We are excited to announce the publication of the book entitled ‘’Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment: Evidence from Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.’’
This open-access book results from a research project “Women in Trade Knowledge Platform to Boost Inclusive and Sustainable Growth” funded by International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and led by the Trade Facilitation Office Canada in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA) in Nigeria and the Mekong Institute in Thailand.
The book examines the relationship between trade and women’s economic empowerment, focusing on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in six countries: Cambodia, Ghana, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal, and Vietnam. Three key questions were addressed in this book: (i) Why and under what circumstances do some trade sectors create more jobs for women and others do not? (ii) To what extent are the jobs created contributing to women’s economic empowerment? (iii) What strategies and policies are needed to ensure these sectors work optimally?
Addressing these questions using survey data and qualitative analysis, the book contributes to several of IDRC’s strategic objectives: advancing gender equality and women’s economic empowerment through evidence generation and identifying policy and practice recommendations to boost women’s participation in international markets. It also contributes towards IDRC’s private sector engagement priorities to advance work on building value chains for more sustainable, equitable, and inclusive economies with expanded, lasting, and high-quality economic opportunities for women and youth.