COMMUNITY

• The forthcoming CEDAW General Recommendation 40 outlines essential actions for advancing gender equality, including promoting women’s participation in international decision-making processes and achieving inclusive representation at all levels of governance. 

•  The economic empowerment of women, which includes addressing disparities in their participation in economic systems and harnessing technology to expand their economic opportunities, is vital for women’s access to decision-making roles. 

• Intersectionality, and the various ways that poverty, conflict, climate change, and other factors exacerbate the conditions faced by women must be considered in conversations about the inclusion of women in decision-making systems. 

On February 23, 2024, the World Trade Institute, GQUAL, and the Institute of International Relations Prague held a conference titled Promoting Equal and Inclusive Representation of Women in Decision-making Systems: a Holistic Approach to Economic Empowerment at the University of Bern in Switzerland. Experts and stakeholders from various international entities discussed the work of the CEDAW Committee, specifically the draft process of General Recommendation 40 (GR40) on the equal and inclusive participation of women in decision-making spaces. During the conference, experts highlighted the barriers women face in international economic spaces, where they often lack equal access to power. For this reason, panelists underscored the pivotal role of economic decision-making systems for the promotion of democracy, peace, sustainable development, and women’s rights generally. 

Both days of the conference included participation from academics of several universities such as the University of Zurich, the American University Washington College of Law, the University of Palermo, and University for Foreigners of Perugia; representatives from international organizations such as UN CEDAW Committee, World Trade Organization, the European External Action Service, EU, the OSCE, the Institute of International Relations Prague, the World Trade Institute, and Global Women Leaders Voices; as well as a state representative to the WTO from Cape Verde. 

 During the conference, experts stressed the importance of increasing the participation of women in financial decision-making, conflict resolution processes, and technological advancements to ensure women’s equal and inclusive representation in decision-making systems. Collective action, concrete recommendations, and accountability mechanisms are all fundamental to achieve equal and inclusive representation in political and economic leadership. In line with these goals, the presentations and the discussion underscored the critical importance of CEDAW GR40 in achieving inclusive representation at all levels of governance, promoting women’s participation in decision-making processes, and advancing gender equality. 

 In her introductory remarks, Professor Elisa Fornalé, from the World Trade Institute, highlighted the critical opportunity to influence state parties through international laws, particularly by implementing the fundamental obligations of the CEDAW Convention, which outline the rights of women to inclusive and effective participation in both the public and private sectors, including economic life.  

The first session of the conference was chaired by Professor Elham Manea (University of Zurich), who introduced a fundamental topic of discussion: “How to address structural barriers to equal and inclusive representation of all women in decision-making systems in order to move from mere participation to equal and inclusive representation.” 

The panelists discussed various inclusive approaches. 

Dr. Nicole Ameline, Chair of the CEDAW WG on GR 40, observed that contemporary societal, economic, and political systems are facing a triple crisis of legitimacy, efficiency, and accountability due to the lack of women’s representation. Hence, the need for a paradigm shift, a new vision of governance that embeds the principle of gender parity. 

Professor Ivana Krstić (Member of the UN Working group on Discrimination against Women and Girls) focused on intersectionality. This approach recognizes that, “women’s inequality and poverty are the result of historical and economic policy choices at different international, regional, and national levels.” Consequently, women cannot be viewed as a homogenous group, as poverty intersects and overlaps with other forms of discrimination and inequality. 

Professor Isabel Trujillo (University of Palermo) proposed a revision of the concept of the rule of law, which has historically been built as a concept indifferent to the role of women. Accordingly, she explained how one can build a women friendly rule of law that should aim at assuring the participation of women in all decision-making processes. 

Panelists also discussed how there is no gender parity within international organizations like the IMF, which deal with financial resources that directly impact women in poverty. This conversation is particularly relevant in the context of GR40 on gender parity, highlighting how financial, trade and arbitration spaces must also be considered as key decision-making spaces, to achieve economic empowerment of women and gender parity.  

“It’s about time that the CEDAW Committee said that equal terms and gender balance means gender parity, and that gender parity needs to be translated as a 50-50 rule” stated Professor Claudia Martin, Co-Director of the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law American, University Washington College of Law and GQUAL Secretariat Member. 

The second session was chaired by Professor Maura Marchegiani from the University for Foreigners of Perugia. Professor Marchegiani emphasized an interdisciplinary and intersectional approach to understanding women’s economic participation, including how women’s issues intersect with other matters such as climate change, armed conflict, and economic recessions. This second session aimed to explore how women’s participation must extend beyond parity in politics, and focus on the complex intersection between economics and gender representation that presents new challenges to achieving gender equality outcomes.  

In relation to economic systems, Dr. Esther Eghobamien-Mshelia (CEDAW Committee) explained how women are excluded from the global financial system, lacking access to safety nets and social protections, and holding only 2% of financial capital. In discussing potential solutions, Dr. Eghobamien-Mshelia highlighted the success of Iceland’s law ensuring financial institutions have a 50-50 gender representation. Furthermore, Dr. Eghobamien-Mshelia emphasized the need for integration of women in leadership across economic and political roles, as current data about women in international trade institutions shows that only 36% of WTO ambassadors, 19% of ministers in charge of WTO affairs, and 13% of leadership roles in the WTO secretariat are women. In this way, disparity in the economic participation of women persists across different levels and sectors, from leadership roles in the WTO, to single mothers struggling with low wages, lack of education, and absence of childcare.  

Dr. Anoush der Boghossian (Head of the WTO Trade and Gender Unit) described the current situation concerning women representation at the WTO and the role this international organization may have in empowering women and fostering their participation in societal, economic, and public life. Moreover, she drew attention to the connection between human rights and trade law, and to the role of free trade agreements in encouraging women’s involvement and leadership. 

Her excellency Clara Delgado Jesus (Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the WTO from Cabo Verde) discussed the barriers that women face in the tourism industry in that country, which are related to gender gaps in health, education, social protection, access to labour market, access to assets, voice, and agency. 

Ms. Alva Bruun (European External Action Service, EU) stressed the importance of addressing economic violence to address women’s inclusion. A way to do so is to create forms of targeted support for women’s economic independence, such as programmes of microfinancing. In addition, she made the case for a more responsible private sector that commits to gender equality. 

Dr. Javiera Thais Santa Cruz (OSCE) described the role of OSCE in fostering women’s participation. The OSCE provides platforms to discuss concrete measures and diffuse best practices, contributes to increasing knowledge on gender and security issues, and support women in building digital skills to achieve economic independence. 

Professor Elisa Cavasino’s (University of Palermo) presentation analyzed the implementation of the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility in Italy from a gender perspective. Although some gender sensitive measures have been designed specially to ensure women’s economic empowerment, the plan reveals several shortcomings, mainly related to the lack of administrative capacity. 

Dr. Federica Cristani (Institute of International Relations in Prague) addressed the issue of gender equality and participation in the area of investment policies, and, in particular, of investor state dispute settlements. The underrepresentation of women in this sector is evident, and is the consequence of state appointments procedures insensitive to gender. Dr. Cristani argued for a revision of these practices and underlined the positive effects of the inclusion of women in arbitration can produce. 

Lastly, María Noel Leoni (Director, GQUAL Campaign) highlighted that CEDAW’S GR40 offers a unique opportunity to provide guidance to States on their obligation to ensure gender parity in international institutions. She mentioned that the GR has the potential to become a common roadmap to address women’s underrepresentation in key areas that often fall outside of human rights accountability mechanisms, including international justice, peace and security, international trade, multilateral spaces, and others. Leoni pointed out that the involvement of experts from these fields is essential, not only in the drafting process but also on the implementation phase. In this context, understanding the role that different stakeholders can play in the process is of key relevance. For effective implementation to happen the GR will need to be widely disseminated, discussed, referenced in research, diplomatic, advocacy and litigation strategies and institutional, academic, and civil society actors have critical roles to play for that goal. She also stressed that it is vital for the CEDAW Committee to generate accountability mechanisms to ensure implementation of the recommendations established in GR40. 

 At the end of the conference, Prof. Mona Lena Krook’s (Rutdgers University) offered some concluding remarks dealing with the GR40 drafting process. She illustrated that the committee is willing to provide the basis for further and more ambitious implementation of the articles 7 and 8 of the CEDAW. This implies the endorsement of the concept of gender parity – which implies going beyond creating a “critical mass” representation of women to claim for a 50-50 gender representation – and the support for measures that give women a substantial say in decision-making bodies and procedures. 

To read more about the panelists and experts who participated, see the conference program.  

This Conference has been organized within the framework and with the support of the Gender in the Mirror (GEM), SNFF funded project (www.womenandparticipation.org), and of the Horizon Europe Project HRJust, no. 101094346.