At around 30 per cent, the ratio of world trade to GDP is higher today than ever before. While trade is bringing immense gains to increasing numbers of people across the world, a major challenge for policy makers aiming to reduce poverty and inequality is to enable a more equitable distribution of these gains. This requires understanding and accounting for factors that prevent some regions, countries and social groups from benefiting equally from expanding trade flows and their concomitant benefits.

Gender is a key factor linked to poverty, particularly with regard to patterns of employment in the labour market. Trade benefits are differentiated between women and men, and between various groups of women, impacting gender equality as well as poverty reduction. While trade expansion is improving employment opportunities open to women and increasing their income-earning possibilities, vulnerable women often lack access to favourable employment opportunities and disproportionately occupy irregular and insecure positions with low earnings and few labour and social protection regulations.

Despite this, research findings show a close correlation between greater female participation in society and improved economic outcomes and indicate that women-led businesses increase economic diversity and productivity as well as bring wider human resource development. Women's role in trade expansion is thus central to economic and social development due to their integrity and ingenuity.