Administrative Courts and Criminal Courts.
Ms. Amparo López Senovilla holds a Bachelor´s Degree in Law, with a specialization in European Union Law, San Pablo CEU University, Madrid, 1998. She has been a Civil servant of the High Corps of State Lawyers since November 2005.
Ms. Sofia Boza is the Ambassador of Chile to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Prior to becoming Ambassador of Chile to the WTO, Ambassador Boza was associate professor and director of the Department of Rural Management and Innovation of the University of Chile and professor of the Institute of International Studies of the same university, as well as external evaluator of public policies of the Directorate of Budgets of the Ministry of Finance of Chile.
Ambassador Boza holds a PhD in Economics from the Autonomous University of Madrid. Her areas of research include agri-food governance, rural development, food markets and international agricultural trade.
Patricia Benedetti holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business from the Escuela Superior de Economía y Negocios (ESEN) in El Salvador and a Master’s degree in International Relations from Webster University in Geneva.
She contributed to the establishment of El Salvador’s Mission to the WTO and WIPO in 2003, later serving as Minister Counsellor and Deputy Representative.
Appointed as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the WTO and WIPO in October 2019, she has over 19 years of experience in international trade, focusing on negotiations and implementation of multilateral trade agreements. She currently co-chairs the WTO’s Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender.
Ms. Trudi Hartzenberg is the Executive Director of tralac (Trade Law Centre) based in the Western Cape region of South Africa.
Her research is in the areas of international trade, competition policy, industrial development and Africa's integration agenda. She currently serves on the WTO Chairs Advisory Committee and is a member of the Committee for Development Policy of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
