A STUDY ON GENDER JUSTICE IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW

International trade law is commonly framed through principles such as non-discrimination, market access, transparency and predictable regulation. Yet trade is not experienced in a gender-neutral manner. Women participate in international commerce as workers in export industries, farmers and producers, small-business owners, informal and cross-border traders, service providers, consumers and public decision-makers. Their ability to benefit from trade is shaped by unequal access to finance, land, technology, skills, transport, care infrastructure and formal business networks. Trade liberalisation can create employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, but it can also intensify insecure work, sectoral segregation, unequal pay and barriers to market entry. This article examines the relationship between gender justice and international trade law through a doctrinal and policy-based analysis of the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework, international human rights instruments, international labour standards and gender provisions in regional trade agreements. It argues that the existing international framework recognises equality in several important instruments but does not yet provide a comprehensive, consistently enforceable system for assessing and remedying the gendered effects of trade rules. The article distinguishes formal equality from substantive equality and proposes a practical model for gender-responsive trade governance based on ex ante impact assessment, sex-disaggregated data, participation, enforceable labour protections, support for women-led enterprises and transparent monitoring. It concludes that gender justice should not be treated as a peripheral social objective; it should form part of the assessment of whether trade policy produces inclusive and sustainable development.