March 26, 2024 Global Indicators Briefs No. 26 Women, International Trade, and the Law: Breaking Barriers for Gender Equality in Export-Related Activities Lolita Laperle-Forget and Alev Gürbüz Cuneo*† W omen are a powerful engine for international trade and economic growth. As workers, small-scale traders, entrepreneurs, and producers, their engagement in export activities has the potential not only to elevate overall productivity and competitiveness in the international market but also to reduce poverty. However, women encounter multiple obstacles and legal barriers when participating in trade, hindering the full realization of economic gains that can be achieved through trade liberalization. is Brief analyzes women’s participation in international trade and impediments to gender equality in national laws measured in the Women, Business and the Law index. Speci cally, in 2024, 504 legal provisions across 145 economies are identi ed as creating unequal conditions between men and women to take part in international trade. Drawing from examples around the world, the Brief further discusses the role of trade instruments, especially preferential trade agreements, in eliminating legal barriers that discriminate against women, and enhancing their involvement in export-related activities to reap the bene ts of trade on global welfare. Why including women is good for international exporting rms, as captured by a higher GDP per capita generally trade observed in developing economies with a higher share of female employment in exporting rms (Figure 1). Women’s participation in international trade plays a pivotal role in driving economic growth. As entrepreneurs, producers, and Conversely, economic growth and trade liberalization can workers, women are involved at every stage of global value chains also promote gender equality (UNCTAD 2017). e (GVCs), fostering productivity, innovation, and competitiveness in hypothesis underlying this research is that open trade makes discrimination—including through the gender wage gap—more global markets (World Bank and WTO 2020). is involvement costly for rms as they are facing intensi ed international includes selling direct exports, supplying goods and services to competition (Becker 1957). us, trade strategies promoting exporting or GVC rms at the domestic level, and participating in competitiveness can result in a virtuous cycle, reducing the gender the labor force of export-oriented industries (Korinek et al. 2021; wage gap and improving working conditions in export-oriented Slaughter 2013). e potential economic bene ts of including industries with a high share of female workers. On the other hand, women in export-related trade activities are highlighted in various a lack of openness to trade can contribute to a negative feedback research papers. For example, a study based on a sample of 9,000 loop, where gender income gaps are more likely to persist in less exporting micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in 80 open economies, and such gaps are likely to curtail economic developing economies found that businesses run by women were growth in the long term (Fontana 2014). 3.56 percent more productive than their counterparts that do not export, and this productivity premium was more than twice that of How international trade affects men and women rms run by men (Davis and Makhikeyev 2021). Research across 64 developing economies suggests that exporting rms depend on differently female workers to a greater extent; the female employment rate for Occupation segregation by gender places women at a disadvantage exporting rms is 9 percentage points higher than for rms that do in reaping the bene ts of international trade. For instance, women not export (Rocha and Winkler 2019). Other empirical evidence entrepreneurs are concentrated in sectors that are less trade-intensive demonstrates a positive association between the participation of or are more subject to high tari s, such as services, or in women in the labor force and economic and export diversi cation low-value-added segments of value chains (World Bank and WTO in developing economies, which promotes economic resilience 2020). Gender disparities are also present in the labor force (Kazandjian et al. 2016). is nding also aligns with the potential of export-oriented industries, with women concentrated in economic gains of integrating women into the workforce of labor-intensive production and low-skilled jobs (World Bank 2019). agurbuz@worldbank.org. llaperleforget@worldbank.org agurbuz@worldbank.org. †Affiliations: World Bank, Development Economics, Women, Business and the Law. For correspondence: llaperleforget@worldbank.org; Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to Tea Trumbic, Ana Maria Tribin Uribe, Deborah Winkler, Emilia Galiano, Daniela Monika Behr, David Francis, and Hannelore Maria L. Niesten for their insightful comments on this Brief. Support for the brief is provided by the United States Agency for International Development through the World Bank’s Competitiveness for Jobs and Economic Transformation (C-JET) Umbrella Trust Fund. The authors thank the Women, Business and the Law Team and the Enterprise Analysis Unit of the Development Economics Global Indicators Department of the World Bank Group for making the data available. The authors thank Nancy Morrison for her editorial assistance. Objective and disclaimer: This series of Global Indicators Briefs synthesizes existing research and data to shed light on a useful and interesting question for policy debate. Data for this Brief are extracted from the Women, Business and the Law (WBL) database and supplemented by desk research. This Brief carries the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank Group, its Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. All Briefs in the series can be accessed via: https://www.worldbank.org/en/research/brief/global-indicators-briefs-series. https://www.worldbank.org/en/research/brief/global-indicators-briefs-series. DECIG – Global Indicators Briefs No. 26 Developing economies with a higher representation of women in the workforce of exporting Figure 1 firms are more likely to have higher GDP per capita 6000 4000 GDP per capita (US$) 2000 0 0 20 40 60 80 Share of female worker in exporting firms (%) Source: World Development Indicators and World Bank Enterprise Surveys. Note: The share of female workers in the x-axis represents the proportion of permanent full-time female workers in firms exporting at least 10 percent of sales. Data on the share of female workers come from the most recent Enterprise Survey between 2009 and 2022 for low- and lower-middle-income economies (N=62). Each point represents a single economy, where the y-axis coordinates plot the corresponding year’s GDP per capita in USD. The fitted line shows the statistically significant positive relation between the two variables (β=26.8; t-stat=3.22). The coefficient’s significance is retained in alternative specifications using log of GDP and log of share of female workers. This statistical relationship should not be interpreted as causal. e way international trade a ects men and women di erently How legal barriers hinder women’s full is rooted in the gendered structure of the economy in uenced by participation in trade gender norms (Berik 2011). is complex interrelationship underscores the importance of paying close attention to the Legal discrimination hindering women’s participation in trade gender-speci c challenges in international trade perpetuated by do not arise from the letter of multilateral and regional trade legal discrimination against women. In this regard, the World Bank agreements. Trade rules are generally phrased with gender-neutral Group Women, Business and the Law (WBL) project is a valuable language and may include a few provisions explicitly prohibiting resource to identify legal impediments holding women back in gender-based discrimination. Moreover, domestic trade regulations international trade. e WBL index regularly measures how laws and procedures do not apply di erent treatment between men and and regulations a ect women’s economic opportunities in 190 women, apart from rare exceptions. Rather, the legal barriers faced economies across 8 indicators. by women in trade arise from domestic laws that establish discriminatory treatment between genders in terms of accessing Using the WBL index, this Brief sheds light on the various economic opportunities (Davis and Mazhikeyev 2021; Gonzales et forms of legal discrimination restricting women’s participation in al. 2015). export activities and demonstrates strategies that can narrow gender gaps in trade, notably through legislation. e contribution of the Certain legal impediments in domestic law can be particularly challenging for women seeking to engage in trade Brief lies in the importance of considering legal discrimination activities—particularly laws restricting women’s legal capacity, against women as governments adopt trade policies and negotiate freedom of movement, ability to access productive resources, and trade agreements. e Brief rst presents data from the WBL index job prospects. While these laws are not likely to explicitly restrict to highlight the legal barriers exacerbating gender gaps in trade women’s engagement in export-related activities, they can prevent worldwide. Data points across ve indicators (Entrepreneurship, women from accessing economic opportunities brought by Assets, Workplace, Pay, and Mobility) are selected because of their international trade or create conditions that are not conducive to relevance to the common challenges reported in the literature as engaging women in international trade (Korinek et al. 2021; World inhibiting women’s participation in international trade. e Brief Bank and WTO 2020). For instance, the ability to travel without then displays examples of legal reforms that have alleviated hindrance to conduct business, trade across the border, or work obstacles to women’s participation in international trade. It outside the home, as well as to sign contracts, build assets, and concludes with a discussion on the potential of preferential trade access credit, is fundamental for women entrepreneurs to agreements (PTAs) in promoting women’s economic rights and participate in international trade. Equally important is the capacity stresses the need for more research on the relationship between legal to integrate women into the labor force of export-oriented impediments faced by women and international trade outcomes. industries without gender-based restrictions. 2 DECIG – Global Indicators Briefs No. 26 Women, Business and the Law identifies 504 legal impediments across 145 economies in 2024 Figure 2 that are likely to create unequal conditions for women to participate in international trade No protection against discrimination in access to credit Entrep. 96 Restriction to undertake entrepreneurial activities 8 WBL data points by indicator Unequal inheritance rights 44 Assets Unequal property rights 21 Workplace Restriction to get a job 19 No protection against discrimination in employment 28 Restriction to work in a job deemed dangerous 45 Restriction to work in an industrial job Pay 59 No protection against discrimination in wage 92 Mobility Restriction to travel outside the home 14 Restriction to travel internationally 18 Number of economies with at least one legal impediment Source: Women, Business and the Law 2024. Note: The number of economies corresponds to the total of economies identified in the Women, Business and the Law (WBL) 2024 index with at least one legal provision imposing a restriction on women or discriminating against women, or economies that do not have a law in force protecting against gender-based discrimination in a given area (wage, employment, and credit) (collectively referred as “legal impediments”). Some WBL data points are https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/wbl-data. combined in the figure for conciseness. The WBL data set is available at https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/wbl-data. e WBL indicators on Entrepreneurship, Assets, Workplace, highlights the signi cance of access to productive resources for Pay, and Mobility precisely measure these legal impediments women’s participation in international trade. Gender-based (Figure 2). Across these ve indicators, the WBL index for 2024 discrimination in inheritance and property rights make it harder for (WBL 2024 index) identi es 504 legal barriers in 145 economies women than for men to provide collateral to obtain credit, which is that are likely to create unequal conditions for women to critical for a rm’s ability to export (Bin Humam et al. 2023; participate in international trade compared to men. e most UNCTAD 2022). Speci cally, investment is often needed to frequent barrier is the lack of legal protection against gender increase rms’ productivity and growth or to improve the discrimination. e absence of such legal protection can exacerbate competitiveness of their goods or services in order to integrate into challenges for women to participate in international trade activities, foreign markets and pro table value chains (Muravyev et al. 2009; such as di culties in accessing credit (Bertrand and Perrin 2022; Stupnytska et al. 2014). Furthermore, complying with requirements Islam et al. 2019). e second most frequent barrier is in labor tied to export regulations and procedures or protections of provisions that restrict the range of jobs women can hold. is in intellectual property in international markets entails additional turn limits women’s capacity to access the same employment costs, which are particularly burdensome for MSMEs and women opportunities as men in export-oriented industries. (World Bank and WTO 2020). Despite increased global e orts to promote inclusive trade and the evidence of gender-speci c Entrepreneurship and Assets indicators obstacles limiting women's participation in international trade, legal discrimination persists in the national laws of numerous Legal discrimination against women in terms of access to assets economies (Table 1). and ability to conduct business activities presents important challenges for women seeking to engage in international trade. Workplace and Pay indicators Women tend to participate in the ownership of exporting rms to a greater extent in economies where they enjoy equal rights, as Gender-based discrimination in employment perpetuates gender-disaggregated data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys gender-di erentiated impacts of international trade. Job segregation on the ownership of exporting rms suggest. e di erence drives men and women into di erent industries, often guiding between the share of exporting rms with female ownership is female workers toward certain economic sectors that are less found to be signi cant and around 7.5 percentage points when trade-intensive or in the lower-added value part of value chains that economies are compared in terms of existence of impediments to yield minimal gains (World Bank 2019; World Bank and WTO women’s entrepreneurship (Figure 3, Panel a). 2020). e share of exporting rms with female owners is around 14 According to data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys percentage points signi cantly greater in economies where men and (from 2009 to 2022), women account for about one-third of the women have equal inheritance and property rights than in workforce in exporting rms at the global level. ere is little economies with legal discriminations as measured in the Assets di erence in terms of the overall female employment rate in indicator (Figure 3, Panel b). is nding aligns with other exporting rms between economies as to whether women face legal research demonstrating that unequal access to assets and credit impediments in the workplace. However, there is a higher share of diminishes women’s likelihood of owning exporting rms female-owned exporting rms in economies without such (Demirgüç-Kunt et al. 2013; World Bank 2019). impediments. e di erence is around 11.2 percentage points and found to be signi cant between economies with and those without e prevalence of exporting rms with female ownership in the legal impediments measured in the Workplace indicator economies where legislation provides equal access to assets for all (Figure 4, Panel a). 3 DECIG – Global Indicators Briefs No. 26 More exporting firms have female owners in economies that do not restrict female Figure 3 entrepreneurship or women’s access to assets in their laws a. Share of exporting firms with female b. Share of exporting firms with female owners in economies with and without owners in economies with and without legal legal impediments to female entrepreneurship impediments to women’s access to assets 40.0 40.0 35.5 35.6 % of exporting firms % of exporting firms 30.0 28.0 30.0 21.7 20.0 20.0 10.0 10.0 0.0 0.0 No legal impediment At least one No legal impediment At least one legal impediment legal impediment Source: Women, Business and the Law data set, and World Bank Enterprise Surveys. Note: Firms exporting at least 10 percent of sales are defined as “exporting firms”. The index is measured for the year of the most recent World Bank Enterprise Survey between 2013 and 2022 and the Women, Business and the Law (WBL) scores for the Entrepreneurship and Assets indicators at that time in 116 economies. The share of exporting firms on the y-axis corresponds to the average of the share of exporting firms in economies that do or do not have legal impediments to female entrepreneurship (panel a) and women’s access to assets (panel b) in their laws. The estimated coefficients for the difference between two subgroups (no legal impediment versus at least one legal impediment) are found to be statistically significant (panel a: β =7.5, t-stat=2.34; panel b: β=13.9, t-stat=3.95). See Table 1 for the specific legal impediments measured in the Entrepreneurship and Assets indicators. http://www.enterprisesurveys.org. The WBL data set is available at Information about the Enterprise Surveys methodology is available at http://www.enterprisesurveys.org. https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/wbl-data. https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/wbl-data. Legal barriers to women entrepreneurs’ participation in export activities measured in the Table 1 Entrepreneurship and Assets indicators Number of WBL data point economies scoring Examples “No” Does the law prohibit discrimination 96 In Equatorial Guinea and Eswatini, married women do not enjoy legal capacity, in access to credit based on gender? as per family laws. is restriction prevents them from signing contracts on their own, including export contracts with foreign rms and for the supply of services Can a woman undertake 8 or goods with GVCs. entrepreneurial activities in the same way as a man? In Guinea-Bissau, married women must obtain the consent of their husbands before engaging in economic activities, including when registering a business. is can a ect women’s capacity to trade formally, as a business registration number is usually required on customs forms to export in foreign markets. Do a woman and a man have equal 21 In Djibouti, the succession provisions in the Family Code grant women half of administrative power and ownership men’s inheritance rights, hence creating unequal conditions to build assets and rights to immovable property, provide collateral to obtain nancial services. In Cameroon, the Civil Code including land? revokes the administrative rights of married women over their property, Do sons and daughters have equal 41 transferring those rights to the husband. Women require their husband’s consent rights to inherit assets from their to use marital property as collateral, whereas husbands can do so without needing parents? their wife’s permission. Such discrimination restricts women’s nancial inclusion and the opportunities to invest in their businesses to integrate foreign markets Do female and male surviving spouses 43 have equal rights to inherit assets? and overcome competition. Sources: Women, Business and the Law 2024. Note: This selection of questions for the Entrepreneurship and Assets indicators in the Women, Business and the Law index features the most relevant questions regarding women’s participation in international trade. e share of exporting rms with female owners is also 8.3 employment in manufacturing, energy, and mining, all being percentage points signi cantly greater in economies where laws do trade-intensive sectors (WTO 2022) (Table 2). not restrict women from working in speci c sectors, at night or in jobs deemed dangerous (Figure 4, Panel b). Such restrictions Mobility indicator contribute to job segregation and gender pay gap in speci c segments and sectors, and prevent women from participating in the Mobility plays an important role for women to be able to workforce of lucrative export-oriented sectors in the same way leverage trade opportunities, yet women face many critical barriers as men. is is the case in economies that prevent women’s that restrict their access to market and trade-related employment 4 DECIG – Global Indicators Briefs No. 26 More exporting firms have female owners in economies that have more gender equal rights Figure 4 in employment a. Share of exporting firms with female b. Share of exporting firms with female owners in economies with and without legal owners in economies with and without legal impediments measured in the Workplace indicator impediments measured in the Pay indicator 40.0 40.0 36.9 34.1 % of exporting firms % of exporting firms 30.0 30.0 28.7 22.9 20.0 20.0 10.0 10.0 0.0 0.0 No legal impediment At least one No legal impediment At least one legal impediment legal impediment Source: Women, Business and the Law data set, and World Bank Enterprise Surveys. Note: Firms exporting at least 10 percent of sales are defined as “exporting firms”. The index is measured for the year of the most recent World Bank Enterprise Survey between 2013 and 2022 and the Women, Business and the Law (WBL) scores for the Workplace and Pay indicators at that time in 116 economies. The share of exporting firms on the y-axis corresponds to the average of the share of exporting firms in economies that do or do not have legal impediments measured under Workplace (panel a) and measured under Pay (panel b) indicators. The estimated coefficients for the difference between two subgroups (no legal impediment versus at least one legal impediment) are found to be statistically significant (panel a: β=11.2, t-stat=2.65; panel b: β=8.3, t-stat=2.47). See Table 2 for the list of legal impediments considered in the Workplace and Pay indicators. Information about the Enterprise http://www.enterprisesurveys.org. The WBL data set is available at https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/wbl-data Surveys methodology is available at http://www.enterprisesurveys.org. https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/wbl-data Legal barriers to women’s access to employment opportunities in export-oriented industries Table 2 measured in the Workplace and Pay indicators Number of WBL data point economies scoring Examples “No” Can a woman get a job in the same 19 In Cameroon and Jordan, women can be denied the right to work outside way as a man? the home by their husband under family laws. ese provisions can severely Does the law prohibit discrimination 28 limit women’s ability to seek employment in exporting and global value in employment based on gender? chain rms and con ne them to unpaid domestic work, hindering their nancial autonomy. Does the law mandate equal 92 remuneration for work of equal value? In China, women are not allowed to work underground. is restriction Can a woman work at night in the 20 limits job opportunities for women in the ores and minerals markets, same way as a man? whose exports are worth more than $2.8 trillion (WITS 2020). In the Russian Federation, one of the major petroleum exporters worldwide, Can a woman work in a job deemed 45 women cannot work in oil production, excluding them from a wide range dangerous in the same way as a man? of jobs in an industry with an export value exceeding $7.3 trillion and Can a woman work in an industrial 59 accounting for 42 percent of total Russian exports (WITS 2020). job in the same way as a man? Sources: Women, Business and the Law 2024. Note: This selection of questions for the Workplace and Pay indicators in the Women, Business and the Law (WBL) index features the most relevant questions regarding women’s participation in international trade. (World Bank and WTO 2020). Housework and caregiving exporting rms or engaging in small-scale cross-border trade (Table obligations and related time constraints present a particular 3). A recent research paper shows a positive and signi cant obstacle for female business owners to network with suppliers, relationship between exports and female employment in economies partners, and buyers; to attend trade fairs; or to travel outside the where no legal provisions impose mobility restrictions on women country to sell their products in foreign markets (Brenton et al. (Amin and Islam 2022). Our analysis using the most recent 2013). While in most parts of the world mobility constraints for Enterprise Survey on female full-time employment and matching women primarily result from household responsibilities in uenced by social norms, several countries place explicit legal restrictions on year’s WBL data supported this nding, suggesting a di erence of women’s freedom of movement. Such legal impediments restrict about 6 percentage points (signi cant at 10% level) between women’s capacity to exploit market opportunities boosted by economies with no legal impediments to women’s mobility and trade liberalization, including employment outside the home in those with at least some of these restrictions. 5 DECIG – Global Indicators Briefs No. 26 Table 3 Legal barriers to women’s participation in cross-border trade measured in the Mobility indicator Number of WBL data point economies scoring Examples “No” In Qatar, family law grants the husband the right to expel his wife from the household Can a woman travel outside her 14 without providing maintenance if she leaves home or the country without his permission. home in the same way as a man? is provision excludes women from freely engaging in cross-border trade or joining the labor force of exporting rms, among others. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Passport Act requires married women to provide the Can a woman travel internationally 18 written consent of their husbands to apply for a passport. is gender-speci c requirement in the same way as a man? creates an additional burden for female cross-border traders to obtain the travel documents usually requested by customs o cials. Sources: Women, Business and the Law 2024. Note: This selection of questions for the Mobility indicator in the Women, Business and the Law index features the most relevant questions regarding women’s participation in international trade. Furthermore, laws restricting women from freely leaving home conditions for women engaged in exporting and GVC rms in or the country prevent them from taking advantage of agreements SEZs. For example, a regulation on gender equality promotion was concluded by international trading partners aimed at increasing adopted in 2012 in the Shenzhen SEZ in Guangdong, China market access. In such instances, women are de facto excluded from (Regulation 479). Under this regulation, public entities and private economic opportunities brought by PTAs and agreements enterprises must implement measures to eliminate gender-based promoting the free movement of persons. is is particularly discrimination and guarantee access to opportunities, resources, evident in the Gulf Cooperation Council, where four out of six and development for both men and women. Similarly, the member states impose restrictions on women’s mobility in their Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Labour Act includes favorable domestic legislation while having committed to providing free provisions for women, such as equal pay, paid maternity leave, and circulation of people to facilitate intraregional trade. a representation of at least 30 percent of female employees in the executive council of the Workers’ Welfare Association. ese Shaping a legal ecosystem that supports trade initiatives are consistent with the broader objective of fostering economic growth by promoting gender-equal opportunities in growth international trade. e economic bene ts of integrating women into trade argue in favor of removing the various forms of legal barriers faced by How preferential trade agreements can encourage women discussed in this Brief. Some countries are adopting legal gender equality in national laws reforms that align with women’s participation in export activities. For example, several developing economies, including Azerbaijan, Another strategy to encourage women’s inclusion in Malaysia, and Sierra Leone have removed job restrictions for international trade is evident in the increasing number of PTAs women within their legal frameworks (WBL 2024). is can negotiated across the regions containing binding obligations to encourage women’s inclusion in export-oriented industries on ensure that laws guarantee equal rights between men and women, equal terms with men. Some reforms were motivated by trade especially in terms of wages and employment (Kuhlmann 2023; concerns, such as in the Philippines, where the ban on women Laperle-Forget 2022). As such, trade agreements can serve as working at night was lifted in 2011 in response to complaints from catalysts for positive reforms in the domestic legislation of the call centers, a key industry oriented toward export services. e economies party to these agreements (state parties). In this regard, service providers claimed that the restriction for women to work at research conducted by the International Labour Organization night was too burdensome and a ected their competitiveness in the (ILO) on more than one hundred PTAs demonstrates positive international market (Staritz and Reis 2013). associations between provisions on minimum labor standards or gender-equal rights in PTAs and the reduction of gender-based Furthermore, in 2009, Sierra Leone implemented a series of discrimination in employment and the gender wage gap, and legal reforms to enhance women’s rights, such as granting married higher female employment rate in economies that have signed these women legal capacity, hence allowing them to sign contracts, agreements (ILO 2016). register businesses, and open bank accounts on their own. e share of female-owned exporting rms in Sierra Leone has A few examples highlight how labor-related PTA commitments increased from 1.7 to 16.9 percent since these reforms were have encouraged positive legal reforms that can support women’s enacted, World Bank Enterprise Surveys data reveal. is trend inclusion in international trade. In the context of the Dominican aligns with the broader observations derived from the WBL and Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement, the World Bank Enterprise Surveys data suggesting that economies United States and Costa Rica agreed on a cooperation roadmap with more gender equal rights (as re ected in a high WBL index targeting the elimination of gender-based discrimination in score) are associated with a greater presence of women as owners employment. e United States often uses this strategy to support and top managers in exporting rms than economies with a lower its trade partners in enacting legal reforms aimed at improving WBL index score (Figure 5). working conditions in export-oriented industries before signing a PTA. During this process, and with the nancial support of the A di erent approach to promote gender equality in United States, Costa Rica reformed its labor code to include greater international trade lies in the emerging practice of including protection against the dismissal of pregnant female workers (ILO speci c provisions promoting gender equality within the legal 2016). Viet Nam reformed its labor code and lifted restrictions for framework of special economic zones (SEZs) (Cotula and Mouan women in the workplace to comply with the obligations to 2021). Although the practice remains limited, some economies eliminate legal discrimination in employment, as provided in have included obligations related to fair and decent working Article 19.3 of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for 6 DECIG – Global Indicators Briefs No. 26 Economies with fewer gender-based discriminating laws are more likely to have a higher share Figure 5 of women-owned and women-led exporting firms a. Share of exporting firms with a female owner b. Share of exporting firms with a female in the economy top manager in the economy 100 50 80 40 % of exporting firms % of exporting firms 60 30 40 20 20 10 10 0 20 40 60 80 100 20 40 60 80 100 WBL score [0-100] WBL score [0-100] East Asia and Pacific Europe and Central Asia OECD High Income Latin America and the Caribbean Middle East and North Africa South Asia Sub-Saharan Africa Source: Women, Business and the Law data set and World Bank Enterprise Surveys. Note: Firms exporting at least 10 percent of sales are defined as “exporting firms.” The data uses an economy’s most recent Enterprise Survey and the Women, Business and the Law (WBL) score from the same year. Higher WBL scores indicate greater gender equality. Each point represents a single economy surveyed between 2013 and 2022. The estimated coefficient between WBL score and the share of exporting firms with female owners (panel a: β= 0.39, t-stat=6.03) and between WBL score and the share of exporting firms with a female top manager (panel b: β=0.21, t-stat=4.62) are found to be statistically significant (N=116 and N=118, respectively). These coefficients remain significant when additional controls, such as the corresponding year’s GDP per capita in USD, regions, and income groups, are added in the specifications. These statistical relationships should not be interpreted as http://www.enterprisesurveys.org. The WBL data set and methodology are causal. Information about the Enterprise Surveys methodology is available at http://www.enterprisesurveys.org. https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/wbl-data. OECD = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. available at https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/wbl-data. Trans-Paci c Partnership (ILO 2016). Moldova reformed its labor not identify any gender-speci c requirements or explicit code to lift restrictions on women’s ability to hold jobs deemed discrimination against women in services domestic regulations, other dangerous and to work in certain industries, after concluding an forms of legal discrimination can restrict women’s access to the association agreement with the European Union (EU) in 2014, services markets (OECD 2023). For instance, women may face paving the way for a potential EU accession. is reform is aligned restrictions in obtaining work permits to supply services in an with the PTA commitment of Moldova to harmonize its legislation economy where employment restrictions for women are in force. with the European Union directives addressing, among others, Such legal discrimination could prevent female foreign workers from gender-equal opportunities and treatment in the workplace supplying services in the mining industry in a country with laws (2006/54/EC). prohibiting women from working underground. Gender disparities like these call for increased attention to the potential of PTAs in PTA negotiations not only in uence how women’s rights are encouraging the removal of gender-based discrimination in laws. guaranteed in legislation but can also promote gender-equal opportunities. is is notably the case for the recent provisions concerning the liberalization of trade in services that explicitly Empowering women in trade: a multifaceted prohibit gender-discriminatory treatment regarding the strategy authorization to supply services. In particular, the PTAs concluded e signi cant gender disparities observed in export activities by the United Kingdom with Australia, Japan, New Zealand, underscore the imperative of providing enhanced support for Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway provide for the obligation of women in the realm of international trade. Securing gender state parties to ensure that domestic regulations on trade in services equality in domestic legislation is consistent with providing equal do not discriminate between men and women. A similar provision conditions for men and women to access economic opportunities was included in the Reference Paper on Services Domestic brought by international trade. Conversely, women’s inclusion in Regulation adopted by 71 Members of the World Trade international trade can foster economic gains in the long term. As Organization (WTO) to promote men’s and women’s equal access shown in this Brief, the WBL index can serve as a valuable tool to to the services market. Considering the importance of the services identify legal barriers holding women back from trade sector for MSMEs owned by women, such provisions are opportunities. Future research could further examine the particularly relevant. relationship between legal impediments identi ed in this Brief and Even though the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and trade outcomes, as well as the impact of trade agreements on Development (OECD) Services Trade Restrictiveness Index does women’s rights. 7 DECIG – Global Indicators Briefs No. 26 e persistent challenges faced by women in export-related impacts of tari and nontari barriers, safety issues at the borders, activities, stemming from both de jure and de facto discrimination, and the wide range of social norms that place women at a highlight the need for an integrated and holistic approach to disadvantage in international trade activities (Korinek and van addressing the barriers that hinder women's participation in Lieshout 2023; Niesten and Laperle-Forget 2023; World Bank and international trade. 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