Opening speech delivered by Minister for Foreign Trade Ann Linde.
I would like to begin by thanking the ITC and Arancha Gonzalez for inviting me to this launch of the book ”Women Shaping Global Economic Governance”.
It’s a great honour to introduce this book, which reflects Swedish and ITC values and where women contribute to discussions on how to encourage women’s participation in international trade.
I have been asked to begin with a few words on the Swedish feministic government, so I’ll start there. In the case of Sweden, women’s economic empowerment and participation in the labour force were made possible mainly through three important reforms in the 70’s:
1. the abolition of the joint taxation system,
2. the expansion of publicly-funded affordable child and elderly care, and
3. the reform of the parental insurance that allows mothers and fathers to take parental leave on equal terms.
This was a good start, but not enough, as inequalities still exist in our society. More had to be done. So, when we came into power in 2014, the first thing we did was to state that our Government is a feminist Government, and made a clear commitment to promoting gender equality in all policy making.
During the past years we have combatted inhibitive gender roles and structures and we have let gender equality have a formative impact on policy choices, priorities, and in allocation of resources.
The government pursues this agenda in all facets of its work – in Sweden, in the EU and globally. Gender equality permeates all areas of Sweden’s foreign policy – security, promotion, public diplomacy and, of course, development cooperation and international trade.
As trade minister I wish to see that trade contributes to growth and jobs for everyone, women and men. We have therefore worked hard for a gender equality in the WTO, the EU free trade agreements and in other relevant fora’s and platforms. The crown of the work was in 2017 where I was part of the launch of the Declaration in Buenos Aires in 2017. And to be here today – talking about trade and gender – tells me that some of our work has been successful. But we still have a long way to go to have an equal society where the gains from international trade effects women and men equally.
The National Board of Trade will publish a report on “Trade and gender gaps” after the summer break. The agency’s research will support us in taking further steps in our work with the feministic trade policy. Already now, I would like to repeat my earlier call upon all organizations in the trade community, that haven’t already done so, to systematically collect gender disaggregated data and include gender in their analyses. We won’t be able to formulate gender equal measures and trade rules if we don’t have an accurate picture of the situation in different trade policy areas.
ITC is one of the important organisations that is contributing with analysis and data. I am proud that Sweden provides flexible, unearmarked funding so that the ITC can use funding for projects supporting green economy initiatives, women entrepreneurs (SheTrades), young start-ups (skills training), and vulnerable populations including refugees. All this for the common Swedish and ITC goal: to use trade as a tool for sustainable development.
Thank you!