SANEM will arrange a webinar on “Gender Dimensions of Trade: Lessons and Implications for Sri Lanka” on 10 November 2022 from 1:30 pm- 3 pm Indian Standard Time (GMT+5:30). Dr Dileni Gunewardena, Chair Professor of Economics, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, will conduct the session.

The webinar is part of the knowledge and capacity building program series under the USAID-funded Cross Border Trade Capacity building program in collaboration with the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM).

We cordially invite you to join the webinar. To join the webinar, please fill up the google form: https://forms.gle/MzedKVHU2gPFk4KNA

The webinar will be moderated by Dr Nihal Pitigala (Lead Economist at WBD) and will be conducted over Zoom. We expect government officials, academics, researchers, business sector representatives, journalists, development workers, students and interested professionals will join the webinar.

Context of the session:

With the signing of the Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment by 118 WTO members and observers in Buenos Aires in 2017, there is renewed interest in the relationship between trade and gender equality. Advancing gender equality through trade is not just the right thing to do, it also makes economic sense. Closing the gender gap is good for economic stability and growth. It will also contribute to achieving the UN SDG goals, especially SDG 5: achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by 2030.

International trade plays an important role in gender equality. This session will highlight recent achievements in bringing a gender lens to bear on trade policy and trade agreements. It will explain what a gender lens brings to the analysis of international trade, and identify the channels through which trade and gender interact. It will focus on the two-way relationship between gender and trade: how trade policies have gendered effects and how gender biases in the economy lead to sub-optimal trade policy outcomes. It will review some of the key trade and gender issues that have been explored in the economics literature relating to developing countries. Participants will be encouraged to identify important questions that relate to trade and gender in their own countries. The session will also provide a brief overview of resources available to incorporate a gender lens in trade policy and reforms.

Profile of the resource person:

Dr Dileni Gunewardena is Chair Professor of Economics at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and has research experience in empirical analyses of poverty, child nutrition, and gender and ethnic wage inequality. She is a non-resident Fellow at Verite Research and is a Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP) research fellow. She has been a Global Development Network Research Award winner, a Fulbright Research Scholar, a Program for Gender Analysis in Economics Visiting Scholar at the American University, and has consulted for the United Nations Development Program and the World Bank. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from American University and a B.A. in economics from the University of Peradeniya.