The U.S. Gender and Trade Network (USGTN) is a group of committed women researchers, advocates, and policy analysts from across the country who have been working together on a cross-section of issues including development, labor, women’s economic justice, and human rights in order to address the impacts of trade liberalization on women, families and communities in the U.S. as well as in other countries where the U.S. administration has initiated trade agreements. We are part of the International Gender and Trade Network (IGTN) which joins women globally to monitor trade initiatives and to offer alternatives from a gender perspective. The Center of Concern chairs the USGTN and serves as the U.S. Focal Point to the IGTN Steering Committee.
In order to promote transparency within the IGTN and facilitate greater understanding of USGTN for those who wish to learn more about the Network or partner with us, USGTN organizational structure is detailed below. The links below can be used to navigate to a specific section of USGTN's organizational structure.
Overview
Because the U.S. is a country and not a region, it functions differently than the rest of IGTN. There is no membership in the traditional sense, nor is there a steering committee. Persons originally in charge of research and literacy stepped down from those roles since the launching of the IGTN and efforts to reactivate these areas have been slow to develop. In response, USGTN recently restructured itself to better match the work that has been achieved to date in the area of advocacy and further the expansion of gender and trade literacy, advocacy and research across the U.S.
The Center of Concern (CoC) is the U.S. Focal Point to the IGTN and takes the lead in actively pursuing the development of a U.S. Gender and Trade Network. CoC sits on the IGTN Steering Committee and is therefore responsible for implementing certain commitments made by this decision making body.
CoC is also responsible for reporting on activities from the U.S. to the IGTN Steering
Committee at its annual meetings and is, therefore, committed to ensuring that progress is made in the three areas of advocacy, literacy and research at the national level.
Top
Specific Tasks of Center of Concern as U.S. Focal Point
- Takes leadership in identifying and implementing literacy, research and advocacy projects jointly sponsored with USGTN strategic partners;
- Coordinator of USGTN-planning activities, strategy sessions, etc.;
- Identifies USGTN strategic partners and facilitates communications and outreach for USGTN;
- Convenor of DC-based USGTN advocacy group meetings;
- Contributes information and identifies partnerships with the global and national women's movements as well as other social movements;
- Seeks funding for USGTN work (including joint fundraising with other USGTN strategic partners on joint projects).
Top
Terms of reference for USGTN
USGTN is comprised of strategic partners around the U.S. who identify with the mission of the IGTN as it relates to advocacy, research and literacy, and who work with the Center of Concern as the U. S. Focal Point to the IGTN.
Strategic partners are highlighted on the IGTN web site in the North America section. Any listing of organizations in affiliation with USGTN can only be with their permission (as has been the case with USGTN to date in joint advocacy statements/letters). USGTN does not use the term membership. Instead, it uses the term partnership to
develop strategic relationships in order to build the Network nationally.
Top
Partners
Current partners in the USGTN Advocacy Group
- Bama Athreya and Natacha Thys, International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF)
- Jessica Walker Beaumont, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
- Cathy Feingold, AFL-CIO
- Nadia Johnson, Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)
- Karen Hansen Kuhn, Action Aid
- Beth Myers, STITCH
- Pam Sparr, InterAction
- Kristin Sampson and Maria Riley, Center of Concern (CoC)
- Alexandra Spieldoch, IATP
- Marceline White, Development and Training Services, Inc (DTS)
- Catherine Pinkerton, NETWORK
Partners in the national gender and trade consultations
- Gail Lerner and Ramona Ortega, Alt-WID (NY, NY)
- Denise O'Brien, Women, Food and Agriculture (Atlantic, IA)
- Martha Ojeda and Carlos Lopez, Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras (San Antonio, TX)
- LaDoris Payne-Bell, Woman Spirit (St. Louis, MO)
- Mary Zerkel, AFSC (Chicago, IL)
- Leslie Hossfeld, Women's Rural Resource Center (Robeson County, NC)
- Rosemarie Mincey, Vanderbuilt University (Nashville, TN)
- Emily Kawano, Center for Popular Economics (Amherst, MA)
- Simmi Ghandi, Garment Workers' Center (Los Angeles, CA)
Top
Structure for Advocacy
The Center of Concern convenes a group of organizations and individuals based in
Washington, DC, New York and Pennsylvania which go by the title the USGTN
Advocacy Group. The agenda of this group is defined by those who meet regularly.
The meetings were previously held once a month but are now held four times a year (or determined by advocacy demands).
Tasks of/for the USGTN Advocacy Group
- Joint planning;
- Implementation of advocacy agenda;
- Willingness to represent USGTN in advocacy fora;
- When funds are available, participate in international and regional IGTN advocacy meetings such as the WTO Hong Kong planning meeting (2005) and regional trade meetings such as FTAA Ministerials (ongoing).
The value-added of the USGTN Advocacy Group
- To offer an open space where key national organizations (labor, women's, development, faith, other) involved with questions of gender and trade can come together to share their work and contribute to strategic collaborative efforts;
- Its location in the DC/NY area increases its potential for targeted joint advocacy strategies at the national decision-making level;
- Its ability to produce joint advocacy materials that can be used among the participating organizations that have constituencies around the nation;
- Its connection with the larger IGTN participants and advocacy agenda.
Top
Structure for Research and Literacy
At this time, there is no research or literacy coordinator or structure in these areas for the U.S.Gender and Trade Network.
Nonetheless, USGTN has initiated national consultations on gender and trade as well as a national meeting with the consultation organizers and other strategic partners to expand popular education and national dialogues on gender and trade for which materials have been produced and are ongoing. A report on Phase I of the consultations was published in January, 2004.
CoC is working to identify a pool of researchers in the U.S. who can move the analysis forward relative to assessing the impacts of trade on U.S./North American women, families and their communities as part of USGTN.
Top
Collaboration
USGTN has mainly collaborated with U.S NGOs in terms of sharing materials and co-sponsoring joint meetings or policy letters. Examples of joint work include Hill briefings, resource packets and letters on Trade Promotion Authority (Fast Track), CAFTA and the FTAA. Some groups/coalitions with whom USGTN has collaborated includes:
Nationally based
- Alliance for Responsible Trade (ART - Coalition of U.S. NGOs working on trade and investment) Some of the organizations who participate in ART include:
- AFL-CIO
- American Lands Alliance
- Campaign for Labor Rights
- Center of Concern
- Citizen's Trade Campaign
- Development Gap
- Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
- Institute for Policy Studies
- Inter Action
- International Labor Rights Fund
- Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
- OXFAM USA
- Public Citizen
- Washington Office on Latin America
- Witness for Peace
- Women's EDGE
- Citizen's Fair Trade Networks
- Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment (working group of national faith based offices working in Washington, DC)
- Africa Faith and Justice Network
- Center of Concern
- Church World Service
- Colombians
- Lutheran World Relief
- Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns
- Mennonite Central Committee
- National Bahai's
- National Council of Churches
- NETWORK
- Oblates
- Presbytarian Church USA
- Religious Action Committee
- SHAREUnited Church of Christ
- Washington Office on Africa
- World Vision
- National Wildlife Federation
- U.S. Social Forum Planning
- Boston
- New York
- Washington, DC
Regional
- Caribbean Gender and Trade Network
- Latin American Gender and Trade Network
- Women's Committee of the Hemispheric Social Alliance (including groups from U.S., Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean)
International
- International Gender and Trade Network meetings
- International Working Group on Trade-Finance Coherence
(Updated March 30, 2005)
