Historically, practitioners and policymakers have overlooked gender issues in the trade space; however, research in recent decades strongly suggests that trade is not gender neutral. Cross-border trade produces changes in employment and prices, and these changes have different effects on women and men. Moreover, because women and men do not have equal access to education, networks, transportation and productive resources, their ability to seize trade-related opportunities differs. General trade barriers, such as deficient infrastructure and cumbersome regulatory and documentary requirements, also have gender-differentiated impacts. Drawing from the global literature, this article proposes policy recommendations to expand the benefits of trade to women in South Asia. The recommendations range from strengthening female-dominated export sectors and implementing trade facilitation measures to increasing women's access to training, productive resources, information, transportation and trade networks.

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In recent years, regional integration has gained considerable importance among policymakers in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (often referred to as the BBIN region). There is an understanding that enhanced intra-regional trade can be a powerful tool in accelerating economic growth and reducing poverty in the BBIN region. Tapping into this potential requires careful attention to issues of exclusion and in ensuring that women and men have equal opportunity to participate and benefit from enhanced regional trade. This article discusses challenges and opportunities for women’s participation in regional trade, presents a case study of women’s participation and proposes policy recommendations for inclusive intra-BBIN trade expansion. The recommendations include strengthening female-dominated sectors with potential for intra-regional trade, supporting women’s transition to higher levels of trade value chains, facilitating female entrepreneurs’ access to productive resources and cross-border markets, mainstreaming gender in trade policy design and implementation and adopting gender-sensitive trade facilitation measures.

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