WTO Public Forum Event: Trade in Services: The Future of Gender-Just Development?

A timely discussion at this year's WTO Public Forum on the gendered impacts of trade fragmentation, tariff-related uncertainty, and the growing importance of services trade for inclusive growth.

This session, co-organised by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Geneva Office and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), presented the findings of the forthcoming FES study ‘Gendered Impacts – Blind Responses. The 2025 Tariff Crisis and the Case for Gender Transformative Reforms’. The study examines how the dramatic tariff increases announced in 2025 have affected women and gender justice across six Global South countries from Asia and Africa. The individual case studies will be published here soon.

The results reveal how changing trade patterns and rising economic uncertainty generate differentiated impacts in particular for women across sectors, occupations, and value chains. They also highlight the need to move beyond gender-blind responses and to address the structural inequalities shaping the impacts of trade policy.

Building on these findings, the session explored how services trade can contribute to more inclusive and resilient growth, and what gender-transformative policies and regulatory frameworks are needed to make this potential a reality for gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.

Event details

Welcome Remarks: 

• Leontine von Levetzow, Head of Division for Trade Policy, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Panelists: 

• Caroline Dommen, Director, Human Rights Economics
• Sylvester Wullo Bagooro, Senior Programme Officer, Third World Network Africa
• Josra Riecke, Policy Advisor on International Trade and Development, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

Moderator:

• Matthias Pesch, Policy Advisor on International Trade and Economic Policy, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES)