Women in most societies have multiple responsibilities and burdens which are on the increase as they endure the cost of free trade and market liberalisation. Women's rights are being eroded and their responsibilities are multiplying in their struggle to hold their households, communities and economies together. The benefits of the WTO have been exaggerated and the costs of its policies to women have been totally overlooked. The Informal Working Group on Women and Trade, established at the First Ministerial Meeting in Singapore in 1996, has produced a number of working papers that have borne out the stated concerns of women world- wide. Women's expertise in biodiversity and agriculture is further being undermined by trade liberalisation and the TRIPs agreement.
Women have, for thousands of years, had an important and vital role in local trade.
However, with the current international trade regime, women are being reduced to suppliers of cheap labour and consumers of foreign goods. Finally, the call for transparency in the WTO by various governments can only be made worthwhile if it ensures the full and consultative participation of the representatives of civil society determined in an open, broad-based and transparent process. We note the initiatives of the youth and other people's movements in Geneva and around the world to bring the larger issues related to the WTO and globalisation to a popular level. We salute their courage and their commitment to non-violence and a better world for all.