Women's Edge Coalition (Women Thrive Worldwide as of January 2008) brings the needs of women in poor countries straight to U.S. decision-makers, urging the Senate to extend and improve vital Trade Preference Programs.

On May 17, 2007 Edge brought the needs of women living in poverty in the developing world straight to U.S. decision-makers by advocating before the Senate Finance Committee on the importance of extending trade preference programs.

Katrin Kuhlmann, Edge’s Senior Vice President for Global Trade, spoke passionately before a packed room and a panel of Senators at the first hearing on U.S. Trade Preference Programs in seven years, urging that such programs be continued and reformed so that millions of women around the world have the chance to lift their families out of poverty.

Trade Preference Programs allow poor countries to export goods to the U.S. without quotas or duties.  Drawing on her own experiences, Katrin explained how the U.S.’s current system of trade preferences has created hundreds of thousands of jobs for impoverished women in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, India, the Philippines and Thailand in sectors like clothing, agriculture and jewelry manufacturing. Because jobs for women means food for families—it’s estimated that every women’s apparel job supports 15 other people, for example—keeping and improving U.S. trade preferences is critical for women living in poverty. “For these women,” Katrin said, “secure access to markets can literally mean the difference between surviving and starving. In answering a question from Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana), Katrin also urged the U.S. to reform preference programs to allow greater exports of products from poor countries, especially in sectors where women work in large numbers. She proposed that programs be made permanent and consistent, and reformed to include provisions crucial to women, like protection from discrimination in the workplace.

Edge has presented proposals for comprehensive reform on U.S. Trade Preference Programs to the Senate Finance Committee:

• Grant 100 percent access to the U.S. market (duty-free quota-free) for all sub-Saharan African countries currently covered by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), Least Developed Countries and low-income countries vulnerable to natural disaster and other shocks;
• Address Africa’s unique needs through special benefits for sub-Saharan Africa (“AGOA Plus”);
• Consolidate current U.S. trade preference programs into one simple, permanent program with one set of comprehensive rules and eligibility criteria, including protection against discrimination in the workplace; and
• Provide for integrated and targeted trade capacity building assistance.
  

Muhammad Yunus, pioneer of the global micro-credit movement and Bangladeshi Nobel Peace Prize winner for 2006, also testified at the May 16 Senate Finance Committee hearing.  He said the U.S. faces a historic opportunity to eliminate poverty in Bangladesh by extending its trade preference programs.  If Bangladesh were allowed duty-free access to U.S. markets, he estimated, wages would increase and 2 million more women would find work in the clothing industry. Other speakers at the hearing included Meredith Broadbent of the Office of the United States Trade Representative, Political Science Professor Eric Reinhardt of Emory University, and Marcos Iberkleid, President of the Bolivian company Ametex.

To read more about Edge's trade work and why trade matters for women click here.

Watch Katrin testify!
Click here to watch the Senate Finance Committee hearing. 

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