Recommended Reading
Gender equality and trade-related capacity building: a resource tool for practitioners
By Canadian International Development Agency
This publication provides an introduction to the main gender equality issues arising from trade liberalisation and trade-related capacity building. These include the fact that:
- Barriers in accessing trade-related technical information and training are often more significant for women than men
- Women-owned export businesses are more often informal and/or smaller in scale than those owned by men and thus face greater difficulty in achieving compliance with standards and international competitiveness.
- Policy-makers do not have adequate information of gender inequalities related to safety and quality.
The tool also outlines possible approaches to integrating gender-equality considerations into trade-related capacity building programmes, for example by:
- Building the capacity of government, NGOs and the private sector to monitor the impacts of rules and standards on female and male producers respectively.
- Training customs officials to address the barriers women face in cross-border trade, including the harassment of female traders by customs officials.
- Ensuring that projects identify and address any gender-based barriers to training and information.
The final section of the document lists online resources on gender equality and trade.
Summary written by BRIDGE and Siyanda