The rhetoric of the e-commerce opportunity in policy dialogues on trade and development often fails to engage with concerns on equity and inclusion. While the pandemic has given a new impetus to digital trade, the status quo of data extractivism presents an insurmountable barrier to gender-inclusive economic recovery. A new gender transformative digital policy paradigm is needed that places sustainable livelihoods, data rights, and national public data infrastructure development at the center.
In the light of the upcoming fifteenth quadrennial conference of UNCTAD (October 3-7) and the twelfth ministerial conference of the WTO (November 30-December 3), Anita Gurumurthy and Nandini Chami revisit the gender and development implications, and consequent policy imperatives of the ongoing global digital transformation.
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