To mark this week’s International Women’s Day (8 March) and ahead of an Institute of Export & International Trade’s (IOE&IT) webinar, the Daily Update sat down with our trade strategy and projects specialist, Karen Holden, to find out about the day’s significance and how women have progressed in the sector.
Challenges
Meta and the World Bank’s Future of Business Survey found a significant export gender gap, with only 11% of female-led firms engaging in trade, compared to 19% of male-led firms.
Much is made of the co-occurring challenges that women face in trade – “women tend to run smaller businesses and SMEs struggle to trade”, “women tend to run businesses offering services and services are traded less internationally” – but the research from Meta and the World Bank suggests that around a third of the export gender gap relates to gender difference, rather than business features.
This is what stands out for Holden as she reflects on the 20 years she spent at the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), formerly the Department for International Trade (DIT). Career breaks to raise children or care for relatives are a significant factor in the difficulties women face to regain their position in the labour market, she says:
“The physicality of being removed from the labour force, needing to return to work and upskill, does lead to some disparities.
“It’s not just other people's perceptions of women’s value when they return to work, it’s also women’s perceptions of their own value – building that confidence up.”
Asked whether technological advances can help women bridge that gap on returning to work, Holden is keen to see more support given to returnees, with training that enables everyone to make the most out of new technology.
“I think the ability to build flexibility into working patterns is crucial for everybody,” she says, “not only working women.”
“However, depending on how long you've been out of the labour market, technological advances can also be a bit daunting because it moves on so quickly.”
Government support needed?
With Spring Budget day upon us, Holden says that policies that incentivise a return to work would naturally enable women to make more progress.
She says: “Women returning to work are confronted with financial challenges, [asking]: ‘Can I afford to return to work?’
“You probably can’t afford to stay at home! But returning to work with childcare costs is still a barrier.
“Anything that can make childcare more affordable will make a difference.”
Research suggests recent government interventions have failed to alleviate the problem. Women’s campaign group Pregnant then Screwed found that over a third of parents eligible for recent programmes of childcare funding were considering leaving their job or reducing their hours due to rising childcare costs.
Only about half of parents who had submitted one of the scheme’s codes to their childcare providers had received a response saying it had been accepted, entitling them to reduced fees.
However, Holden also thinks employers have a bigger role to play:
“You also need smart employers, who have good retention policies for their staff – flexible return policies.
“I think it’s probably more of an industry shift than a government legislation piece.”
Progress
Holden says she’s ultimately pleased by the progress she’s seen throughout her career, particularly in terms of female participation in the workplace.
“I can remember when I first started my career,” she says, “I would walk into meetings or events and I'd be the only woman, and that could be quite intimidating.”
“Now that’s changed and there are far more women engaged in international trade at all levels, and it's great to see that shift.”
“I think women bring knowledge, skills, experiences, and cultural nuances and social nuances to those trade conversations, that give international discussions more relevance and depth. It can make the negotiation process in trade easier.”
Greater visibility
Reflecting on the bigger picture, she also praises the WTO for creating the World Trade Congress on Gender.
Following the launch of the WTO Gender Research Hub in 2021, which aims to foster collaboration between gender and trade specialists, the WTO held its first international research conference aimed at addressing trade and gender.
The congress featured 24 research papers presented across eight different sessions, exploring a wide range of topics at the intersection of gender and trade, such as the experience of female entrepreneurs, trade facilitation, the impact of digitalisation and Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs).
“I think there have been many milestones. They're often, small incremental steps, so it's great that there’s something like the World Trade Congress on Gender.
She also emphasises the importance of seeing representation at the top:
“It's also great to see a female director general of the WTO in Dr Ngozi [Okonjo-Iweala] – what an amazing role model.”
Moving forward
Returning to the day in question, Holden praised the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, ‘Inspiring Inclusion’.
“Everybody has value,” she says, “no matter what their role in life is – getting women involved in every aspect of society is something we should all aspire to”.
“Women make up roughly half of the population, whether they’re homemakers or leaders of large corporate organisations.
“Things have come a long way, but we should never be complacent, and we should always be striving for greater parity wherever we are and in whatever jobs we do.”