Executive Summary
Project purpose
Gender equity is considered as one of the Millennium Goals of Sustainable Development by United Nations. In the context of the Trade Facilitation Agreement as a centerpiece of the Bali Package developed by World Trade Organization (WTO), gender disparities reduce the gains that can be achieved in terms of international trade opportunities and country’s competitiveness and economic growth. In this regard, WTO, Intracen, UN and The World Bank are sheding some light on the fact that gender equality matters as an instrument for economic development through international trade activities.
Gender discrimination in trade facilitation has multiple dimensions. The synergies of those inequalities affect the integration of women in international trade. In terms of legal framework, discrimination appears in access to assets (inheritance laws, access to credit and loans,…). The inequities affect women as workers, because there are limitations for accessing to the top levels of work, suffer salary inequalities, requires higher security protection in cross-border activities, and women have difficulties to achieve the professional knowledge. All these facts reduce the number of women that participate in activities related to trade facilitation as traders, cross border management, transportation, logistics chain management, infrastructures, ICT, advisory services, etc.
Project scope
The scope of this project is limited to Women in Trade Facilitation. This project also underscores case examples and the importance of ex-ante and ex-post analysis about gender equality in trade reforms, which involve quantitative and qualitative analysis about the female participation in sectors related to international trade facilitation globally.
