Empowering Women in International Trade
Trade generally helps promote development and reduce poverty by increasing trade and investment opportunities, developing the private sector leading to increased productivity and competitiveness, and allowing countries to participate in the global economy.
International reports and global experiences confirm that trade raises women's wages and helps close the wage gap between men and women while creating better job opportunities for women. Countries that are open to international trade tend to grow faster, innovate, improve productivity, and provide higher incomes and greater opportunities for their people. A country that is more open to trade, as measured by the trade-to-GDP ratio, has higher levels of gender equality.
Economic indicators show that giving women the same opportunities as men can improve a country's competitiveness and productivity, which in turn positively impacts economic growth and poverty reduction. Globally, eliminating all forms of discrimination against women can raise per capita productivity by 40 percent, according to the World Bank (Doing Business, 2017). Nearly 10 million of the world's SMEs are owned by women. SMEs account for about 80 percent of jobs worldwide, so increasing their competitiveness boosts the likelihood of job creation. Sustained economic growth and the realization of development goals can only be achieved through the active participation of women.
Strengthening the role of women in trade contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by helping to achieve SDG 5: "Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls" and SDG 8: "Promote inclusive, sustainable and inclusive economic growth: "Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all" E-commerce conducted through online platforms can be an easy and inexpensive way for women to enter new foreign markets and expand their businesses. Targeted trade policies can also help women maximize the benefits of trade. These measures include removing trade barriers that impede women's access to international markets and improving women's access to education, financial services and digital technologies.