The Gender and Trade Coalition (GTC) convened its fourth strategy meeting from 30 November – 1 December 2024, just ahead of the 15th AWID International Forum in Bangkok, Thailand from 2-5 December 2024. In this reflective space, 20 members and allies of the Coalition’s Steering Group had substantive discussions on the GTC’s collective analysis, advocacy, presence in various multilateral spaces, membership engagement, and how to strengthen the GTC’s communication strategies.
The meeting began with a grounding exercise in which all participants were asked to recall how they began working on gender and trade. Participants then shared updates from their respective organizations including strategies being used to advance feminist trade justice, successes, challenges, and future work. These updates showcased the breadth of feminist expertise in the Coalition, and highlighted opportunities for members to collaborate with one another cross-regionally and across issues. Opportunities for collaboration identified through the roundtable-style updates include: cross-regional campaigning highlighting the gender impacts of the EU’s free trade agreements; developing a cross-issue brief on gender, trade, agriculture, and fisheries; and intra-regional collaboration on drawing attention to the ongoing gendered issues with the AfCFTA.
Next, participants collectively reviewed a draft feminist trade agenda based on the proposals put forward by the four feminist trade explainers released this year. This rich discussion enabled members to hone a collective analysis and inspired them to imagine a world in which all their demands were met. It also illuminated particularly important areas for further exploration in analytical outputs. Discussions on the GTC’s advocacy in different multilateral spaces, membership engagement, and communications strategies ran parallel to, and emerged from, developing a collective policy agenda.
Join the GTC by endorsing our Unity Statement here. Email us to join our mailing list, connect with us on Twitter, or read more about our work at www.gendertradecoalition.org.