speech empowering women in a changing global economy speech by christine lagarde, president of the ecb, at the international women ’ s day event organised by world trade organization ( wto ) in geneva geneva, 8 march 2023 it is a pleasure to be here at the wto to discuss women and the economy on such an important occasion : international women ’ s day. and this discussion is happening at a critical time : geopolitical tensions and the fragmenting of world trade are threatening to roll back decades of advances in women ’ s economic empowerment. since the great financial crisis, the global economy has been hit by a series of unprecedented shocks – most recently, russia ’ s war against ukraine. and all this has taken its toll on trade growth, which has plateaued as a share of world gdp. instead, protectionism is on the rise – and may well get worse – as countries reconfigure their supply chains to align with new strategic goals. the number of trade restrictions in place has jumped tenfold over the last decade. this is not to say we are facing an outright deglobalisation – far from it. the powerful economic logic underpinning the gains from international trade remains as valid as ever for governments and firms alike. but the nature of globalisation is changing. we are likely to see more trade within blocs as countries that share common values and interests deepen their trade ties to increase their resilience to external shocks and threats. and the changing nature of globalisation can have implications for women empowerment. the rise of global trade has been intricately tied to women ’ s emancipation. in developing countries, firms that trade internationally are also those that employ more women. women make up a third of the workforce of such firms, compared to less than a quarter for non - exporting firms. and in advanced economies, tariff burdens can at times fall disproportionately on the shoulders of women. in the us, the average tariff rates on products for women are higher than those for men. overall, countries that are more open to trade tend to have higher levels of gender equality. [ 5 ] that is in part because trade liberalisation is linked to a higher accumulation of education and skills for women. so we need to act immediately – not only to preserve, but to expand on the existing achievements won for women ’ s economic empowerment. and we need to ensure that a changing global economy does not introduce new inequalities.

summary, the overall picture from these various windows into the labour market is that despite the strong employment growth over recent times, there is still considerable spare capacity in the labour market. we remain short of the unemployment rate associated with full employment, there is significant underemployment and there is further potential for labour force participation to increase when the jobs are there. consistent with all of this, wages growth remains modest and is below the rate that would ensure that inflation is comfortably within the 2 to 3 per cent range. the one caveat to this assessment is the difficulty that some firms are having finding workers with the necessary skills. this underlines the importance of workplace training. monetary policy i would like to finish with a few words on monetary policy. as you are aware, the reserve bank board reduced the cash rate to 1¼ per cent at its meeting earlier this month. this was the first adjustment in nearly three years. this decision was not in response to a deterioration in the economic outlook since the previous update was published in early may. rather, it reflected a judgement that we could do better than the path we looked to be on. the analysis that i have shared with you today supports the conclusion that the australian economy can sustain a higher rate of employment growth and a lower unemployment rate than previously thought likely. most indicators suggest that there is still a fair degree of spare capacity in the economy. it is both possible and desirable to reduce that spare capacity. doing so will see more people in jobs, reduce underemployment and boost household incomes. it will also provide greater confidence that inflation will increase to be comfortably within the medium - term target range. monetary policy is one way of helping get us onto to a better path. the decision earlier this month will assist here. it will support the economy through its effect on the exchange rate, lowering the cost of finance and boosting disposable incomes. in turn, this will support employment growth and inflation consistent with the target. it would, however, be unrealistic to expect that lowering interest rates by ¼ of a percentage point will materially shift the path we look to be on. the most recent data – including the gdp and labour market data – do not suggest we are making any inroads into the economy's spare capacity. given this, the possibility of lower interest rates remains on the table. it is not unrealistic to expect a further reduction in the cash rate as the board seeks to wind back spare capacity in