The US Gender and Trade Network (USGTN) is part of the North American region of the larger International Gender and Trade Network (IGTN). The USGTN is a growing network of women who are addressing the negative impacts of trade liberalization on women, families and communities in the U.S. and challenging the U.S. government for its aggressive role in promoting trade liberalization in the WTO, Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and bilateral negotiations. In the U.S., corporations reap large-scale benefits while unemployment rises; the environment is compromised; the democracy deficit grows; and public accountability decreases. Women in poverty, rural women and working women live in a constant struggle to provide for themselves and their families as the privatization of healthcare, housing and social services deepens. Despite this growing evidence of the failure of trade liberalization and privatization to serve all its citizens, the U.S. government continues to promote this model across the globe.

In response: USGTN’s work is threefold: advocacy, research and the development of trade literacy/popular education materials. USGTN publishes educational materials with a gender analysis on trade liberalization and privatization and works in coalitions to challenge current U.S. trade policy and work for alternatives. The Center of Concern (CoC) is the Chair of USGTN and is working to build a broad network across the United States. CoC hosts a regular USGTN Advocacy Group meeting with activists based in or near Washington, DC . The Advocacy Group serves as a technical resource on the trade negotiations by sponsoring joint work on the Hill, meeting with members of the executive offices within the U.S. administration where possible, and building alliances with other non-governmental groups working on trade and development issues. USGTN reaches out to the global women’s movements (including the U.S.) and other interested groups, networks and individuals.

In 2004, six popular consultations took place across the United States in partnership with USGTN as a means to expand the debate on trade among U.S. women. Six more consultations are scheduled for 2005. Plans for further research on trade issues in North America from a gender perspective are underway and will ensure that research is linked with advocacy efforts.

Currently, USGTN is active in the following:

• Monitoring U.S. trade negotiations (WTO, FTAA, CAFTA, Andean Free Trade Agreement, SACU);
• Advocating and lobbying for gender impact assessments of U.S. trade policies;
• Building research on privatization, deregulation and trade impacts on women and men throughout the North American region;
• Developing popular education materials that provide an analysis of gender and trade in the U.S. (see www.igtn.org/EconoLit/Literacy.html) to expand the number of women working on this theme;
• Partnering with other key networks and coalitions. It supports the Alliance for Responsible Trade in the U.S. as well as the work of the Hemispheric Social Alliance (HSA) by participating and providing leadership in its Women's Committee;
• Networking inter-regionally with the Caribbean and Latin America Chapters of the International Gender and Trade Network.

Information about USGTN Resources and Organizational Structure  can be accessed through the sidebar menu to the left. 

For more information on the US Gender and Trade Network (US - GTN) please contact:

Kristin Sampson
Center of Concern
Gender, Trade and Development Project
1225 Otis St., NE
Washington, D.C. 20017

Tel:  (202) 635-2757

Fax:  (202) 832-9494

ksampson@coc.org