Creating more opportunities for women in trade is the right thing to do.
Women play a major role in the global economy. They invest more in their families than men do, in areas such as education, health and nutrition, creating a secure foundation for the future of their families and communities. So empowering women economically, especially through their involvement in trade, creates job opportunities for everyone.
Connecting women to value chains
Through the Women and Trade Programme, ITC seeks to increase the participation of women entrepreneurs and producers in global value chains and to ensure that they enjoy greater economic benefits from participating in international trade.
Women own close to 10 million of the world’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). And SMEs account for almost 80% of jobs around the world, so increasing their competitiveness boosts the likelihood of creating jobs. Sustainable economic growth and the achievement of development goals are possible only through the active participation of women.
In response to these challenges, ITC recently launched an initiative, 1 Million Women Entrepreneurs, which aims to connect a million women entrepreneurs to markets by 2020.