What is a TradeExperette?
Hanna Norberg on the Experettes networking trail….
What is a TradeExperette? Trade + Expert + Female = #TradeExperette
Listen to the story of how the "TradeExperette" movement got started on our Podcast
In our latest podcast, Kellie Kemock interviews TradeExperettes founder and “lead instigator” Hanna Norberg. Hanna explains how a twitter conversation about the glaring absence of women on a high-level trade policy panel sparked a global response, growing almost overnight to include hundreds of names of female trade experts, and with followers now numbering into the thousands.
Birth of a movement
Hanna explains that the group – which she fondly describes as “a fantastic beast” – came about organically, with the idea of addressing the unconscious biases that women encounter, preventing them not only from speaking up, but also from being called on by others. The aim is to propel and highlight women experts, by assembling a diverse reference list to draw on for conferences, advisory roles and media opportunities. Importantly, Hanna adds, the goal is also to facilitate engagement on trade issues among the Experettes themselves, to enable them to use those shared insights “as a superpower in the world”. The group includes stellar experts in the fields of trade policy, economics, trade negotiation, trade law, regulation and technology – who just happen to be women. Hanna is quick to point out that the idea is not to exclude men, and in fact the group proudly has male champions, but to highlight the under-represented (women) experts from around the world. “Diversity is key…. to really enlighten people and have good conversations about trade, we all need a variety of information from different sources,” adds Hanna.
2020: The year of the experettes!
What’s next for the Experettes? Hanna shares the exciting news that the group has secured seed funding for its basic day-to-day running and to launch a series of events around the world over the next two years, likely including Brussels, Stockholm and Washington, and seeking to shine a light on topical issues such as European trade policy, digital trade and the multilateral trading system – watch this space for more about this!
A female economist’s journey
The podcast concludes with Hanna’s candid account of her own journey as a female trade economist trying to bridge the gap between researchers, policymakers and the private sector, as well as her vision of trade policy as a force for good (light sabers at the ready, all!)
This blog post was prepared by Namali Mackay, TradeExperette and Brexit Trade Advisor.