Issues and questions to be addressed - Session I

Understanding the correlation between trade and gender

Gender inequalities undermine people´s well-being, diminish the prospects of economic growth and create inefficiency.

During the last 20 years or so, trade policy in most countries has been geared toward trade liberalization and market opening. Globalization and trade liberalization generate complex and often contradictory effects on women´s access to employment, livelihood and income.

In some cases, trade liberalization has been associated with rising employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for women. In other cases, it has exacerbated existing gender inequalities and worsened women´s economic and social status. Clearly, trade policies have impacts on women as a discrete segment of the population. Yet trade policies have long been gender-blind.

To reap the full benefit from trade policies, economies and workers must adapt. Adaptation is intended as switching resources from declining to expanding sectors. This adaptation problem is more relevant for individuals who are less prone to adjust. In this regard, women are relatively disadvantaged as, in an economic sense, they are generally less adaptable. This is because of women´s relative disadvantages in terms of education and in gaining access to credit, new technologies, training and marketing networks.

Moreover, socio-cultural mores within a country may restrict women´s mobility, which may constrain entry into certain sectors Social mores and norms may also dictate what types of jobs are considered appropriate for women, as well as the terms and conditions of work. Women´s household responsibilities - such as child care, cooking and household chores - leave women with less leisure time to improve their skills or seek new opportunities.

They also lead to a disproportionate number of women working in the informal sector, where it may be easier to combine paid work with domestic responsibilities.

Finally, de jure and/or de facto laws may disadvantage women in terms of their access to land or other resources.

These problems are often more relevant in developing countries because:

1. Differences between genders are often higher in low-income countries; and



2. Developing countries often lack efficient government institutions, safety nets and compensatory policies to facilitate the adjustments.