Multilingual Glossary of Terms Related to Gender and Trade

The Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and Standardization Policies has been working on gender-responsive standards since 2016. This work resulted in the Recommendation U on Gender-Responsive Standards in 2018 with its annex for a Declaration for Gender-Responsive Standards and Standards Development which has over eighty signatories as of January 2024. Gender equality, including women’s full and effective participation in decision-making, is critical to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable future for all. Trade in general can contribute to improving the living standards of individuals. Specific policies aimed to better integrate women into international trade and support women’s economic activity will enable women to move into higher-skill work, gain economic independence and help to improve the overall economic position of the country’s economy globally. The consistent use of terms internationally allows to better understand and compare progress and differences among countries. By providing not only the terms but also a brief definition, it is hoped to ensure that each term is used in a consistent manner around the world. There can be inconsistency within a same report in the terms used. For example, using the term “female-owned enterprise” and then later “women-owned enterprise”. To a lay person, the two terms may sound interchangeable, but in reality, the populations which are implied may be (unintentionally) different. A same document on Women and Trade (gender term) may speak about a gender wage gap, but also female-owned enterprises and female labour share and female employment… (terms related to sex, not gender). This publication aims to provide clear translations and definitions of key terms related to gender and trade in four languages: English, Russian, French and Spanish.