INF/TGE/R/1  
 
9 November 2021 
(21-8502) Page: 1/15 
Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender  Original: English  
 
 
PROGRESS REPORT ON  WTO MEMBERS AND OBSERVERS TECHNICAL WORK  
ON WOMEN 'S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT  
The following communication, dated 5 November  2021, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegations of Botswana, El Salvador and Iceland.  
 
_______________  
 
 
1. INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  Members recall that the WTO work on trade and women is based on the 2017 Buenos Aires 
Declaration on Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment and on the Interim Report establishing 
on 23  September 2020 the Informal  Working Group (IWG) on Trade and Gender in the WTO 
(WT/L/1095/Rev.1) ; 
 
1.2.  Members reiterate the objectives of the IWG on Trade and Gender and recall that its work is 
based on four pillars: (i) reviewing analytical work undertaken; (ii) experience sharing; 
(iii) considering the concept and scope for a "gender lens"; and (iv) contributing to the Aid -for-Trade 
Work Programme ; 
 
1.3.  Based on these pillars, Members have advanced their technical work to acquire a better 
understanding of the trade and women's economic empowerment nexus and how this issue is 
integrated into Members' trade and trade policies. They highlight in this documen t the key points 
raised under each pillar combined by category of policy interventions.  
 
2. TRADE EXPORTS IN THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN SUPPORT OF WOMEN'S ECONOMIC 
ACTIVITY AND LIVELIHOOD  
2.1.  Through a combination of capacity -building programmes, donations, promotion of productive 
projects, economic and financial, technical and institutional support by international and national  
organizations, the Ministry of  Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries (facilitating 
exports) and the Mini stry of Telecommunication and the Information Society have developed an 
e-Commerce National Strategy that benefited women providing assistance to create a website to 
sell products internationally. All the income comes back to the communities (Ecuador, Asso ciation 
of Waorani Women: women's economic empowerment in the Ecuadorian Amazon region while 
preserving the ecosystem and indigenous culture).  
 
3. DATA COLLECTION LEADS TO INFORMED POLICIES  
3.1.  Based on the results of online surveys to assess the needs of pot ential women exporters, the 
Women Entrepreneurs Network Programme and the Export Academy for Women -Owned Small 
Businesses were created to provide technical assistance and information on how to export and on 
e-commerce (use of online platforms, return proce dures, packaging and quality standards), and 
support networking activities. As a result, 44% of the participants increased their exports; 
18% started to export, and 92%  included export activities among their future plans (Turkey);  
3.2.  Importance of data and ge nder-based analysis: (i) women traders and producers in the Pacific 
region identified the need to improve national capacity through enhanced policy coordination, 
transport and trade infrastructure; (ii) address obstacles such as access to training, skills 
development, and finance; and (iii) simplify trade and business formalization procedures. Hence the INF/TGE/R/1  
 
- 2 - 
 
  importance of examining the specific needs of women and adopting policies based on these identified 
needs (New Zealand);  
3.3.  Data collection methodology on wom en-owned businesses to identify trade characteristics of 
women -owned and men -owned businesses as well as trade obstacles by using  two types of datasets 
to analyse the entrepreneurship gender gap: administrative data (e.g. census, tax filing, and export 
registry) and surveys. The methodology includes qualitative and quantitative analysis to identify 
characteristics of women -owned and men -owned businesses, as well as how these firms are 
impacted by trade and trade policies. Surveys also enabled to identify tr ade obstacles faced by 
women such as logistical barriers and foreign border administration. Other methods used imply 
conducting research to explore the sharp rise in export likelihood (e.g. digital trade and innovation) 
but also to understand why women exp ort less in terms of value - networks, trade barriers and 
others (Canada);  
3.4.  Examining data on women's business ownership: (i) by using administrative source -based 
data, such as the business owner and the administrative tax files that provide a match between  
employees and employers in the economy; (ii) by using survey -based data that provides information 
on ownership characteristics, barriers to growth, business engagement, and the changing use of 
e-commerce and the Internet, among others (Canada);  
3.5.  Providing  a structure to ensure the cooperation between the bureau of statistics and the 
decision -makers to understand the data need better and strengthen evidence -based 
decision -making (Canada);  
3.6.  Adoption of a national statistical standards to ensure quality statis tical information, improve 
transparency and create a meaningful statistical portrait of people, society, economy and the 
environment, among other purposes (Canada);  
3.7.  Improving gender -disaggregated data collection to better understand this linkage between 
gender and trade by including statistics related to the number of businesses, trade destinations and 
volumes, employment performances (Korea);  
3.8.  Data collection to better understand the distribution of trading firms by using two  databases 
fostering women's p articipation in trade as employers and employees. One  database provides 
information regarding the firms' characteristics (e.g. firm size, industry, productivity, export value 
by product and destinations). It is based on five  sources: (i)  customs trade data ; (ii) business 
registry; (iii) corporate tax data; (iv)  business survey data; and (v) monthly payroll data. The other 
database provides information regarding employees' characteristics (e.g. gender, ethnicity, regions 
and location and salary). It is based  on four sources: (i) individual tax data; (ii) census data; 
(iii) other admin data; and (iv) monthly payroll data. The results from this methodology corroborate 
the underrepresentation of female employees in good -exporting firms. There is a significantly larger 
portion of male employees in exporting firms (41.7% women and 58.2% men). The  wages are higher 
in exporting firms compared to non -exporting firms. However, the gender pay gap is higher in direct 
and indirect export firms than in non -export firms. De pending on the sectors, the gap varies between 
11% to 43%. These findings highlight the need to promote women's participation in high -level skilled 
jobs and leadership positions in trader firms. In addition, women employees are more likely to work 
for larg er goods -export firms than men, but women -owned exporters operate in similar numbers to 
men-owned businesses. Data collection will be extended to the services sector and will help define 
the concepts of ownership and leadership in business while cover indi genous people (New Zealand);  
3.9.  High quality in data collection and analysis is key to tracking progress on the results of domestic 
and international trade and gender initiatives. In this regard, the bureau of statistics produces annual 
gender indicators, wh ich disaggregate outcomes for women and men across the domains of 
economic security, education, work and family balance, safety and justice, democracy, governance 
and citizenship. Each release tracks progress made on greater equality (Australia);  
3.10.  Important  challenges remain to be addressed in the development of national statistics. For 
example, the statistical analysis of trade as a branch of economic activity in national surveys often 
does not clearly distinguish between foreign trade and domestic trade (P eru);  INF/TGE/R/1  
 
- 3 - 
 
  3.11.  Online gender analysis tool to be developed, specifically adapted for Asia -Pacific Economic 
Cooperation (APEC) architecture, to assist APEC economies to make better use of data to create and 
inform gender -responsive policy. This work is currently in  its early stages (New  Zealand).  
4. ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF TRADE, TRADE POLICIES AND TRADE AGREEMENTS ON 
WOMEN  
4.1.  Gender -Based Analysis Plus (GBA+): methodology to assess the impact of trade policies and 
trade agreements on diverse groups of men and women. The analysis goes beyond gender or sex. 
GBA+ ensures the incorporation of a gender lens in all policies. It also helps to identify domestic 
policies that need to be developed, changed or eliminated and what data is missing. GBA+ requires 
gender -disaggregat ed data across a number of economic and trade variables, the capacity to 
interpret data in a trade policy context, and to develop and implement economic modelling. This 
method combines a quantitative and qualitative analysis. This method could be used to i nspire the 
development of a gender lens to the work of the WTO (Canada);  
4.2.  Research conducted on evaluating the sustainable and inclusive impacts of trade. This includes 
looking at the distributional characteristics of women in trade by using business databa se to 
explore  the experiences of  women  as both business owners and employees  within the tradable 
sector (New Zealand);  
4.3.  A framework of analysis to support governments to develop gender -responsive trade policies 
by assessing the impact of their trade policie s on women. It also helps to design accompanied 
domestic policies and programmes to mitigate the unintended negative impacts. The framework of 
analysis comprises a quantitative and a qualitative component. There are four aspects to the 
quantitative analysi s: (i) measure impacts of trade and trade policies on women's employment, 
wages and other job characteristics; (ii)  measure price impacts of trade on consumers, especially 
the most vulnerable; (iii)  ascertain indicators of trade facilitation and regulatory  transparency; and 
(iv) assess barriers to women's participation in trade (access to credit and resources; networks; lack 
of time). The qualitative analysis aims to survey women to identify trade barriers. This involves 
active engagement with stakeholders that integrates gender perspectives, identifies promising 
avenues for gender -sensitive outcomes, and highlights potential adverse effects. Recommendation: 
women should be involved in trade policy development (OECD);  
4.4.  Research that is contextualized to a cou ntry's unique realities is a critical enabler to addressing 
gender equity issues in trade. Example of UNCTAD's research in the Pacific regarding women in 
Kiribati and their participation in intra -island and international trade: a number of factors complica te 
data collection in the Pacific region, including its unique geography, dispersed and remote 
communities, and the small size of some populations. One of the challenges highlighted in UNCTAD's 
report was collecting data on women's trading roles in the inf ormal sector. Reflecting this in research 
requires unique methodologies and thoughtful adjustment to country contexts (New Zealand and 
UNCTAD);  
4.5.  International organizations' research on the impact of trade on women:  
a. Women and men work in different sectors, and trade policies and agreements differently 
impact them. Trade liberalization reduces prices for goods and increase the purchasing 
power of vulnerable groups in which women are disproportionately overrepresented. 
Women -owned firms are smaller, y ounger, and less financed than men -owned firms 
(OECD);  
b. Firms that trade employ more women: women make up 33% of the workforce of export 
firms, compared with 24% of non -exporting firms and 28% for non -importing firms. 
Women constitute 36% of the workforce o f firms involved in GVCs and 38% of the 
workforce of foreign -owned firms. This is a 11% and 12% more than non -GVC firms 
and domestically owned firms (respectively). In some countries female workforce in 
export firms is higher. In Morocco, Romania, and Viet  Nam, women represent 50% or 
more of the workforce of exporting firms, which have created jobs for more than 
5 million women, roughly 15% of the female population working in these countries 
(WTO and World Bank);  INF/TGE/R/1  
 
- 4 - 
 
  c. Firms that trade, pay women more: women work ing in firms engaged in trade are more 
likely to be employed formally, which has an impact on their income level (more stable 
source of income). For women, the probability of being informal goes from 20% in 
sectors with low levels of exports to 13% in sect ors with high levels of exports. Figures 
are similar when looking at the level of involvement of firms in GVCs. Trade increases 
women's wages and help close the wage gap. If developing countries double their goods 
exports, women would increase their share of total manufacturing wages from 24% to 
30% through a combination of increased employment and higher salaries. (WTO and 
World Bank);  
d. Impacts of regional integration on gender - the examples of  the EAC and the 
MERCOSUR: a microsimulation to assess the impa ct of trade integration on gender 
employment in manufacturing with regards to export tariffs and import tariffs showed 
that in both regions, a reduction in tariffs on export markets contributed towards the 
feminization of labour in manufacturing, mainly fo r production workers without 
significant change for non -production ones. In contrast, import competition had no 
significant impact on women's employment in EAC, while it had some negative effects 
on women's employment in MERCOSUR. However, the new opportun ities for women are 
mostly at the low -skilled level. Hence, measures should be put in place to foster 
women's access to employment in high -skilled and tradable sectors that empower 
women. Regional funds could also be used to provide childcare and other ser vices that 
would allow women to work outside their households and increase their skills. Data 
collection should be increased to assess women's needs and governments' 
commitments. Cooperation should be strengthened to foster sharing experiences 
among WTO Me mbers. Accountability is also key to ensure the implementation of the 
commitments on gender (UNCTAD).  
4.6.  Research conducted by WTO Members:  
a. New Zealand: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is undertaking research on 
evaluating the sustainable and inclu sive impacts of trade, including gender as part of 
"Trade for All" (see also sharing experience section below). In mid -2020, some initial, 
high-level findings were published in a working paper, which concluded that women 
employers and employees were under -represented in trade. On -going work is being 
conducted on female participation in trade;  
b. United Kingdom: research on the impact of imports/exports on the United Kingdom's 
labour market split up by sector, region, and personal characteristics, including gen der. 
The United Kingdom is funding the OECD Science, Technology and Innovation 
Directorate to develop its trade and employment database, to incorporate additional 
indicators including gender;  
c. European Union: assessing the barriers faced by women entrepren eurs in the European 
Union, when engaging in trade activities, showed they face a number of obstacles such 
as access to finance networks and red tape related to customs obligations (with ITC); 
and developing better indicators for a more gender -responsive t rade policy (with 
UNCTAD). The analysis conducted by the European Union Chief  Economist  showed that 
in 2017 there were more than 13 million female workers who had jobs that were 
supported by exports of goods and services compared to the rest of the world. However, 
there is a gender gap when it comes to the employment prospects offered by European 
Union exports. Only 38% of those jobs, dependent on exports to the world, are held by 
women in the European Union. Such a gap is largely due to the concentration o f female 
employment in the less export -oriented sector, notably in services. Also, labour 
compensation for female workers in export -supported jobs has stagnated in comparison 
to total employment over the time that the study considered. While all export -supported 
jobs benefit from a wage premium there is a gender gap of 4% points.  
5. PROMOTING FEMALE ENTREPRENEURSHIP  
5.1.  Women Entrepreneurship Programme supports women at all stages of entrepreneurial 
activities, through informative and professional courses, to enhance entrepreneurial knowledge and INF/TGE/R/1  
 
- 5 - 
 
  skills. Digital marketing courses (in collaboration with Facebook and Google) and mentorship for 
women entrepreneurs are elements of the programme. It also focuses on providing women -led 
start-ups with greater access t o capital, business matching opportunities, and links to resources in 
the industry (Women's Entrepreneurship Accelerator), and presents awards to promote role models 
for women entrepreneurs - Women Entrepreneurship Award (Chinese Taipei);  
5.2.  Strategy package for women in MSMEs: online package to support women -led MSMEs and 
increase their exports. This includes providing assistance with budget, organizing virtual meeting 
opportunities with foreign buyers, training on topics such as e -commerce, items sourcing an d market 
analysis, and mobile shipping (Korea);  
5.3.  Promoting female entrepreneurship through technical guidance and counselling for existing and 
potential women entrepreneurs, organization of fairs for women entrepreneurs with various 
stakeholders (e.g. local  authorities and supermarkets); ICT -based capacity -building programmes for 
women entrepreneurs and awards for innovation to encourage entrepreneurs to use innovative ways 
to market their products. (Mauritius - National Women Entrepreneur Council, The Natio nal Computer 
Board and Women Entrepreneurs Innovative Award);  
5.4.  National laws to support women -owned MSMEs and the association of women entrepreneurs 
(Viet Nam);  
5.5.  Export Strategy providing women's economic empowerment and the improvement of 
women -led MSMEs' c ompetitiveness; SheExports platform increase women's participation in 
enterprises and the export process, has a dedicated programme to promote the creation of a regional 
network of women entrepreneurs, and provides consultative services on business start -ups 
(Ukraine);  
5.6.  Regional activities to promote female entrepreneurship, increase women entrepreneurs' 
financial inclusion through an online multinational networking platform ; provide access to different 
financial and non -financial services; build their capac ity to export and integrate them into regional 
trade and development activities (50  Million African Women Speak Project - COMESA  and COMESA 
Federation of National Associations of Women in Business ); 
5.7.  Four types of trade policies to support women -owned firms : (i) trade facilitating reforms that 
induce trade costs and simplify and automate procedures at the border; (ii)  transparency in 
regulation; (iii) lower trade barriers, especially in services where most women are pursuing their 
entrepreneurship activities  (this can also increase female workers' participation in trade firms and 
increase wages that can contribute to mitigating existing gender inequalities); and (iv) regulatory 
frameworks that contribute to low Internet access costs. The gender divide in digi talization is still 
high globally and non -OECD countries have greater proportion of women studying in ICT (OECD);  
5.8.  Programmes promoting access to finance and MSMEs  and to support women's access to finance 
and women in MSMEs (Australia) :  
a. Support to the "Wom en's World Banking" Programme to roll out innovative financial 
products and services for poor women. For example, Indonesian women are supported 
to access and use government  COVID -19 social protection payments to improve their 
financial capability and resi lience;  
b. The "Emerging Markets Impact Investing Fund"  invests in women's SMEs and 
businesses that supply products or services that benefit women, adopt workplace 
gender equality practices, or promote gender equality through their supply chains;  
c. Supporting  the world's first listed gender -lens bonds series: the "IIX Women's Livelihood 
Bond". These bonds have, since 2017, supported the livelihoods of almost 500,000 
underserved women and their communities across Southeast Asia and generated three 
times in soci al value for every one dollar invested by bondholders;  
d. Financially supporting the "PacificRise" pilot that provides a specific example of where, 
taking a gender lens to adopt traditional finance models, expanded opportunities for INF/TGE/R/1  
 
- 6 - 
 
  investment with a positive impact on women and girls . This programme has finished 
and will not be continued;  
e. Support to the "Menstrual Health Trade Finance Vehicle" launched in 2020 to bring 
together multiple menstrual health enterprises in the Pacific to help address finance and 
supply chain challenges in a sector with smaller  and informal market actors. This 
initiative has assisted a social women -led enterprise in Solomon Island (Kaleko 
Steifree). This enterprise produces reusable sanitary pads for women and girls and 
addresses production constraints through bulk purchases of raw materials and tailored 
contracting to enhance the distribution of the pads to small Pacific businesses. In 
addition to creating employment for women, it reduces girls school absenteeism and 
enhances environmental sustainability.  
5.9.  SheTrades Programmes :  
a. SheTrades Global: global business event connecting women entrepreneurs with buyers, 
investors and partners. A series of panel discussions, webinars and online courses are 
set to help entrepreneurs do business, get inspired and forge business partnerships.  
Women entrepreneurs have the opportunity to showcase their products in the 
SheTrades Global exhibition during the event (ITC);  
b. SheTrades West Africa: improving women's livelihood through inclusive value chains". 
The objective is to improve women's liveli hoods working in cashews, shea, and cassava 
value chains in Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The expected outcome 
of this 2019 -2023 project is capacity building for women farmers in production and 
business management. This includes providi ng training and basic equipment tools to 
enable women farmers with limited resources in West Africa to work on product 
diversification (Korea and ITC);  
c. SheTrades Morocco: the general objective is to increase the participation of 
25 women -owned SMEs in the processed food sector export -oriented value chains by 
enhancing their competitiveness and their capacity to access local, regional and 
international markets. This initiative is expected to allow 25 women -owned SMEs in the 
processed food sectors to benefit from higher incomes to strengthen and grow their 
businesses and a better livelihood for the community in general (ITC, IsDB, ITFC and 
Trade Facilitation Office Canada);  
d. SheTrades Egypt: the general objective is to mainstream gender and economically 
empowe r women in Egypt, in line with the new Egyptian constitution. 
Fifty businesswomen in the handicraft sector were selected to support them in 
sustaining and growing their business and participating actively in the development and 
welfare of their families. T his initiative is expected to allow 50 businesswomen in the 
handicraft sector to benefit from higher incomes to strengthen and grow their 
businesses (ITC, IsDB and ITFC);  
e. SheTrades Uruguay: provides training and connects women -led businesses in their 
pathw ay to internationalization by way of information (ITC, Uruguay and the Exporter 
Union - a private Uruguayan institution);  
f. SheTrades Outlook: is an analytical framework with 83 indicators across six policy areas. 
These indicators track policies that affect women's participation in business and trade. 
The general objective is to help unlock markets for women by identifying and eliminating 
obstacles in the policy ecosystem. Based on this data, ITC has developed three guides 
to help countries to developed gende r-responsive trade policies focusing on 
mainstreaming gender in free trade agreements , making public procurement work for 
women and trade policy (ITC).  
5.10.  "The Sembrando Initiative" assists women entrepreneurs and improves their export capacity 
or develop in the local market. It has helped 2,400 entrepreneurs. This initiative is funded by 
donations from the private sector and donor countries (Uruguay - Initiative led by Uruguay's first 
lady);  INF/TGE/R/1  
 
- 7 - 
 
   
5.11.  Awareness -raising activities in the promotion of equal opportunitie s and women 
entrepreneurship in the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) with the aim to strengthen the skills and  abilities 
of key national partners to mainstream gender equality priorities into cross -border trade policies in 
the Arab regions. The expected impact of this project is to enhance awareness of women 
entrepreneurship and women's participation in the policymaking process for Arab economic 
integration (ITFC, UNDP and the AMU);  
5.12.  E-commerce in support of women entrepreneurs:  
a. Promoting women's export in the Cent ral American region and access the 
European  Union market through e -commerce by providing training at the institutional 
level to build the capacity of local experts on business management and e -commerce 
to allow them to share knowledge and mentor women entr epreneurs. This programme 
offered 50 hours of individual specialized training for each participating company in 
2019. Through the programme women entrepreneurs had a diagnosis of the digital 
situation to place their products on an e -commerce marketplace pl atform or their 
website. These women were able to develop skills to manage their websites and social 
networks and receive training on taking quality photographs for online sales 
(El Salvador, PROESA and ITC);  
b. A three -step programme to make e -commerce work for women:  (i) analytical work to 
identify challenges, opportunities, e -commerce readiness and incorporate a gender 
dimension to governments' strategies; (ii) the e -commerce policy and strategy 
formulation and gender mainstreaming and using guidelines on g ender mainstreaming 
in trade and sector strategies; and (iii) the capacity building of institutions and 
businesses (EIF, ITC and UNCTAD);  
c. Capacity building on e -commerce for South Asian MSME women entrepreneurs  to 
enhance the knowledge and capacity of wome n entrepreneurs in the application of 
e-commerce platforms to expand their business exports and participate in local, 
regional, and global supply chains. National training programmes with government, 
policymakers, civil society and women entrepreneurs were  first organized to identify 
specific skills and experience and guide the process of acquiring basic IT knowledge. In 
a second stage, an e -learning course on e -commerce and digital marketing were held 
for women entrepreneurs (EIF and UNESCAP);  
d. "SheTrades Connect" provides technical training on digital skills and networks to female 
entrepreneurs in Africa (Japan and ITC);  
e. Programme of capacity building in e -commerce and digital trade: the  "E-Commerce 
Aid-for-Trade Fund" (USD 5.5  million) builds the e -commer ce capabilities of developing 
countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. This fund addresses deficits in access to ICT 
and finance, policy and regulatory frameworks, skills and safe and reliable e -payment 
platforms and trade facilitation and logistics. I t is a collaborative programme that 
includes partner governments, the private sector and other development partners on a 
range of activities (Australia).  
6. FOSTERING WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN THE ECONOMY  
6.1.  Through gender equality policy guidelines; gender e quality laws, national human rights 
strategy, wage equality laws and action plans to ensure equal rights and opportunities for women 
and men in all areas of society and to support the incorporation of a gender perspective in all laws 
and policies (Chinese Taipei, Viet Nam, and Ukraine);  
6.2.  Combining a range of policies and laws to promote female employment and women's economic 
empowerment:  
a. By prohibiting  sexual harassment (especially in the workplace), gender discrimination 
in accessing financial services an d in employment and remuneration; by eliminating INF/TGE/R/1  
 
- 8 - 
 
  restrictions on women's employment in industrial jobs (such as mining, construction, 
and manufacturing); b y imposing quotas to factory owners to employ a minimum 
percentage of female workers and employees (a t least a third of total employees in the 
production process); by providing financial incentives to the private sector to hire 
women; by imposing the establishment of childcare facilities and nurseries in companies 
that hire more than 50 women (and with te n children or more); by training women in 
new technologies ( network systems management, the Internet of Things, smart cities, 
robotics technology and artificial intelligence); by supporting women's mobility and 
extending the retirement age; by reforming so cial and political life in favour of women's 
rights (Saudi Arabia);  
b. By providing extended paid parental leaves and providing a non -transferable five -month 
parental leave allocated to fathers to foster women's careers and contributing to a better 
share of household and childcare duties, affecting both men and women's working 
hours; by including quotas of women on company boards for all state -owned enterprises 
and private companies with more than 50 employees (at least 40% of women); by 
adopting and  making the "Equal Pay Certification" mandatory for companies of over 
25 employees and by implementing this policy through an Equal Wage Management 
Standard to assess the gender pay gap among the employees (Iceland);  
6.3.  National policy on women's economic sec urity: by repairing and rebuilding women's workforce 
participation and closing the gender pay gap providing choice and flexibility for families to manage 
work and care, supporting women as leaders and positive role models; by responding to the divers 
needs  of women and supporting women to be safe at work and home. All these factors play a critical 
role in enabling women to achieve economic security, resilience and empowerment, including 
women's participation in international trade. To implement this policy,  an investment of over 
AUD 240 million from 2020 to 2025 is made to create new jobs, support workforce participation, 
expand opportunities for business and build the skills capability (Australia).  
7. COMBATING THE IMPACTS OF COVID -19 ON WOMEN  
7.1.  Through fina ncial support for family care (Korea);  e-commerce and social media trainings to 
strengthen women entrepreneur marketing strategies for using online platforms (Mauritius); 
projects and funds to support women -owned SMEs affected by the COVID -19 and national banks 
loans restructuration for women -owned SMEs (Viet Nam cooperates with the Asian Development 
Bank);  
7.2.  Aid for post -COVID -19 recovery in Indo -Pacific: international development response to 
COVID -19 identified gender equality as a cross -cutting objective and seeks to target better the needs 
of women and girls in the Indo -Pacific. Various programmes are also developed to support women's 
economic empowerment, leadership, ending violence against women and girls, and access to sexual 
and reproductive health an d rights: (i) the " Investing in Women" Programme (AUD 102  million, 
2016-2023) supports women -owned SMEs in South -East Asia to adapt their businesses, to continue 
operating and contributing to local economic resilience while managing the impacts of COVID -19. 
This programme has leveraged nearly five times additional private capital to support 
41 women -owned SMEs in Southeast Asia and enable 40 of these SMEs to survive the COVID -19 
crisis; (ii) the "Pacific Women Lead" Programme ( AUD 170 million); and (iii) th e "Partnerships for 
Recovery" Strategy to address the challenges of COVID -19 in the Indo -Pacific  (Australia) ; 
7.3.  Recommendations of how to mitigate the COVID -19 impact on women in Latin America: 
international trade should be reoriented towards the transformat ive social economic recovery with 
gender equality. In the short term, actions should be taken to ensure women's access to mechanisms 
of employment support and financing for economic recovery. In the long term, a gender perspective 
should be included in tra de policy tools to ensure that men and women have equal access to trade 
opportunities. In addition, policies should include gender equality as part of their objectives for 
sustainability (ECLAC);  
7.4.  Regional COVID -19 relief activities – the example of the Pa cific Alliance: a webinar entitled 
"Economic empowerment of women in the Pacific Alliance" was held to outline the challenges in the 
face of the COVID -19 pandemic towards inclusive recovery" and to encourage dialogue between INF/TGE/R/1  
 
- 9 - 
 
  women entrepreneurs and represe ntatives of the Pacific Alliance and analyse the main challenges 
identified by women entrepreneurs in the context of the COVID -19 pandemic (Peru).  
8. FEMALE LEADERSHIP  
8.1.  It has been recognized that the lack of female leadership in many areas of economic and 
political life contributes to gender inequalities (Nigeria);  
8.2.  The Government of Japan hosted the World Assembly for Women (WAW!) and invited female 
leaders worldwide to discuss challenges and opportunities for achieving gender equality and 
promoting women' s empowerment (Japan).  
9. GENDER CHAPTERS AND PROVISIONS IN FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS AND REGIONAL 
TRADE AGREEMENTS  
9.1.  Trade agreements that include gender provisions recognize the importance of enhancing the 
opportunities for women to participate in the domestic and global economy; provide for cooperati ve 
activities aimed at enhancing the ability of women to benefit from the opportunities created by the 
agreement such as: providing advice and training, and exchanging information and experience on 
programm es aimed at improving women's access to market technology and financing; or the 
development of women's leadership networks ( Japan, United Kingdom - Comprehensive Economic 
Partnership Agreement; Korea, European Union - FTA; CPTPP );  
9.2.  In December 2018, the Ec onomic Complementation Number  73 came into force as part of the 
Latin American Integration Association between Uruguay and Chile. This Agreement provides for the 
creation of a gender committee that seeks to bring together the competent authorities on gende r in 
the joint implementation of shared policies, particularly in carrying out actions that allow the private 
sector to benefit from the clauses in the agreement. The committee meets once a year and is 
accountable and have to report to the Commission that manages the Agreement (Uruguay and 
Chile);  
9.3.  Mainstreaming gender into the Pacific Agreement  on Closer Economic Relations Plus 
(PACER  Plus): an  analysis was conducted to understand the link between gender equality, women's 
economic empowerment, and transpar ency in trade laws, policies and practice in the context of 
PACER Plus. Results highlight specific barriers to trade information for women traders and identifies 
how they could benefit from the implementation of the PACER Plus transparency commitments. 
These findings have enabled PACER Plus to implement training and technical support, such as the 
creation of trade portals that integrate gender aspects into access to information, the type of 
information provided, and gender training for trade contact points.  This work also led to the first 
export manual for Pacific women traders to help them understand the non -tariff measures applied 
in the Australian and New Zealand markets for their products - laying the foundation for gender 
mainstreaming in the implementa tion of PACER Plus project (launched by Australia and conducted 
by UNCTAD);  
9.4.  Dedicated development cooperation to assist the nine Pacific Island country signatories, to 
adjust to PACER Plus and take up its opportunities (New Zealand and Australia – as part of the 
PACER Plus Agreement);  
9.5.  Objectives of trade and gender chapters and areas of cooperation: (i) promote and facilitate 
the exchange of experiences and good practices between the parties in order to improve the capacity 
and conditions of women entrepre neurs, and to encourage their greater participation in international 
trade; (ii) contribute to the fulfilment of the international commitments signed by parties in matters 
of gender equality, such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Conv ention for 
the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); (iii) cooperation activities with special 
focus on the different needs faced by women throughout their export process. Areas of cooperation 
are: (i) develop programmes to promote women's f ull participation; (ii) promote financial inclusion 
and education, promote women entrepreneurship; (iii) conduct gender -based analysis, promote 
gender equality within enterprises, advance care policies and programmes; and (iv) develop 
women's networks, col lection of sex -disaggregated data and improve women's access to STEM , 
among others  (Chile);  INF/TGE/R/1  
 
- 10 - 
 
  9.6.  Integrating gender chapters in all FTAs, a standard strategy with trade partners: integrating 
gender chapters in on -going and future negotiations. In those agreemen ts without a gender chapter, 
gender considerations will be included into the work of committees under other chapters (Canada);  
9.7.  The generalized scheme of preferences (GSP) requires all countries to respect the principles of 
Convention for the Elimination o f Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and beneficiaries of the 
GSP must sign a binding undertaking to ratify and effectively implement the Convention (European 
Union GSP+ Arrangement);  
9.8.  Gender equality is integrated in trade agreements through provisions of non -discrimination in 
employment and ILO Conventions 100 and 111 (European Union);  
9.9.  Continuing to include dedicated provisions on trade and gender, a commitment made in the 
new gender equality strategy as well as in the new gender action plan for externa l action (European 
Union);  
9.10.  A new type of agreement: the Global Trade and Gender Arrangement (GTAGA) addresses 
some of the challenges faced by women -owned businesses through a range of provisions, such as 
non-discrimination on the basis of gender for licen sing and certification in the services sector; and 
also, by developing cooperation activities which will be designed to share knowledge and best 
practices, in different topics, including the elimination of discrimination in employment and 
occupation. The A rrangement is not linked to a specific trade agreement and therefore is open to 
interested economies to join (Canada, Chile and New Zealand in 2020);  
9.11.  La Serena Roadmap  for Women and Inclusive Growth  by placing women and girls at the centre 
of economic reco very efforts: it contains concrete actions and targets to promote the economic 
empowerment of women in the Asia Pacific region by 2030  (APEC) ;  
9.12.  The 2020  Roadmap for the autonomy and economic empowerment of women in the 
Pacific  Alliance (PA), which identifi es areas of action in terms of economic empowerment and guide 
the work of the PA in the design, implementation and evaluation of public policies and initiatives to 
promote the economic and social development of the women of the region. This work is particu larly 
important in the context of COVID -19. For example, in New  Zealand, 63% of the people who lost 
their jobs in the second quarter of 2020 were women, and this trend has repeated itself across the 
region ( Pacific Alliance ). 
10. APPLYING GENDER LENS TO TR ADE AND WTO  
10.1.  An inclusive approach to  trade policy and FTAs and trade export programs and services : the 
aim is to  ensure that the benefits and opportunities that flow from trade are more widely shared, 
including with under -represented groups such as women, SMEs, and youth. This implies a fourfold 
method: (i) and (ii) conducting an ex -ante assessment and a post -ante assessment to look at the 
impacts on unemployment by gender before and after new trade deals are implemented; (iii) 
examining how women as  entrepreneurs and exporters experience the new policy; and (iv) looking 
at the impacts of policies and programmes on women and diverse groups through their experiences 
with these policies and programmes (Canada);  
10.2.  Applying a gender lens to all finance pro grammes (Australian Department of Foreign Affairs 
and Trade);  
10.3.  The "Commitment of Santiago de Chile" seeks to apply a gender perspective in the 
implementation of policies to increase production and international trade (Peru, Latin American and 
Caribbean sta tes);  
10.4.  Applying a gender lens to trade policies:  
a. By employing techniques to ensure that investment is consistent with gender equality, 
by trying to measure the gender sensitivity of venture capitalists, and to exclude gender 
bias during the selection proc ess to protect female entrepreneurs (Korea);  INF/TGE/R/1  
 
- 11 - 
 
  b. By adopting a regulation to integrate gender approach analysis in the public 
policymaking process, in alignment with the strategy for ensuring equal opportunities 
for women and men and fostering sustainable econ omic development. The launch of a 
gender -auditing process with the support of the ILO and UN Women supported this 
approach. It aims to assess the equal rights and opportunities for men and women in 
the labour market, as well as to raise awareness of equal working conditions among 
employees (Ukraine);  
c. By adopting a framework that demonstrates a government's commitments to advancing 
gender equality through significant investments in key programmes, policies, and 
initiatives. Under such a framework, a governme nt has identified six key areas where 
change is required to advance gender equality: (1) education and skills development; 
(2) economic participation and prosperity; (3) Leadership and democratic participation; 
(4) gender -based violence and access to justi ce; (5) poverty reduction, health and 
well-being; and (6) gender equality around the world. Indicators are attached to these 
areas. For instance: regarding women's economic participation and prosperity, one of 
the government's objectives is to increase wom en's labour market opportunities, 
especially for women in under -represented groups. In addition, the government is 
looking at the wage gap, employment status, parenting roles and family responsibility, 
and the quality of the jobs held by women. Regarding w omen's leadership, indicators 
address the proportion of board members who are women by the type of board (sector 
of industry and private or public corporations) and the proportion of women in politics 
(Canada);  
10.5.  A new 2021 -2022 project: the gender lens anal ytical framework for the work of the WTO. It 
aims at developing a gender lens framework for the work of the WTO and maximize opportunities 
for trade agreements to promote women's economic empowerment and participation in trade -related 
activities and ensure  that trade agreements do not inadvertently undermine national gender -equality 
commitments. It would cover the negotiation process; the WTO agreements and joint statement 
initiatives; the implementation, enforcement and review mechanism; and the laws, poli cies and 
programmes at the national and regional level. The methodology will include textual analysis and 
desk review from trade experts, and consultations with delegates and experts. A summary report 
with key findings and recommendations that should be av ailable in Spring  2022 (European Union 
and ITC);  
10.6.  As a member of the Southern Common Market, Uruguay maintains its advocacy for the 
inclusion of the gender agenda in all discussions (Uruguay);  
10.7.  The Pacific Alliance gender lens experience: within the framew ork of the Pacific Alliance, the 
implementation of the gender approach is being carried out  throughout all the  working groups of the 
integration mechanism. These groups address various topics, such as the digital agenda, public 
procurement, education, glob al value chains, SMEs, and tourism. Part of the work to include the 
gender approach in the Pacific Alliance consists of learning how to develop projects especially aimed 
at women and  how to collect data disaggregated by sex (Peru);   
10.8.  Applying gender lens to  trade facilitation: the "South Asia Regional Trade Facilitation 
Programme" (SARTFP) seeks to integrate women's economic empowerment and inclusive trade 
outcomes into trade facilitation policy, and measures and transport connectivity across Bhutan, 
Banglad esh, India and Nepal (Australia and World Bank);  
10.9.  Applying gender lens to women's working conditions in the export sector: The "Better Work 
Programme" aims at improving the working conditions of women employed in the garment industry 
in Bangladesh, Indonesi a and Viet Nam. It addresses wages, working hours, leaves and safety, and 
sexual harassment (Australia and ILO);  
10.10.   All policy evaluations related to trade include dedicated gender analysis, i.e. ex -ante and 
ex-post evaluations (European Union).  INF/TGE/R/1  
 
- 12 - 
 
  11. DEVELOPM ENT AID AND AID FOR TRADE TARGETING WOMEN  
11.1.  An assessment of how gender has been integrated in Aid for Trade: gender had been an 
element of the Aid -for-Trade Initiative since its inception. Donors and partner countries have been 
gradually and continuously in tegrating gender into their Aid -for-Trade objectives. By 2019 about 
84% of donors' Aid -for-Trade strategy and 85% of partner countries' national or regional 
development strategy sought to promote women's economic empowerment. However, a 
disconnection exist s between Aid -for-Trade objectives, priorities and programming with regards to 
gender. Between 2006 and 2017, only USD  3.4 billion were disbursed to gender -specific 
programmes/projects  (about 1% of overall disbursements) and USD 45  billion was spent on 
programmes/projects where gender is  one of the objectives (12% of overall disbursements). Aid for 
Trade can help foster women's economic empowerment if gender is the principal objective and 
priority of the projects. However,  there are needs for a more systemi c approach in evaluating Aid  
for Trade's impact on women's economic empowerment. Tools and indicators for assessing the 
differential impact of Aid for Trade on men and women quantitatively and qualitatively are currently 
being developed (WTO);  
11.2.  Support to i mprove financial inclusiveness by promoting digital financial services targeting 
low-income women in Viet Nam (Japan);  
11.3.  A 20% allocation of official development assistance towards Aid -for-Trade activities to 
improve income generation opportunities for wome n-owned businesses and women workers or 
strengthen the gender dimension of public policy (New Zealand in the Pacific, the Pacific leaders 
Gender Equality Declaration  2012);  
11.4.  Increasing a devoted total budget to gender projects from 10% to 22.5% between 200 7 and 
2019. Over the past 30 years, the scope of the projects on gender progressed. In the 1990s, projects 
focused on maternal and child health education. In the 2010s, projects moved towards the 
institutional framework and capacity building. Since 2018, p rojects focus on a sectoral strategy 
based on a transformative approach to enable women to become "agents of change" ( Korea ); 
11.5.  Specific regional activities focusing on women's social and economic empowerment, including 
increasing agricultural productivity a nd focuses on agricultural value chains, human resources 
cultivation and vocational training in Africa. Activities also include research on  Aid for Trade in Africa, 
highlighting the need to have mid - to long -term Aid -for-Trade projects with a three years' minimum 
duration. These projects must also integrate cross -cutting issues and be aligned with the countries' 
national policy objectives. ( Korea ); 
11.6.  Current project of developing indicators on gender -related trade projects to enable donors to 
assess the progr ess and the benefits for women. For example, in the case of the SheTrades West 
Africa Project, the indicators should include the number of policymakers and institutions trained and 
the number of women farmers that benefited from the training ( Korea ); 
11.7.  Monit oring and evaluation of Aid -for-Trade programmes using a monitoring performance 
framework for aid programmes to assess if gender issues are effectively integrated. For example, a 
monitoring and evaluation framework in projects with partners in the Indo -Pacific region has been 
set up by Australia. Also, each of its "E -Commerce Aid -for-Trade Fund" project is underpinned by a 
monitoring and evaluation framework including gender equality and inclusion indicators. 78% of 
Australia's Aid -for-Trade investments in 2019-2020 effectively addressed gender (Australia);  
11.8.  Mainstreaming gender across development and cooperation assistance programmes, 
primarily through the gender equality fund, which involves partnering with other organizations to 
provide targeted and gende r-sensitive development assistance (Australia);  
11.9.  Integrating gender into Aid for Trade: Women's empowerment should be a cross -cutting 
priority for all development programming. Gender should be integrated into consultations with 
partner countries from the v ery beginning of programme design. Practical tools and guidance should 
be developed to promote women's economic empowerment and advance gender equality, ensuring 
robust M&E to measure the outcomes and build the evidence base. Efforts should be made to 
increase sex - and gender -disaggregated data to create a baseline and provide indicators to monitor 
progress, adapt interventions, and evaluate outcomes. Investment in gender and trade expertise INF/TGE/R/1  
 
- 13 - 
 
  should be promoted to provide the required, in -depth analysis of t he constraints, opportunities, and 
risks and strengthen the partners' capacities to conduct this analysis (Australia);  
11.10.   The Aid -for-Trade Initiative for Arab States (AfTIAS): the second phase, AfTIAS  2.0 
(USD  40 million) was launched in 2019 with the gener al objective to create an environment for 
international trade in the Arab region more efficient and inclusive, with employment opportunities 
and that contributes to sustainable development. Twenty -two Arab countries are beneficiaries of this 
programme, inc luding six LDCs. This programme specifically aims to increase the level of 
intra-regional trade, increase Arab  integration in the global value chain and make international trade 
inclusive for women, youth and the poor. Hence, to achieve these objectives, t he AfTIAS  2.0 is based 
on three pillars: (i)  improving the market access; (ii) removing supply -side constraints; and 
(iii) enhancing inclusivity of trade for disadvantaged groups. The AfTIAS operates in five financing 
facilities regarding, among others, issues related to the removal of non -tariff barriers, enterprise 
innovations, technological readiness for business, access to trade finance or support for women to 
increase their participation in value chains and international trade. The AfTIAS  2.0 will cover a wide 
spectrum of different types of innovative interventions encouraging greater inclusivity of trade 
(e.g. support exporting sectors and value chains that favour higher women's employment; or 
development of women's skills to provide greater flexibility and power to negotiate wages and better 
working conditions). AfTIAS  2.0 actions responding to COVID -19 also have a focus on women. For 
instance, they identify and support the removal of legal, regulatory, financial, institutional and other 
barriers to the involvement of women in key intra -regional value chains particularly affected by the 
pandemic. AfTIAS  2.0 interventions will prioritize actions supporting women. For example, in the 
project selection criteria, a focus on women's support carryin g the weighting of 30% in the total 
(IsDB and ITFC);  
11.11.   Gender equality is mainstreamed into all Aid -for-Trade programming (European Union).  
12. STANDARDS AND GENDER  
12.1.  ISO International Workshop Agreement  34: a new standardized definitions of the terms 
'women -owned business' and 'women -led business'. These definitions are contained in the ISO 
International Workshop Agreement  34 (IWA 34) launched in 2021. The IWA  34 enabl es 
governments, organizations, and enterprises to better support efforts to build consistent and 
internationally compatible data regarding female entrepreneurship and identify women 
entrepreneurial gaps and facilitate knowledge sharing. Technical assistanc e is provided to 
stakeholders to help implement the IWA  34 (ISO, the Swedish Institute of Standards and ITC);  
12.2.  Action plan on sharing information, collaboration and enabling global cooperation on gender 
and standards issues. As part of the standard making b ody, setting up an Informal Gender 
Coordination Group to raise awareness. Overview of gender -related actions and discussion are 
carrying out (EU -CEN-CENELEC);  
12.3.  Including gender issues in standard development: A minimum of 30% of participation of 
women is ne cessary to avoid marginalization and to improve performance of standards development 
(Canada);  
12.4.  Three key areas of work on gender and standards: (i) gender representation; 
(ii) gender -responsiveness and outreach; and (iii) advocacy. An example of standards taking into 
account the gender perspective: women's work -wear referring to dimensions specific to women 
(South Africa);  
12.5.  SheTrades, standards and gender: supports women -owned businesses' compliance to 
standards and supporting women's participation in trade  policy design and implementation. 
Challenges faced by women in complying with standards include limited awareness of knowledge in 
selecting the right standards, lack of finance, technical capacity, language and human resources, 
lack of a universally agree d-upon definition(s) of women -owned or women -led businesses (ITC);  
12.6.  The Gender Responsive Standards Initiative (GRSI) aims to strengthen the use of standards 
and technical regulations as powerful tools to attain SDG 5 integrate a gender lens in the 
develop ment of both standards and technical regulations, and elaborate gender indicators and 
criteria that could be used in standards development. To do so, the Initiative developed the INF/TGE/R/1  
 
- 14 - 
 
  Declaration on Gender Responsive Standards whereby signatories (which consist  mainly of standards 
bodies) pledge to create and implement gender action plans in order to support more 
gender -balanced and inclusive standards development processes, and to strengthen the 
gender -responsiveness of standards themselves. In the future, the Initiative has a few projects in 
the pipeline including launching an e -learning training platform, mapping standards to SDG 5, 
establishing standards body gender focal points, and providing gender -responsivity trainings 
(UNECE).  
13. CAPACITY BUILDING  
13.1.  A capacity -building programme in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Central Asia, Southeast 
Asia, Africa and the Middle East to improve the legal environment for business worldwide. It assists 
governments to develop and implement commercial legal reforms that supp ort their economic 
development and remove obstacles to trade and investment. It also supports women's economic 
empowerment through digital trade, contract enforcement, public procurement and trade and 
technology. The programme also focuses on corporate gov ernance to increase transparent by -laws, 
women's representation on board, strengthen intellectual property rights and train women to register 
trademarks, copyrights and patents. It promotes contract enforcement, by building women's 
capacity to negotiate co ntracts, understand commercial contracts and use the judicial system to 
enforce contracts. Women are also trained to negotiate licensing contacts. For example, this 
programme was developed in Tunisia to specifically improve market access for women in handi crafts, 
and they assist to improve online platforms. It also launched the Central Asian women's group, 
which serves as a networking platform for women entrepreneurs and women business leaders from 
the Central Asian region. This platform fosters experience -sharing related to trade among 
businesswomen (United States - the Commercial Law Development Programme);  
13.2.  Dedicated technical support to Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Nigeria, 
Sierra  Leone, the Gambia, Uganda and Zambia to mainstream gender  into their national AfCFTA 
implementation strategies, public procurement acts, policies and regulations, national export 
strategies, MSME policies and COVID -19 stimulus packages (ITC);  
13.3.  Courses on trade and gender organized by international organizations:  
a. Three types of online courses developed by UNCTAD: the three -module standard course, 
the geographical course with an additional module on trade and gender issues in a specific 
region and group of countries (e.g. COMESA, MERCOSUR and LDCs) and the thematic 
course on the gender impact of technological upgrading in agriculture. About 
1,500  participants attended the courses ( 40% men, 60% women) from 154  countries. 
Their evaluation of the courses is positive and participants have stated to use the 
knowledge in t heir work to include a gender perspective. UNCTAD also developed a 
capacity -building programme aimed at boosting women entrepreneurship skills ;  
b. WTO Technical assistance on trade and gender: the WTO training module on trade and 
gender was launched in March  2019. Between 2019 and 2020, 13 courses were provided, 
as well as online chats and webinars. The WTO Secretariat has developed the new training 
strategy for 2021 -2026 to support WTO government officials in their work on trade and 
gender. The training will  continue to raise awareness on the links between trade and 
gender and give a new perspective on how trade can impact women's economic 
empowerment. It will help officials understand why and how trade rules are not gender 
neutral, and how WTO trade agreemen ts can be implemented with a gender lens for a 
positive impact on women. It will support them in integrating gender into their trade 
policies through a set of seven different concrete trade and gender policy tools. The new 
training programme will be delive red in four units: (1)  WTO trade and gender regular 
course; (2) training for Geneva delegates; (3)  e-learning training on specific issues; and 
(4) national activities. In addition, a network of trainees will be created to foster 
information and experience sharing on mainstreaming gender into trade policies ;  
13.4.  Capacity building for women entrepreneur by women entrepreneurs – the Women 
Entrepreneurs International Trade and Technology Centre (WE ITTC): first of its kind, WE  ITTC is an 
initiative that combined m any trade -related services for women entrepreneurs. The project will 
create an exhibition and marketing centre to support women entrepreneurs in trade. It will provide INF/TGE/R/1  
 
- 15 - 
 
  women entrepreneurs to display and sale their products combined with various services in cluding 
testing facilities for standards and certification requirements, a centre for packaging and labelling as 
well as insurance and customs clearance service providers. These services will be delegated to 
specialized support agencies. In addition, the c entre will provide women entrepreneurs with trainings 
on import/export proceedings. The centre will be open only to women entrepreneurs from the South 
Asian and South -East Asian regions. Exchanges will be established between countries and regions 
with simi lar centres. WE ITTC will provide a support system for women entrepreneurs to develop 
innovative products that can find a place on the regional and international market, often building on 
women's traditional knowledge of plants and medicine (such as the gr ound black apple in Bhutan, 
lapsi in Nepal and edible seaweed in the Maldives). Through WE ITTC, a regional e -commerce 
platform will also be set up covering South Asia and South -East Asia. In the last year, due to the 
COVID -19 pandemic, many logistics comp anies and online payment systems have developed in India 
and in the region. The platform will build on this new trend to attract partners to work with women 
entrepreneurs. Also, a last mile delivery system will be integrated in the platform, with available  
evaluations from customers, to offer the best choice of partner to women entrepreneurs. Lastly the 
project will include a two -year training programme for young female graduates in international trade 
or economics to become professional trade consultants a nd work with other women entrepreneurs 
(The Association of Lady Entrepreneurs of India (ALEAP) and the South Asian Women Development 
Forum (SAWDF)).  
__________