Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment Through Economic Diplomacy: The Case of the Arab Gulf’s Free Trade Agreements

This empirical qualitative research explores the texts of 14 free trade agreements (FTAs) concluded by Arab Gulf countries individually or as block. The objective is to evaluate if these documents are gender-responsive using an internationally recognised framework that qualitatively measures if the agreements are used effectively as a tool to economically empower women. We find that although most of the agreements contain some gender provisions, gender mainstreaming remains limited to encouraging women-owned and women-led small and medium enterprises. This makes them at best limitedly responsive to addressing the gender inequalities that women in export-engaged businesses face. The conclusion outlines the areas for potential improvements in the dozens of agreements currently negotiated by Gulf economic diplomats.