Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment: Evidence from Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Intro -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- About the Authors -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 Context -- 1.1.1 Trade and Development -- 1.2 Trade and Gender: A Summary of Existing Evidence -- 1.2.1 Themes and Dynamics Related to Gender and Trade -- 1.2.2 Summary of Findings from Existing Research -- Employment Effects -- Earnings and Job Quality -- Household Dynamics -- 1.2.3 Research Gaps -- 1.3 Research Questions and Approach -- 1.3.1 The Way Forward -- Notes -- References -- 2 Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment: Survey Results for SMEs Across Six Developing Countries -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Context -- 2.3 Survey Results -- 2.3.1 Favourability to Women-Ownership, Employee Distribution, Wages and Benefits -- 2.3.2 Trade-Related Data -- 2.3.3 Exporting vs. Non-exporting SMEs -- 2.3.4 Technology Use and Covid-19 -- 2.3.5 Comparison with Secondary Data8 -- 2.4 Conclusions and Recommendations -- Appendix -- Survey Questionnaire -- Section 1-Background Information -- Section 2-Employee -- Section 3-Nature of Work, Wages and Benefits -- Section 4-Trade-Related Questions -- Notes -- References -- 3 Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment: Qualitative Analysis of SMEs from Cambodia and Vietnam -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Research Design -- 3.3 Context -- 3.3.1 Cambodia -- Export Performance -- Labor Force Participation -- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) -- 3.3.2 Vietnam -- Export Performance -- Labor Force Participation -- Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) -- 3.3.3 Comparative Analysis -- 3.4 Key Findings from Qualitative Analysis -- 3.4.1 Modalities and Conditions for Trade Sectors to Create Jobs for Women -- Cambodia -- Vietnam -- 3.4.2 Broader Impacts of Trade Sectors on Women's Economic Empowerment -- 3.5 Conclusion -- 3.5.1 Cambodia -- 3.5.2 Vietnam -- Concluding Thoughts -- References.

This open access book examines the relationship between trade and women's economic empowerment by focusing on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in six countries: Cambodia, Ghana, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal and Vietnam. The authors make use of both survey data and qualitative analysis to understand why and how trade can create more jobs for women, and how the jobs created are contributing to women's empowerment. They propose strategies and policies for ensuring that women can benefit from trade. After providing the context for the research and reviewing the literature on trade and gender in the introductory chapter, the second chapter analyzes survey data collected for this project. This is followed by a qualitative analysis of the six country cases in the next two chapters: Cambodia and Vietnam (Chapter 3), followed by Ghana, Madagascar, Nigeria and Senegal (Chapter 4). The final chapter concludes with a summary of our findings and policy recommendations.