World Trade Organization

Forum 2 Part 2: World Trade Organization

Key Termand Why You Are Interested in It

The key term I chose to discuss this week is the World Trade Organization (WTO). I have always known that the WTO exists, and I can distinctly remember times when I heard political discussions regarding the WTO on the news or in the papers. Though it has always sparked my interest to want to learn more about how the WTO functions, I have never taken the time to study it. I have chosen to discuss the WTO for two reasons, firstly, so that I can increase my understanding of the organization. Secondly, so that I can better understand foreign relations in regard to trade agreements and business dealings. As I look around my house or look in my closet at my clothes hanging, I can find a tag or a label on just about everything and find out where it was made. If I were to estimate it, I would say that roughly 85% of the products in my household are made outside of the United States. When I consider the magnitude of that statement, I am only more interested in learning about foreign trade and how the WTO regulates trade in an international arena.As I began to deepen my understanding of the WTO I was surprised to learn about the organizations commitment to women’s rights. Initially I asked myself, why is it that an international trade organization is using its global platform to promote women’s rights? Then as I began researching the topic some more I realized just how under represented women are in the international business world. The article Trade and Women–Opportunities for Women in the Framework of the World Trade Organization provided a wealth of information on this topic and I was eager to discuss my findings in this forum.

Explanation of the Key Term

The WTO was established in 1995 and existed to oversee international trade by setting guidelines and policies in order to protect all members. (Satterlee, 2018). The establishment of the WTO was out of identifying the possibilities related to international trade arrangements (Satterlee, 2018).Researchers describe the WTO as “a mechanism for exchanging (trading) trade policy commitments and agreeing to a code of conduct” (Hoekman, &Mavroidis, 2007, p. 15). There are also a set of legal parameters in place to prevent corruption. The legal agreements exist to protect members and the operation of the WTO as a whole (Hoekman, &Mavroidis, 2007). The WTO is made up of 164 members, and it is significant because there are no other international trade organizations that exist, making the WTO the only international trade organizationWorld Trade Organization, 2020).

Trade and Women–Opportunities for Women in the Framework of the World Trade Organization

The topic of women’s rights in the context of international trade may seem strange at first glance. However, for some developing countries, women’s rights are still suppressed. The article Trade and Women–Opportunities for Women in the Framework of the World Trade Organizationexamines women’s rights in the context of international trade and considers opportunities for women to contribute their voices and empower women on an international platform to achieve sustainable advancement in countries that are a part of the WTO, especially the women that make up a portion of the members of the WTO. The article focused on the idea of empowering women in the context of international trade and identifying the barriers women face. The authors note that presently, there are only six countries where discrimination on the basis of being a woman is illegal (Wolff, 2019). Women face a wide range of obstacles that prevent them from engaging in international trade. Presently, “more than 90% of countries have barriers in place that limit women’s participation in global trade” (Wolff, 2019, p. 324). At this point in my introduction on this topic, some of you may be wondering how women’s rights in international trade and the WTO align. Well, one of the objectives of the WTO is to empower women on an international platform and embolden women to engage in trade (What is the WTO?, 2020). Giving women the opportunity to engage in international trade will ultimately afford them the chance to secure the same economic benefits as their male counterparts (World Trade Organization, 2020). The article identifies several examples of women’s experiences of engaging in international trade. Key themes of women’s empowerment, the importance of women in agriculture, and ending bias towards women were scattered throughout the article (Wolff, 2019). The article concluded by identifying three opportunities for WTO members or governments to explore the matter of empowering women to partake in international trade (Wolff, 2019). While the WTO’s objectives include women’s empowerment, the WTO identifies other objectives that align with its mission. This article merely identified the WTO’s intention to empower women in the arena of international trade.

Discussion

As stated at the beginning of the forum, the WTO exists to manage international trade dealings. With that identified goal of international trade, the WTO empowers its members, who are individual countries, to embolden their citizens to confront matters more than just international trade. The WTO supports the topic of women’s rights because it realizes that “giving women the same opportunities as men improves a country’s competitiveness and productivity, which in turn has a positive impact on economic growth and poverty reduction (Women and Trade, para. 2). The purpose of the WTO’s existence is to boost international trade and positively impact economic trends. The WTO recognizes that it cannot be successful in completing that mission without empowering women to work towards that same goal (Wolff, 2019). Ultimately, the topic of empowering women within the context of international trade is two-fold, mainly because it helps the WTO complete its mission of overseeing international trade and making sure that its members are fair in their dealings with individual countries.

I researched a total of five articles for this forum discussion. All of them examined a different aspect of the WTO. The article I chose to discuss for this forum focused on the WTO’s mission of empowering women in the environment of international trade. The other four articles are listed as follows.What strategies are viable for developing countries today? The World Trade Organization and the shrinking of ‘development space’, which discussed policies that exist to limit the authorities of developing countries. This is significant because, oftentimes, these procedures serve to harm developing countries rather than help them. The article outlined specific areas that the WTO can initiate change and promote stability and growth in developing countries, not oppression (Wade, 2003). Secondly,Trade reform in Iran for accession to the World Trade Organization: Analysis of welfare and environmental impacts. In this article, the authors examined the WTO’s relationship with Iran and explored matters such as free trade agreements, environmental impacts of Iran’s trade arrangement with the WTO (Farajzadeh, et al., 2017). Thirdly, The WTO Trade Effect, where researchers reviewed the past and present WTO trade agreements and memberships. Examining matters that relate to the overall functioning of the WTO,f such as trade flows, membership selection, and bias (Chang, & Lee, 2011). Lastly, Do We Really Know That the WTO Increases Trade? The article examines the ins and outs of the WTO’s influence on international trade (Rose, 2004). The author not only looks at the WTO’s members but presents research and methodology that support his hypothesis that asks how does the WTO actually increases trade and is it helping or hurting on an international platform. All of the five articles I reviewed approached the WTO from a different angle and helped increase my understanding of the WTO’s enormous impact on the global stage. I ultimately chose to discuss women’s empowerment within the WTO because I felt passionate about sharing the information I learned on the topic with the class.