This open access book examines the relationship between trade and women's economic empowerment
by focusing on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in six countries: Cambodia Ghana
Madagascar Nigeria Senegal and Vietnam. The authors make use of both survey data and
qualitative analysis to understand why and how trade can create more jobs for women and how
the jobs created are contributing to women's empowerment. They propose strategies and policies
for ensuring that women can benefit from trade. After providing the context for the research
and reviewing the literature on trade and gender in the introductory chapter the second
chapter analyzes survey data collected for this project. This is followed by a qualitative
analysis of the six country cases in the next two chapters: Cambodia and Vietnam (Chapter 3)
followed by Ghana Madagascar Nigeria and Senegal (Chapter 4). The final chapter concludes
with a summary of our findings and policy recommendations.
