On Tuesday 13 March, the European Commission adopted, in Strasbourg (by 502 votes in favour to 107 against with 68 abstentions), the resolution put together by Swedish MEP Malin Björk and Italian MEP Eleonora Forenza, both from the GUE/NGL Group, aiming to include arrangements to strengthen gender equality and promote women's rights in EU trade agreements.
The draft resolution points out that an assessment of the EU's current trade agreements shows that only one agreement in five mentions women's rights, and only two in five contain references aiming to promote gender equality. The Parliament thus asks the Commission and Council to promote and support the inclusion of a chapter on gender in all the EU's future trade agreements, as well as arrangements aiming to ensure the respect of human rights (including gender equality).
The Parliament asks the EU to promote women's rights, gender equality and women's empowerment on the basis of international standards such as the UN’s Beijing Platform for Action, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
The Parliament calls for trade policy to be used to improve women's living and working conditions, and especially to reduce the pay gap with men. It also wants specific measures to fight exploitation and to improve women's living and working conditions in export-oriented industries (clothing, textiles and the agricultural sector).
In addition, the MEPs suggest that the Commission cooperate more closely with relevant organisations and national statistics offices in order to improve the collection of data on the impact of trade on gender equality. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)