WIDE is a European feminist network of women´s organisations, development NGOs, gender specialists and women´s rights activists. WIDE monitors and influences international economic and development policy and practice from a feminist perspective.

WIDE - PRESS RELEASE

New Aid, Expanding Trade - What Do Feminists Have To Say?

Brussels, 22.06.2007: The WIDE 2007 Annual Conference took stock of the
changes in international trade policies, regulation of financial flows and
investment together with international development policies and their impact
on women's realities, rights and gender equality. The discussions also
focused on strategies on how to tackle the new aid and trade architecture
from feminist perspectives. Entitled "New aid, expanding trade - what do
women have to say?" the conference, hosted by the Spanish WIDE national
platform CONGDE (Gender and Development Working Group of the Spanish
Platform of Development NGOs) in Madrid, brought together more than 150
women activists from over 40 countries.

"The WIDE AC is a great opportunity for activists to exchange views and a
good space for feminist exchange on trade and development issues.
Globalisation and development issues are themes that need to be analysed
within a feminist framework. The Capacity -Building day helps to build more
public-awareness raising and sharper policy analysis. Presentations from
trade experts such as Mariama Williams and Zo Randriamaro provide us with
tools that can inspire future debates." commented Mabel Au from Hong Kong.

In lively debates and interactive panels participants confirmed even so new
international development architecture has developed on the basis of shared
commitments of the international donor community in the areas of trade,
debt, investment and financing for development, the structural causes of
gender inequality persist all over the world. Various speakers highlighted
that the current mainstream development agenda is embedded in an ideological
framework that promotes trade liberalisation and economic growth at the
expenses of women and men's rights and livelihoods. Indeed, the feminisation
of poverty is a global problem. Participants engaged in analyses of the
causes of these structural problems and discussed the implications these
developments for women in the South, the East and also in the West.

"The conference was a success in bringing together so many women from such
different places and it was a great opportunity to meet activists who agreed
on the same ideal of social justice, even if their own conditions varied
from one locality to another." remarked Venna Dholah from Mauritius.

In various workshops and presentations, participants further developed
feminist proposals and alternative visions to the policy mainstream in the
area of trade and development and discussed concrete strategies for change
at different levels. Women activists not only identified opportunities for
ensuring the implementation of political commitments and legal obligations
regarding gender equality, democracy and human rights, the quality of aid,
and policy coherence. They also highlighted the importance of building up a
common alternative strategy to "attack patriarchal structures on a global
scale, as women's emancipation can not be achieved in isolation" as Rosa
Cobo Bedia from Spain explained.

The three-day conference also provided an important space for joint
learning, sharing experiences and building alliances among women's
organisations from all over the world to find feminist alternatives. As Pam
Rajput from India commented  "I like the policy from WIDE to invite women
from the south and provide a platform for sharing and learning and working
out global strategies for issues of common concerns."

All contributions and presentations of the conference will soon be available
on WIDE's web-site: http://www.wide-network.org/

For more information, please contact
Barbara Specht, WIDE Information and Advocacy Officer:barbara@wide-network.org 
+32-479-55.94.15