Trade and Gender Review of Latin America

1. Introduction

Abstract

There exists a strong case to implement public policies that aim to increase women’s economic empowerment, including through trade, from both an equity and an efficiency perspective. Gender gaps in Latin America are large and barriers to women’s participation in labour markets and in trade persist. Strong gendered norms and unconscious bias have been recorded in some of the countries under review; moreover, many of these perceptions have not diminished over time. Closing gaps between women and men in trade may provide a low-hanging fruit of under-harnessed growth opportunities in the region

Latin American countries have been leaders in integrating gender in trade policies. They have been early adopters of gender-specific provisions in trade agreements: the first trade agreement to include a gender chapter was Chile-Uruguay in 2016. Moreover, the countries of Latin America have been strong supporters of work on trade and gender within the WTO. All of the seven countries under review—Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru—are signatories to the Buenos Aires Declaration on Women in Trade and have shown support for, and engagement in, the WTO Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender. 1 All seven countries included in this Review are members of the Global Trade and Gender Arrangement (GTAGA), a wide-ranging cooperation agreement that serves as a blueprint for supporting women’s empowerment through trade. Many countries in the region have implemented programmes to support women exporters, oftentimes named She Exports.

Some of the countries under review have prioritized work on trade and gender in plurilateral contexts. In 2024, Brazil prioritized Women in Trade as one of four workstreams in the Trade and Investment Working Group under its G20 Presidency. The G20 and B20 held numerous discussions and events on the theme of women in trade. Peru also prioritized work on trade and gender as the 2024 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Chair. These discussions serve to share experiences, information and analyses and are valuable vehicles for advancing women’s empowerment through trade.

These accomplishments indicate that there is substantial political will in the region to move forward on women’s economic empowerment and lowering the barriers they face, including through trade. Nonetheless, gender gaps persist. Many countries under review rank lower than the OECD average in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index.2 Moreover, in terms of the Economic participation and opportunity component of the WEF Gender Gap Index, the countries under review rank much lower: between 71 (Colombia) and 109 (Mexico) out of 146 countries.3 Moreover, strong gendered norms and unconscious bias have been recorded in some of the countries under review: in some countries, substantial numbers of people think that men make better managers than women, that it is more important for men to obtain University degrees than women, and that in situations of job shortages, men should be hired first (Haerpfer et al., 2022[1]). Moreover, many of these perceptions have not diminished over time, and in some cases have increased.

There exists therefore a strong case to implement public policies that aim to increase women’s economic empowerment, including through trade, from both an equity as well as an efficiency perspective: discrimination or unconscious bias suggest an underutilization of human capital and unharnessed growth opportunities. Progress in women’s participation in labour markets, closing of wage and wealth gaps and breaking of “glass ceilings” can further break down entrenched societal norms by introducing new female role models4 and changing workplace culture.

This Review aims to increase understanding about women’s engagement in trade as workers and as entrepreneurs and business leaders, and shed light on the impacts of trade on women consumers in different types of households. It examines trade policy settings in the seven Latin American countries that are most relevant to women in their economic roles as workers, business leaders and consumers. This Review operationalises the methodology outlined in the OECD Trade and Gender Framework of Analysis (Korinek, Moïsé and Tange, 2021[2]), and suggests ways in which the aim of greater economic empowerment of women can be translated into concrete policies. It follows the Framework of Analysis that was applied in the first Trade and Gender Review of New Zealand. The present Review examines seven countries—Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru—according to a similar methodology as was used for New Zealand albeit at a somewhat more aggregate level. The country coverage in each sub-section of this Review depends on data availability.5

The quantitative analysis of available data and review of existing studies were complemented by a set of round tables with women entrepreneurs, business leaders and exporters in Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru between July 2023 and May 2024. These round-table structured discussions, and follow-up conversations with some women business leaders, offered a precious complement of information regarding the challenges women face in trade in the countries under review.

The Review is structured as follows. Chapter 2 examines women workers in trade; Chapter 3 examines women business leaders’ engagement in trade; Chapter 4 examines trade’s impacts on different types of households through the price mechanism; Chapter 5 covers trade in services, the sector where most women work and lead businesses; Chapter 6 covers trade facilitation, particularly important for smaller businesses; Chapter 7 examines gender-related provisions in trade agreements; and Chapter 8 suggests some trade and other policies that would further support women’s economic empowerment through trade in the seven Latin American countries.

References

[1] Haerpfer, C. et al. (2022), World Values Survey Wave 7 (2017-2022), Cross-National Data Set, Version 4.0.0, World Values Association, https://doi.org/10.14281/18241.18.

[2] Korinek, J., E. Moïsé and J. Tange (2021), Trade and gender: A Framework of analysis, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/6db59d80-en.

[3] Luciana Biondo, I. (2023), Empresarias Chidas, https://issuu.com/belenrodriguezporcel/docs/e_libro_110922.

Notes

← 1.  The Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender brings together WTO members and observers seeking to intensify efforts to increase women's participation in global trade. The Working Group’s Work Plan 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.

← 2.  Rankings in aggregate 2024 WEF Global Gender Gap Index are Costa Rica (19), Chile (21), Argentina (32), Mexico (33), Peru (40), Colombia (45) and Brazil (70). The index is made up of four components: educational attainment, health and survival, economic participation and opportunity, and political empowerment.

← 3.  Many of the countries in the region rank lower in terms of economic participation and opportunity, often due to high wage inequality, low labour force participation and low participation in senior management: Colombia (71), Peru (77), Costa Rica (81), Brazil (88), Chile (92), Argentina (97) and Mexico (109) out of 146 countries.

← 4.  One initiative in Mexico is a children’s book, aimed at ages 10-15, called Empresarias Chidas (“Cool Women Entrepreneurs”) which showcases women business leaders in Mexico and their journeys to leadership (Luciana Biondo, 2023[3]).

← 5.  The section that examines women’s employment through the value chain, the section on women business leaders, the section on trade facilitation and the one on gender provisions in trade agreements cover all seven Latin American countries. The section on services trade examines all seven Latin American countries regarding digitally delivered services but excludes Argentina for other services. The section that examines the impacts of trade and trade barriers on consumption by household income level includes information on Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru; consumption impacts by the gender of head of household is only available for Costa Rica.