ITC's experience shows that women in international trade are
often "social entrepreneurs", improving their lives and those of
their families, employees and commu-nities. The potential exists
for many more such cases, but women entrepreneurs are often
isolated in marginal economic areas such as micro and informal
businesses. Many do not have the same access as their male
counterparts to trade support networks, which they need to expand
their businesses. They may also need different kinds of support,
for instance, more focused on services. Policy-makers and trade
support institutions need to do more to evaluate and meet their
specific needs, for example in export management skills, networking
opportunities, technology use, business information and social
support.
A fresh look
Unlike much of the research available on women in trade, the
Forum special report on Women in the
Global Economy has concrete examples of women exporters and offers
recommendations, contacts and concepts that can be used in training
courses, promotional events or national trade development
programmes.
Reaching out
The report has attracted attention from quarters as diverse as
Xinhua news agency, women ambassadors in Geneva, the UN's
WomenWatch site, the UN's Special Adviser to Women, the World
Bank's Development Gateway, the Centre de Recherche en Commerce
et Développement (Centre for research in trade and
development) of Benin, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the
Organization of Women in International Trade (OWIT) and a number of
universities.
Gender and Trade: Opportunities and Challenges, a new
publication of the UN's Inter-agency Task Force on Gender and
Trade, draws strongly from the Forum report's conclusions in its
chapter on "Gender-specific capacity building for trade and
enterprise development: Experiences in the UN system".
Moving ahead
A variety of ITC efforts, big and small, to support women in
trade coexist, as "mainstreaming" picks up steam and we at ITC
begin to understand how we can address women exporters' needs:
- For the first time, ITC's annual Executive Forum on
National Export Strategies will dedicate a session to
women exporters' needs. The debate will be based on country
experiences in supporting women's involvement in international
trade.
- In Cameroon, ITC is nearing the conclusion of
its pilot project on helping women entrepreneurs tap into business
opportunities using information and communications technology
(ICT). At its last workshop, over 80 women entrepreneurs and
associations were trained on how ICTs could help them to be more
competitive in handicrafts, textiles and clothing, agro-business
and services. Participants said they benefited from training,
awareness-building and especially national and regional networking
opportunities. They formally asked the government to organize
similar events elsewhere in Cameroon and requested that ITC expand
the project in western Africa.
- In services exporting, women's associations
are now systematically invited to ITC's seminars, a step has has
substantially improved the ratio of women at those export training
seminars.
- ITC and the Trade Facilitation Office Canada
will help women entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa as part of
their joint Programme for Building African Capacity for Trade. They
will develop national skills in export management training for
women exporters and provide networking support to integrate
women's associations into "formal" trade support networks operating
nationally, regionally and internationally in order to tap into
business information and contacts.
- ITC's Trade Maps and Product Maps have been
offered free, for one year, to members of the Organization
of Women in International Trade. ITC's market analysis
team now know where OWIT chapters exist worldwide, and regularly
arrange hands-on training sessions when they are travelling in the
country.
- Forum online is opening a special
section dedicated to the issue of women exporters. And within ITC,
we've developed a communications package containing presentations,
articles and model letters for use among staff.
ITC at UNCTAD XI
High-level Interactive Round Table on Trade and
Gender - 15 June.
ITC's Executive Director, a panellist for this session in São
Paolo, will advocate for trade policy-makers to take into account
the needs of women exporters during this debate on policy issues
surrounding gender and trade.
For more information about ITC's activities for women in
trade, see issue 4/2003 of Forum, Women in
the Global Economy.