Making Trade Agreements Work For Gender Equality - Data and Statistics

What is the impact of trade on gender equality, and how can trade policy influence that impact? These questions are difficult to answer without reliable and comprehensive statistics. In December 2017, the Buenos Aires Declaration on Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment1 called for an inventory of data sources, collection of gender-disaggregated data and the analysis of gender-focused statistics related to trade. This policy brief provides some tools for taking stock of available data to assess the gender impacts of trade agreements. In 2018, UNCTAD developed a statistical conceptual framework to bring together key elements for understanding the impact of trade on gender equality. This brief applies that framework by exploring data availability and gaps. The work builds on the expertise of the UNCTAD Statistics and Trade, Gender and Development programme working to improve women's economic empowerment through the development of gender-responsive trade policy.