Women serving as Trade or Commerce Minister:
196 Countries and territories in CIA World Leaders Directory
25 Countries with Women as Trade/Commerce Ministers, December 2021
25 Countries with Women as Trade/Commerce Ministers, March 2010
At some future date — perhaps next spring — the World Trade Organization’s 12th Ministerial Conference will convene after two COVID-forced postponements. Known for short as “MC-12,” the event will join the Trade Ministers of the 164 WTO members (in principle; in practice some don’t show, and some members don’t have trade or commerce ministries) in hopes to agree on fishery subsidy reform, trade and health, and institutional reform. Whenever it meets, and whatever the outcomes, two things are for certain:
(1) Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (pictured below), appointed Director-General this past January, will be the first woman to convene a WTO Ministerial Conference. A former Nigerian Finance Minister, academic, and World Bank official, she is the first female Director-General among the 10 “DG’s” in the 73-year history of the WTO and its predecessor, the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade).
(2) Dr. Okonjo-Iweala won’t have a ton of female company among the assembled Ministers. Using the CIA’s online “Directory of World Leaders” (a useful but somewhat shaky source; see below), PPI Trade & Global Markets staff count 19 women serving as Trade Minister around the world this month, plus at least six more with broader jobs — Ministers of Economy, Foreign Affairs, etc. — which also cover trade. The 25-Minister total, representing about 12% of the world’s Cabinet-level trade positions, is identical to the count in a Trade Fact dating to 2010.
Why do so few women get these jobs? Posing the question this way is probably an error: Trade ministries are not an odd exception, but pretty typical. The CIA’s Directory finds women holding about 11% of the world’s defense ministries, 6% of finance ministries, 12% of health ministries, 15% of education ministries, and so on. Looking back, the last decade looks like one of stasis or even regression — women’s share of economic and law positions seems roughly stable; the share in health, culture, and education jobs fell from about 25% to 15%; and appointments in defense, police, and finance appointments remain particularly rare.
Overall, a pretty static and glum environment — but three bright spots. At the very top, publics appear at least a bit more open to choosing women as national leaders, with 25 serving as heads of government. At home, the United States looks unusually good in economic diplomacy just now, with U.S. Trade Representative Katharine Tai representing the U.S. whenever MC-12 does convene; the Treasury Department run by Janet Yellen (also a former Federal Reserve chief and lead White House economist); and the Commerce Department by Gina Raimondo. And top-tier international organizations also show progress, if from a truly dismal base. As of 2010, no female had ever appeared among the lists of UN Secretaries-General, International Monetary Fund Managing Directors, World Bank Presidents, WTO and GATT Directors-General, or International Labor Organization Directors-General. The past decade has brought three such appointments (among eight total): those of Christine Lagarde in 2011 and Kristalina Georgieva in 2019 at the IMF, and most recently that of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala at the WTO. She gets the last word: “Gender equality is a fundamental human rights issue and also an economic empowerment issue. We should all work harder.”
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in remarks for International Women’s Day (March 21), on the WTO, trade in the COVID-19 pandemic, the positive role trade integration appears to have on women workers, and pandemic lessons on women as national leaders.
Read about the UN on women’s leadership and political participation.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen discusses opportunities and challenges for women in the economics profession with IMF Managing Director Georgieva (“many obstacles,” and “a cultural problem in the profession”).
And remarks from Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on competitiveness, workforce development, innovation, and equity.
From PPI, the Mosaic Economic Project
Mosaic provides training in media and publishing, network-building, and other services for two classes of 8-12 women in economics each year. Program Director Jasmine Stoughton explains on the Neoliberal Project podcast.
… Applications open for the February 2022 Mosaic cohort can be found here.… and 2021 Mosaic cohort member Aditi Mohapatra, Managing Director of Business for Social Responsibility, on next-decade agenda for private-sector hiring equity.
Around the world
The inaugural “USMCA” Ministerial meeting joins Amb. Tai with Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng and Mexican Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier.
Khadija bint M’barek Fall on her work as Mauritania’s Commerce Minister.
Lithuania’s Ausrine Armonaite encourages girls to choose science careers.
Read about Colombia’s Maria Ximena Lombana Villalba.
Taiwan’s Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua pitches a bilateral trade agreement with the U.S. as potential solution to semiconductor shortages.
Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Commerce Betty Maina on Kenyan industry’s response to COVID.
A source note
The CIA’s online Directory of the world’s presidents, Cabinet ministers, Central Bank chiefs, and other great and wise is a valuable and possibly unique on-line public resource. The Agency’s claim that it is “updated weekly”, however, is a bold overstatement. As of today (Dec. 8) it still cites Benjamin Netanyahu as Israeli Prime Minister, though Naftali Bennett has had the job for 25 weeks. The Directory likewise notes the dissolution of the Malaysian government in March 2021 but lists no Ministers at all. It also skips some Ministers, such as Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng and Mexican Economy Secretary Tania Clouthier. Hopefully the IC knows the identity of Israel’s PM, is aware that Malaysia has a government, is familiar with the top trade negotiators for Mexico and Canada, and has just been busy with other important matters. The percentages above rest on this Directory, though we’ve rechecked in general and updated our count of 25 Trade Ministers by examining national websites. Nonetheless, apologies if we missed anyone. The CIA’s Directory of World Leaders and Cabinet Officers can be found here.
And last, returning to Geneva and the WTO for some (very) long-term perspective
In 1558, two miles south down Quai Wilson and over the Rhone from Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s office, Presbyterian Church father John Knox used a temporary Geneva base to write up his First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. Mr. Knox’s 22,000-word bid for “worst book anywhere, ever” makes three arguments against government appointments, and especially against national leadership roles, for women:
Looking out at the Pacific this year, worried farmers see giant cargo ships turning around empty, leaving their wine, butter and almond cargoes on the docks and at least $1.5 billion in exports lost. Meanwhile, 80-ship pileups off the coast of Southern California mean weeks or even months of delays unloading industrial inputs and consumer goods; and with truckers and warehouse workers quitting their jobs at record rates, full containers are piling up in fields and parking lots.
The port problems are complicated and serious enough to worry even President Biden, who has given speeches and put out policies to head off complaints about everything from empty shelves during Christmas shopping weeks to lost farm exports and inflationary bottlenecks.
Ed Gresser is Vice President and Director for Trade and Global Markets at PPI.
Ed returns to PPI after working for the think tank from 2001-2011. He most recently served as the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Trade Policy and Economics at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). In this position, he led USTR’s economic research unit from 2015-2021, and chaired the 21-agency Trade Policy Staff Committee.
Ed began his career on Capitol Hill before serving USTR as Policy Advisor to USTR Charlene Barshefsky from 1998 to 2001. He then led PPI’s Trade and Global Markets Project from 2001 to 2011. After PPI, he co-founded and directed the independent think tank ProgressiveEconomy until rejoining USTR in 2015. In 2013, the Washington International Trade Association presented him with its Lighthouse Award, awarded annually to an individual or group for significant contributions to trade policy.
Ed is the author of Freedom from Want: American Liberalism and the Global Economy (2007). He has published in a variety of journals and newspapers, and his research has been cited by leading academics and international organizations including the WTO, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund. He is a graduate of Stanford University and holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from Columbia Universities and a certificate from the Averell Harriman Institute for Advanced Study of the Soviet Union.
