Women in business has become a distinct priority of women empowerment and gender equality. Women have usually been concentrating on sectors such as apparel or handicrafts or food.
Women in business has become a distinct priority of women empowerment and gender equality. Women have usually been concentrating on sectors such as apparel or handicrafts or food.
However, over time, there have been strong examples of women venturing into large businesses and enterprises. Information Technology has opened a new avenue for budding women entrepreneurs who have taken up the challenge of entering fields that were hitherto both male-dominated and male-managed.
Women face the very real hurdles of juggling their businesses and their domestic obligations. And yet -- despite gender discrimination in a mostly patriarchal society -- they are proving their mettle.
According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), “gender discrimination in trade facilitation has multiple dimensions. Inequalities exist in many different areas, in multiple sectors, and affect a myriad of fields of knowledge. This prevents the integration of women into international trade.”
UNECE says it is recognized that “gender inequities exist in three main areas: women in the economy (as entrepreneurs and participants in the labor force), women as policymakers, and women as decision makers.” It is astonishing that even today gender inequities are a global phenomenon.
In Pakistan, as well as in many other countries, women who are in the informal sector and want to transit to formal trade require extensive capacity building and mentoring. This is easier said than done. The chambers of commerce and trade associations lack a proper system of introducing capacity building and mentoring for women.
Our mainstream trade bodies are dominated by men and are not attuned towards providing pragmatic support for women. In the annual elections for their managing committees, the panels are 100 per cent male members. Even the various women chambers of commerce lack the critical mass to develop a formidable mechanism of capacity building of women entrepreneurs. The role of the public and private sectors in addressing women’s under-representation is crucial. The onus generally lies on these women to go solo and take maximum advantage of their cellphones and the internet to create space for themselves and to integrate in the business environment.
The Employers Federation of Pakistan and (UN) Global Compact Network Pakistan (GCNP) are fully committed to advocating for and sensitizing the issues of women empowerment, gender equality, and role of women in business. This writer has had the privilege of being president of both these organizations.
The EFP has a network that focuses on women’s skills development, coaching, and mentoring sessions on leadership and management skills, and basic entrepreneurial training for small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. Capacity building programmes include training aspiring female entrepreneurs through the Gender and Entrepreneurship Together Module (GET Ahead) which addresses barriers such as limited entrepreneurial knowledge and skills. In recent times, over 100 graduates have been trained. Since 2016, the EFP has been celebrating business organizations and women-led firms that champion gender equality and women empowerment by recognizing them through the EFP Women Excellence Awards.
The (UN) GCNP convinced ten member companies to join the UN Global Compact Accelerator Program on ‘Target Gender Equality’. Among other targets, it aims for equal representation, participation, and leadership of women in global business environments (SDG 5.5). It organized a national conference on gender equality under the theme, ‘Breaking the Ceiling in Pakistan’s Misogynistic Ecosystem’.
This writer once led a trade delegation to Colombo on the invitation of the then Sri Lankan commerce minister. During B2B meetings, a number of Sri Lankan women (a few of them home-makers) attended these meetings and presented their products. There were some who outright said they wanted to export to Pakistan and wanted to know what products or commodities were required. They had no specific products but were enthusiastic about entering the export market.
Some donor agencies, for example, the GIZ of Germany and the Canadian International Development Agency, have developed trade-related capacity building initiatives that include a gender component, and multilateral agencies such as the ILO have implemented gender mainstreaming policies in their activities. The ILO, the International Finance Corporation and the International Trade Centre, are all involved in projects and initiatives to promote women’s entrepreneurship and support their entry into international markets.
At the same time there is a need for specifically designed financial instruments to encourage women by providing easy access to financing. The gender-blind policies and rules that govern the business environment must be changed in order to facilitate the entry of more women in domestic as well as international trade.
Trade policies have to be centered on gender neutrality rather than gender discrimination. Trade liberalization should also include equality and fair play for all and should not undervalue women’s presence in economic activities. The negative impact of differentiating between men and women in business needs to be discouraged and rejected in today’s fast moving trade situation.
It is incumbent upon policymakers and others interested in gender equality, poverty eradication and sustainable economic growth and development to be sensitized with the full range of opportunities, challenges and constraints of inclusion of women in business. Market access and enterprise development have been touted as fundamental policies through which women can be enabled to engage in trade and industry.
Some experts recommend that gender aspects must be incorporated within the ambit of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. The development of legal frameworks and rules to ensure equal opportunities and rights for women in business, as well as equal access to finance, training, technologies, sales and marketing opportunities, and representation in policymaking and trade bodies is highly recommended.
Gender specific limitations and the significance of gender sensitivity still remain largely ignored. Fundamental reforms are needed in the gender impact of services such as taxation, customs, logistics, trade infrastructure, transportation, and trade related policies. Modest attempts have been made to recognize and attend to the needs of women in business.
However, the feminist perspective has been largely disregarded which is why a gender friendly and responsive environment is imperative. After all, there are three dimensions of gender: body, identity and social.
The writer is a former president of the Employers Federation of Pakistan.
