Women cross-border traders face significant challenges, including time constraints, costs of burdensome procedures, discrimination and harassment at borders.
Despite multilateral calls to address those issues and to make trade policies gender-responsive, notably the Revised Buenos Aires Declaration, limited progress has been made on gender equality in trade.
This policy brief outlines key gender-based barriers for women traders and provides 10+1 policy recommendations to address them.
Key points:
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Women face gender-based barriers at borders that should be addressed through gender-responsive trade facilitation measures.
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UNCTAD recommends implementing the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) with a gender perspective to maximize benefits for women involved in formal and informal trade.
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UNCTAD recommends that national trade facilitation committees (NTFCs) become gender-sensitive bodies that advocate for gender mainstreaming in trade facilitation reforms, and propose measures for women traders.
