Let's Push for Better Opportunities for Women in Trade

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According to three international trade bodies, for a more inclusive approach to rebuilding the post-pandemic economy, women need to participate more in the most profitable exporting sectors.

At the World Trade Organization (WTO) Public Forum in Geneva last week, WTO director general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, International Trade Centre (ITC) executive director Pamela Coke-Hamilton and Institute of Export and International Trade (IoE&IT) director general Marco Forgione highlighted the importance of an inclusive economic recovery, with a particular view to getting more women into the world’s most lucrative – but male-dominated – industries of STEM, automotive, aerospace, manufacturing and finance.

Read more about how the WTO, ITC and Institute of Export and International Trade push for better opportunities for women in trade.

Why Aren't More Women Exporting?

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As I [Laurel Delaney] wrote for Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®, women hold up half the sky and according to the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Women’s Entrepreneurship report, they also are involved in a whole heck of a lot of startups – to the tune of more than 274 million women worldwide.  Yet according to the GEM report:

Women entrepreneurs are much less likely than men to report exports to over 25% of their customers in every country in this region, with the exception of Indonesia, where women are 2.7 times more likely than men to report high levels of export activity.

Learn more here.

Women Entrepreneurs Are Lifting the Developing Economies

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The Asian Correspondent reports that although barriers facing women-owned SMEs are not dissimilar to those that male entrepreneurs face, there are significant gender differences in the reasons that women give for not scaling up — such as loans, innovation, expansion or exporting. These differences have policy implications for government and business stakeholders in understanding the enabling factors and barriers that women entrepreneurs face.

Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global™, a leading USA nonprofit which educates women entrepreneurs and business owners on how to go global believes that to succeed in today’s economic climate — and beyond — it’s more essential than ever for women business owners to be informed and inspired to grow global. 

Asian Correspondent goes on to say that having an entrepreneurial mindset plays a critical role when women SME owners decide not to apply for a loan, not export or not expand their business. The number one reason given for not exporting was that the owner was content with the current state of business. For not applying for a loan, it was an aversion to taking on any debt.

Read more about how female business owners face a unique set of challenges.

wegg®: The Secret Sauce to Getting More Women to Export

©Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global™.  Used with permission.

What am I [Laurel Delaney] most passionate about?  Helping entrepreneurs and business owners expand their businesses internationally.   In particular, I want to see more women business owners move into this territory -- outside their comfort zone and into the world of business.

Based on experience, I knew that women who run businesses are less likely to trade internationally than those owned by men. I wanted to change the landscape for women from being risk-averse to having confidence to go for it—with the appropriate support. And that’s how wegg® [Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global™] was born, which I’ll tell you more about in a bit.

Read more about how wegg is the secret sauce to getting more women to export.